The Amphibious Assault on Alexandria - The Battle for Africa

300 Roman Ships Attack Alexandria

A dromon (from Greek δρόμων, dromōn,lit. 'runner') was a type of galley and the most important warship of the Eastern Roman Navy from the 5th to 12th centuries AD, when they were succeeded by Italian-style galleys. It was developed from the ancient liburnian, which was the mainstay of the Roman navy during the Empire.

Image from twcenter.net

The Death of the Ancient World

The Beginning of the End 

for Roman Africa, Part IV

If we had to pick a date for the fall of the ancient world I think September, 642 AD is as good as any. In that month the traitorous elements in the Roman Government surrendered the great fortress city of Alexandria to the Muslim invaders ending over 600 years of Roman rule.

The striking thing about the entire Arab invasion of Egypt was that Roman forces were scattered all over the country and were defeated one by one. It is what I have said for years, most "generals" are worthless bureaucrats who are vaguely aware they should point their army in the general direction of the enemy first before attacking.

Roman Cavalry

The Empire Strikes Back

In September 642 Alexandria opened its gates to the Muslims even though the city had never been breeched during the so-called "siege".

Once the Muslims took over along came the tax collectors who eagerly drained the Christian Egyptians of their money. A group of leading citizens of Alexandria wrote secretly to the Emperor Constans in Constantinople, begging him to reconquer Egypt and save them from Arab oppression.

Roman tax collectors were no saints, so the Muslim tax collectors must have been especially vicious to provoke this reaction.

The Emperor began gathering a Roman fleet of 300 ships to re-take Alexandria. This operation illustrates the power of the Roman Empire even after years and years of fighting against Arab armies.

We have next to no information as to the make up of this strike force. How many infantry? how many cavalry? etc. 

We can speculate. If 50 extra soldiers were loaded on to each ship times 300 ships we have an army of perhaps 15,000 men. This number is in line with a normal Eastern Roman strike force.

The Roman fleet was commanded by the admiral Manuel. Arab historians refer to him as Manuel the eunuch. Was he a palace favorite chosen for his loyalty or a professional military man? We will never know.

Roman soldiers 6th and 7th century

Click to enlarge map

Landing in Alexandria

The Roman Navy had complete command of the sea. A large fleet was assembled with the greatest possible secrecy. No Arab vessels sailed the Mediterranean and so no warning of the invasion reached Egypt.

Suddenly one morning in the autumn of 645, a fleet of 300 ships was seen bearing down on the harbor of Alexandria. Roman troops were soon disembarked and the small 1,000 man Arab garrison was put to the sword.

Roman troops once again manned the walls of Alexandria, and the city acknowledged its allegiance to Caesar.

"I'm Surrounded By Idiots."

Scar (The Lion King)

Again and again and AGAIN in the early Arab campaigns we saw the power of rapidly moving Blitzkrieg style Muslim forces. The Arabs were anxious to fight in open country. They skillfully drew their enemies out of their fortifications and then defeated them in the open desert.

So what did the idiot Roman commander do? 

Rather than secure the walled fortress of Alexandria against attack, he sent his troops far away from the safety of the city to fan out across the lower Nile delta. 

An Opportunity lost.  A powerful fortress-city of Alexandria could be endlessly supplied by the Roman Navy. That would have prevented Arabs from advancing up the coast to Libya and Carthage. From that secure fortress the Romans could build outwards to re-take and fortify Egyptian towns one-by-one.

Instead, the Muslim commander Amr ibn al Aasi arrived at the city of Babylon and "delayed" there in order to draw the Romans even deeper into Egypt.

Bedouin Warrior. The Romans may have faced troops much like this man.

The Battle of Nikiou / Alexandria

So again, instead of staying safely behind the massive walls of Alexandria, Manuel appears to have taken most of the Roman Army on a 100 mile march away from Alexandria to Nikiou.

Reaching Nikiou the Romans encountered an Arab army of about 15,000 men.

Again we lack details, but a bloody battle followed the outcome of which was long in doubt. Eventually the Romans gave way. As soon as they commenced to retire, their retreat became a rout.

Eventually the Romans reached Alexandria in complete confusion after fleeing the Arabs for 100 miles. Even so they entered the city and closed the gates in the face of the Arabs.

It should be noted that there was no massacre of the defeated Romans. It appears that for 100 miles the Roman Army was still a large enough force to keep the Arabs at bay.

Alexandria Falls Again

The exact manner of how Alexandria was taken this second time is still open to debate.

The most probable account seems to be the Commander of one of the gates secretly communicated with Amr offering to open the gate to the Arabs. Such treachery might have been from a Copt whose family or himself had been a victim of religious persecution by the Orthodox Roman government.

The Arabs burst into the city which was given up to massacre, plunder and arson. When half the city had been destroyed, Amr gave the order to halt the carnage.

A portion of the Roman Army reached their ships and put out to sea. But their commander Manuel and many of his troops were killed.

This second capture of Alexandria took place sometime in the Summer of 646. The campaign had lasted about nine months.

Rome had now permanently lost Egypt.

The Copts appear to have largely remained neutral. The Copt Patriarch Benjamin was said to have secured an interview with Amr telling him that Manuel was supported by the Orthodox Church, not the Copts.

In an interesting side note, after the Arab victory a number of Coptic villages complained to Amr that they had not only not joined the rebellion, but that they were plundered by Roman Army for supplies without any payment. By treaty the Muslims were supposed to protect them but did not. Amr immediately admitted the justice of their claims and ordered compensation to be paid for their losses.

(The Great Arab Conquests)

Click to enlarge map

The Roman Province of Egypt

The Battle for Africa

Read More:

War - The Battle for Africa, Part 1

The Battle for Africa, Part 2

The Battle for Africa, Part 3

Defending The Roman Frontier - Random Thoughts

Defending The Roman Frontier

My thoughts have turned to the many, varied and often tiny Roman border outposts.

Think of the many American Westerns with small and always undermanned frontier forts. The local garrisons were on alert 24-7 against Indian raids targeting local farmers and commercial traffic.

The borders of the Roman Empire were enormous. Protecting Roman citizens from barbarian raids was as close to impossible as you can get. 

Doubtless there were thousands of stories to be told of heroism, slaughter and sacrifice, but those stories are all lost to the mists of time.

The grand strategy of the empire was, on the whole, defensive. 

The Sahara, Euphrates, Danube, and Rhine were natural frontiers, and it was exceptional when the Romans launched new campaigns of conquest. If territory was added, it was to shorten the frontier, or to improve a vulnerable part of the frontier. 

The basic principle of defense was deterrence: wherever the enemy attacked, he would always find a professional, heavily armed Roman force that often outnumbered him. Except for the desert frontier, the limes usually consisted of a clear line where the enemy had to stay away from (e.g., Hadrian's Wall or the river Danube).

However, sometimes the line was attacked. The soldiers in the watchtowers signaled the invasion to the nearby forts. The watchtowers themselves were lost, but the invaders would immediately have to face with Roman forces from nearby forts.

Almost always, this was sufficient to deal with the situation. If the attackers were able to reach and loot a city, they would be massacred on their way home. The final act of every attempt to attack the empire was Roman retaliation against the native population.

Reconstruction of a Limes tower in Germany.

The Roman Frontier in Jordan

The Roman Fortress of 

Qasr Bashir in Jordan

Qasr Bashir is an extremely well preserved Roman fortress that lies in the Jordanian desert. 

Qasr Bshir belongs to the chain of forts and watchtowers that is known as the Limes Arabicus and was meant to protect the province of Arabia against roaming desert nomads. They were not extremely dangerous or exceptionally violent, but their dromedaries made them swift, and if trouble arose, they could pillage large parts of the Roman countryside. The Limes Arabicus had to counter this threat, and Mobene was one of the fortifications.

Built at the beginning of the fourth Century AD and known as Mobene, the walls of Qasr Bashir still stand intact, at a height of up to 20 feet in places, while the main entrance remains to this day. The huge corner towers still rise up two stories from the ground.

It is likely that Qasr Bashir was originally home to an auxiliary cavalry unit, charged with defending the Roman frontier and keeping the peace in the surrounding area. 

The Roman Frontier in the East -- Qasr Bashir Fort Reconstructed

Think of the word "Porous"

The Danube Limes was not a solid wall defending the Empire's frontier.  Rather it a was a series of fortified cities, small forts and watchtowers.  

The Limes was porous with assorted invading Slavs, Huns or Avars pouring through on raids dedicated to looting or conquest.  In theory the Roman/Byzantine strongpoints would slow down invaders allowing for troops stationed close by to push the enemy back over the border. 

Reconstruction of a Balkan Roman frontier strongpoint.

The southern harbor of the Roman fortress of Boreum in Libya.  What is left of the citadel is to the right.

The military post of Boreum was about as far from anything that resembled civilization as you could find under either Rome or Byzantium.

I suspect any commander assigned to this remote post was on the shit list in Constantinople. "Here is your new posting. We will relieve you in about 20 years."

The area was so remote that the historian Procopius reports in the 500s that civil servants from Libya who were promoted to posts in Constantinople had problems communicating with government staff.  They spoke only Latin and did not speak Greek.

As a frontier town, Boreum was mentioned by Ptolemy of Alexandria about 130 A.D. 

The main job of the garrison was to keep inland tribes from causing trouble with the coastal farming communities.

The Walls of Ceuta, in 

what was Byzantine Morocco

Currently ruled by Spain, the ancient Royal Walls originally date back to the 5th century.  Ceuta's location has made it an important commercial trade and military way-point for many cultures, beginning with the Carthaginians in the 5th century BC, who called the city Abyla. 

It was not until the Romans took control of the region in AD 42 that the port city, then named Septa, assumed an almost exclusive military purpose. It changed hands again approximately 400 years later, when Vandal tribes ousted the Romans. It then fell into the hands of the Visigoths, and finally it would become the western most outpost of the Eastern Roman Empire.
.
Around 710, as Muslim armies approached the city, its Byzantine Governor, Julian changed his allegiance, and exhorted the Muslims to invade the Iberian Peninsula.

6th Century Eastern Roman Cavalry