Судан и Большой Ближний Восток

327 Vassilios Christides. The Cycle of the Arab-Byzantine Struggle in Crete... provisions which could not reach them during the winter. 1 There is no doubt, asMakrypoulias remarks, that both the Byzantine historians Leo VI and Skylitzes were influenced by their hostility against Gongyles, 2 but Gongyles’ limited competence cannot be denied. Skylitzes’ illumination (fig. 334, fol. 138v, top) depicts the Cretan Arabs’ unexpected The Arab conquerors are called “Krētes” in the relevant illuminations, while none of them reveals any aspect of the ethnic and social and sanguinary attack against Gongyles’ soldiers who are described in the caption as “slaughtered by the Arabs” (’Αγαρηνοί τρέπουσι τους Ρωμαίους και σφάζουσι). The island of Crete is painted like a hill; on the left side six ships are moored in the bay, lying at anchor, without their sails. A number of terrified Byzantine soldiers run towards their ships; in the middle of the picture three tents are depicted which symbolize the Byzantines’ military camp, and on the extreme right there is a sketchy representation of the fortifications of Handax. Some Byzantine soldiers are depicted lying dead while a number of them run terrified towards their ships, pursued by their Cretan attackers raising their swords. Both Byzantine and Arab soldiers hold long similar shields, those of the Arabs marked with a red sign while those of the Byzantines marked with designs. 3 After the several unsuccessful attempts of the Byzantines for the reconquest of Crete, finally the great victory came under the general Nicephorus Phocas who managed to conquer it (960–961). Skylitzes’ attitude towards Nicephorus Phocas is ambivalent in contrast to Leo Diaconus who admires and praises him. On the one hand, Skylitzes vividly described the negative aspects of Phocas’ character, and on the other he exalted himwhenever hementioned hismilitary achievements. 4 1 Makrypoulias, 356–357 2 For Skylitzes’ historical value, see A. Karpozilos, op. cit., especially 31–36 and 251 ff., and for Leo Diaconus, Alice Mary Talbot and Dennis Sullivan, op. cit. 11–49); also, some important remarks in S. Ivanof, Leo Diaconus’ History , Moscow 1988, 166 ff (in Russian). 3 For the decoration of the Byzantine shields, see Katerina Karapli, Κατευόδωσις Στρατού , Athens 2010, 97. 4 For a comparison of Skylitzes and Leo Diaconus’ attitude towards Nicephorus Phocas, see Karpozilos, op. cit., 248; J. N. Ljubarskij, “Nike-