Судан и Большой Ближний Восток

318 IV. Ближний Восток и его соседи Both the Greek and the Arabic sources are equally explicit about the dev- astating results of this revolt on the Byzantine fleet and the disaster brought upontheirmaritimedefensivelineintheAegeanwhichwasactuallyvanished. The Arabic sources report that the whole sea was empty, without any Byz- antinewarships: وكانت يومئذٍ خالية من الروم (=and the sea [Aegean]was empty). 1 Skylitzes characteristically states: “Του ειωθότος φυλάττειν στόλου συστρατευομένου πάντες …του Θωμα” (=the whole fleet normally in chargeof theprotection [of theAegean] sidedwithThomas) and“therewas not a single Byzantine ship at the time of the disembarkation of the Arab fleet [on Crete to confront the forty ships of the Andalusian Arabs]”. 2 The disastrous impact of Thomas’ revolution on the maritime defense of the Byzantines is vividly described in two illuminations preceding the “Cycle of the Conquest of Crete”. In the first (fig. 57, fol. 29v), Thomas appears on a warship fleeing fromConstantinople to the Arabs. The ship appears in a simplified, conventional formwithout sails but with two stern rudders, the second depicted as a triangular object, which sticks out horizontally from the stern. 3 It should be noted that just one oarsman handles one oar, as in a number of other illus- trations of Skylitzes’ manuscript, confirming the view that until at least the 14 th century there were nomore than one oarsman for each oar. 4 On the prow, Thomas is depicted dressed in a long tunic and crowned. In front of him are protruded the heads of two men bearing white gears, “usually worn by dignitaries”, as Tsamakda suggested. 5 Closer to the helmsman, three trumpets are protruded in the middle of the boat Thomas’ revolt, while the fleet of Constantinople was still in service. Never- theless, the fleet of Constantinople was inadequate as it is vividly illustrated in Kraterus’ humiliating defeat in his attempt to reconquer Crete. 1 Ibn al-Abbār, Ḥ ullah al-Siyarā’ , ed. Ḥ . Mu ‘nis, I, Cairo 1963, 45. 2 Thurn, 42, lines 16–18. 3 A. Babuincorrectlypoints out that this beamwas a spare rudder;A. Babuin, “Some Remarks on Arab Ships in Byzantine Iconography”, in A. A. Hijji and V. Christides, eds., Aspects of Arab Seafaring , Athens 2002, 30–31. 4 For the oar power in general, see J. T. Shaw, “Oar Mechanics and Oar Power in Ancient Galleys”, in Robert Gardiner and John Morrison, The Age of the Galley , London 1995, 163–171. 5 Tsamakda, op. cit., 70.