The Arab Siege of Nicaea

Umayyad Arab infantry early 8th century.

Fanatical Muslim Armies Thrust Deep into the Empire

The Siege of Nicaea of 727 was an unsuccessful attempt by the Umayyad Caliphate to capture the Roman city of Nicaea, the capital of the Opsician Theme. Ever since its failure to capture the Roman  capital in 717–718, the Caliphate had launched a series of raids into Byzantine Asia Minor. In 727, the Arab army, led by one of the Caliph's sons, penetrated deep into Asia Minor, sacked two Roman fortresses and in late July arrived before Nicaea. 

Despite constant attacks for 40 days, the city held firm and the Arabs withdrew and returned to the Caliphate. The successful repulsion of the attack was a major boost for Roman Emperor Leo III the Isaurian's recently initiated campaign to abolish the veneration of icons in the Empire. Leo claimed it as evidence of divine favor for his policy. 

The siege of Nicaea marks also the high point of the Umayyad raids, as new threats and defeats on their far-flung frontiers diverted Umayyad strength elsewhere, while Roman power gradually recovered.

A section of the 5 miles of Roman walls still surrounding Nicaea.

The Arab Invasions of the Roman Empire
The Romans faced an endless series of Arab invasions into Asia Minor for decades on end.  The Romans fought wars with the Arabs over three continents:  Asia, Africa and Europe.  The invasions were horribly disruptive to the Empire's economy and its ability to collect taxes to support the state and military.  The Romans were virtually on a permanent war footing with the Arabs for centuries.
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Ultimately the Arab invasions of Anatolia failed.  The Romans held on to Constantinople and all the important cities.  The Arabs were always forced to withdraw back into Syria.   

Background

Following the failure of the year-long assault by the Umayyad armies on the Roman capital of Constantinople in 717–718, a short period of peace followed as the Umayyads licked their wounds, suppressed the rebellion of Yazid ibn al-Muhallab and re-assessed their priorities. When warfare on the Arab–Roman frontier recommenced in 720, the strategic focus of the Caliphate had shifted away from outright conquest. 

The Muslim raids across the Taurus Mountains into Byzantine Asia Minor still occurred regularly every spring and summer, sometimes accompanied by naval raids and followed by a winter expedition; they devastated large tracts of Asia Minor, and destroyed several fortresses. 

But the Arabs could not hold on to lands on the west side of the Taurus Mountains.  The Romans continued to hold fortified points throughout Asia Minor in the rear of the Arab armies.  With Roman troops at their rear they had to retreat back into Syria after each attack.  

Emperor Leo III the Isauian
faced wars in Asia Minor, the
Balkans and Italy.

The Roman Army  -  At the time of the siege the Eastern Roman Army would have numbered roughly from 90,000 to 100,000 plus men.  As strong as that sounds on paper, that force could not be gathered in one place to combat invaders.  (see chart below)

Roman units would have been thinly spread to defend a geographically huge Empire from Italy to Armenia to the Crimea to the Balkans.

Information on the structure of the army is guess work.  In past years the armored cavalry (cataphract) was the mailed fist of the Roman commanders.  But for 100 years the Romans had faced, and been defeated by, the fast and nimble light Arab cavalry.  

For the most part, the Romans had little interest in meeting the Arabs out in the open sword to sword.  We can assume that the bulk of military spending was directed into defensive fortifications and the infantry units needed to man the walls.  Light and heavy cavalry would have given a secondary role and used for scouting, smaller combats and frontier raids. 

Roman reaction to the Arab invasions during these years was necessarily passive. The Empire needed to nurse its strength against the vastly superior resources of the Caliphate while simultaneously defend many other parts of the nation from invasion.

The Romans did not obstruct or confront the raiding Arab armies, but rather retreated to well-fortified positions scattered throughout Asia Minor.

After the accession of Caliph Hisham (r. 723–743), the scale and ambition of the Muslim raids grew. One of the most prominent Umayyad leaders in these campaigns was Hisham's son Mu'awiyah, who led expeditions in 725 and 726, the first of which went as far west as Dorylaion.

A large Arab army from Syria thrust deep into the Roman Empire
and conducted a 40 day siege against Nicaea.

The Walls of Nicaea
Southern gate; triumphal arches were incorporated when the walls were built.

Roman troop deployments a few years before the Nicaea campaign.  By 727 the Exarchate of Africa had been captured by Muslim forces.

Invasion of 727 and the siege of Nicaea

In summer 727, another large-scale invasion was led by Mu'awiyah, with Abdallah al-Battal heading the vanguard of the army.  

The Byzantine chronicler Theophanes the Confessor claims that the vanguard alone numbered 15,000 men and the entire invasion force 100,000, clearly a grossly inflated number.

What is clear is this was a major invasion directed against The Opsician Theme, one of the most powerful themes in the Empire and located right next to Constantinople itself.  In the chart above the Roman troops near Constantinople could have been in the 40,000 man range.  Those Roman forces would have been divided among many cities to fend off Arab attacks.

The Arabs came prepared for battle with siege engines to knock down the walls of cities that opposed them.  It is fair to assume if the Arabs came to take cities then they would have brought enough troops to outnumber the Romans.  You do not lay siege to cities if the defenders outnumber you.  Call the size of the Arab army at no less than 40,000 men.   

The Arab army moved west into northwestern Asia Minor, and the vanguard under al-Battal attacked and sacked the town of Gangra in Paphlagonia and a place called in Arab sources Tabya (possibly the fort of Ateous in Phrygia). 

Gangra was razed to the ground, but during the attack on Tabya the Arabs, especially the Antiochene contingent, are said to have suffered heavy losses.

Arab Cavalry

Arab Mailed Archer

From there, the Arabs turned west towards Nicaea, the chief city of Bithynia and capital of the powerful Opsician Theme. 

The Arabs arrived before the city in late July, with al-Battal's vanguard preceding the main army. The Byzantines, probably under the command of the Count of the Opsicians, Artabasdos, did not meet them in the field, but instead retreated behind the city's walls.

The Arabs assaulted the city for forty days, employing siege engines which destroyed a part of the walls, but eventually failed to take it.  This one sentence summary is maddening, but historical records are few.  A 40 day siege was a major attack by any standards.  Also with part of the walls destroyed you know there was considerable hand-to-hand combat to keep the Arab infantry out of the city.  But again, we have no details, only our imagination.

In late August, they raised the siege and departed, taking along many captives and much booty. The 12th-century chronicle of Michael the Syrian claims that the city's inhabitants abandoned it and fled by ship through Lake Ascanius, whereupon the Arabs destroyed Nicaea, but this is clearly an error.

Aftermath

The repulsion of the Arab assault on Nicaea was an important success for the Byzantines. Emperor Leo III the Isaurian (r. 717–741) regarded the city's survival as a sign of divine favor towards his newly instituted iconoclastic policies, and was encouraged to drive them further. 

This is probably related to an incident mentioned in the account of Theophanes, where a certain Constantine, who served as a groom (strator) to Artabasdos, threw a stone on an icon of the Virgin Mary and then trampled on it. The soldier was killed the next day by a catapult, a fact which Theophanes reports as evidence of divine vengeance. However, this passage shows strong signs of tampering by the fervently anti-iconoclast Theophanes, from what was probably originally a pro-iconoclast story.

Militarily, the siege of Nicaea was the high-water-mark of the post-718 Umayyad raids. Never again would Umayyad armies penetrate as deeply into Asia Minor. 

Increasingly thereafter the Syro-Jaziran army, that provided the manpower for the raids against Byzantium, was diverted in the hard and fruitless wars against the Khazars in the Caucasus: the Khazars inflicted a heavy defeat on the Muslims in 730.  

A Byzantine–Khazar alliance was sealed by the marriage of Leo III's son and heir Constantine V (r. 741–775) with the Khazar princess Irene shortly after. 

Roman strength also revived as the Muslim military situation on all fronts of the over-extended Caliphate deteriorated. Consequently, in the 730s, Arab raids were mostly limited to the immediate frontier regions and their successes became fewer, until in 740 the Byzantines inflicted a heavy defeat against the largest invasion force assembled after 718 at the Battle of Akroinon.

Byzantine troops in the 7th Century.

1. Armored infantryman:

The 7th century was another period from which few illustrations survive. The best-equipped infantry appear to have had short-sleeved mail hauberks and remarkably large shields, plus spears and swords. This man's helmet is based upon one found in Central Europe which may be of Byzantine form. The addition of the mail aventail is hypothetical, reflecting a high degree of Turkish and specifically Avar influence. His sword is based upon an unusual Scandinavian form which is itself likely to reflect Byzantine origins. 

2. Armored cavalryman:

This trooper has been given a plumed cap over his helmet, as worn by warriors from Iran and the Caucasus. This could be the explanation for the otherwise extraordinary outlines of many helmets seen in 7th-9th century Byzantine art. Turkish and Avar influences can be seen on the belt, sword and bowcase, as shown by surviving fragments and pictorial sources.

3. Noble commander, late 7th century:

One remarkable and recently discovered fragment of wall painting sheds light on the costume of the 7th century Byzantine elite though not, unfortunately, on their military equipment. A long tunic with richly embroided claves and three-quarter sleeves was worn over a long-sleeved shirt, either with soft riding boots or, as here, with highly decorated shoes indicating high status. The practice of impaling the head and hands of a defeated rebel, presumably as a warning to others, seems to have been common in Byzantium at this time.

8th to 9th Centuries

The first defensive campaigns fought against the first Islamic armies took a certain form, with the imperial forces struggling to match the mobility and speed of the Arab raiders, who were able to deprave the Roman commanders of the initiative not simply by virtue of their fast-moving, hard-hitting tactics, but also because the type of warfare they practised made any notion of a regular front untenable.

The Arab Islamic conquests radically altered the strategic and political geography of the whole east Mediterranean region. The complete failure of attempts to meet and drive back the invaders in open battle induced a major shift in strategy whereby open confrontation with the Muslim armies were avoided. The comitatenses field armies were first withdrawn to north Syria and Mesopotamia, shortly thereafter back to the line of the Taurus and Anti-Taurus ranges.

By the mid-640s the armies which had operated in Syria, Mesopotamia and Palestine had been withdrawn into Anatolia. The regions across which they were based were determined by the ability of these districts to provide for the soldiers in terms of supplies and other requirements. The field forces thus came to be quartered across Asia Minor and Thrace, where they were referred to by the Greek term for these districts, themata or themes.

The themes were at first merely groupings of provinces across which different armies were based. By the latter 8th century some elements of fiscal as well as military administration were set up on a thematic basis, although the late Roman provinces continued to subsist.

City wall around Nicaea

Nicaea Northern city gate, 3 of the 4 gates survive, restricted to pedestrians.

Roman aqueducts used until the 1970s, this one is outside the eastern gate.

Ruins of the ancient Hagia Sophia, where the First Ecumenical Council met in Nicaea.

The Nicaea theater was supported by arches as the land was flat; note entrance for beasts.

Nicaea

One of Alexander the Great's generals founded the city in 316 BC, naming it Antigonela for himself. When taken by another general, it was named Nicaea for his wife. Nicaea became an important religious center following Constantine's edit of tolerance for Christianity in AD 313. The city has been important in the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman empires.

Located on the eastern shore of Lake Iznik, the city has long been a stopping place on the route between Constantinople and Anatolia. The area surrounding Nicaea is fertile with rich agriculture.

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When controversy arose about the nature of Jesus Christ, Constantine called the first Ecumenical Council to Nicaea in AD 325 to settle the issue. All the bishops came, meeting for two months in the Senatus Palace, now submerged in Lake Iznik. The council affirmed Christ's divinity and established what is now known as the Nicene Creed. Nicaea hosted another Ecumenical Council in 787, that rejected iconoclasm, thus permitting the use of icons in worship. This second Nicaean council met in Hagia Sophia.

In 1075 the Seljuk commander Süleyman Sah I changed Nicaea's name to Iznik and made it his capital. Through the years, particularly in the 16th and 17th centuries, Iznik has been renown for tiles and ceramics that have greatly influenced decoration in mosques and palaces throughout Turkey. Described as the third 'holy city' after Jerusalem and the Vatican, the Second Vatican Council in 1962, declared Iznik a 'holy city' for Christians.

Siege of Nicaea (727)        Opsician Theme        Umayyad Caliphate

Byzantine Algeria

Byzantine Algeria
Men at Arab market in front of the Byzantine Gate of Solomon. Tebessa, Algeria. These pictures were taken from 1860-1890.  It may give us a bit of the flavor of what Byzantine Algeria might have been like in the 500s and 600s AD.

Byzantine Algeria  -  The City of Tebessa

• Part of the Roman Empire 146 BC to 439 AD. 
• Part of the Kingdom of the Vandals 439 to 534 AD.  
• Part of the Eastern Roman Empire 534 to 698 AD. 

Roman North Africa dates from 146 BC and the final fall of Carthage and the end to the Punic Wars.  Except for a 95 year period of rule by the Vandals, North Africa remained part of the Roman Empire for about 750 years.  It became a major part of the Empire's economy and often supplied troops for wars in other areas.
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Roman Emperors paid special attention to the organization and economy of the area.  Several political and provincial reforms were implemented by Augustus and later by Caligula, but Claudius finalized the territorial divisions into official Roman provinces. Africa was a senatorial province. After Diocletian's administrative reforms, it was split into Africa Zeugitana (which retained the name Africa Proconsularis, as it was governed by a proconsul) in the north and Africa Byzacena in the south, both of which were part of the Dioecesis Africae.

Byzantine ruins in the Tebessa
area (in red) of Algeria.

The region remained a part of the Roman Empire until the great Germanic migrations of the 5th century. The Vandals crossed into North Africa from Spain in 429 and overran the area by 439 and founded their own kingdom, including Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics. The Vandals controlled the country as a warrior-elite, enforcing a policy of strict separation and suppressing the local Romano-African population. They also persecuted the Catholic faithful, as the Vandals were adherents of the Arian heresy (the semi-trinitarian doctrines of Arius, a priest of Egypt). In 476, when the Roman Empire, had finally fallen, it became a remnant of the Empire. Towards the end of the 5th century, the Vandal state fell into decline, abandoning most of the interior territories to the Mauri and other Berber tribes of the desert.

Tebeaas  -  Byzantine Algeria

In AD 533, Emperor Justinian, using a Vandal dynastic dispute as pretext, sent an army under the great general Belisarius to recover Africa. In a short campaign, Belisarius defeated the Vandals, entered Carthage in triumph and succeeded in re-establishing Roman rule over the province. The restored Roman administration was successful in fending off the attacks of the Amazigh desert tribes, and by means of an extensive fortification network managed to extend its rule once again to the interior.
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The North African provinces, together with the Roman possessions in Spain, were grouped into the Exarchate of Africa by Emperor Maurice. The exarchate prospered, and from it resulted the overthrow of the tyrannical emperor Phocas by Heraclius in 610. Its stability and strength in the beginning of the 7th century can be seen from the fact that Heraclius briefly considered moving the imperial capital from Constantinople to Carthage.
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Faced with the onslaught of the Muslim Conquest after 640, and despite occasional setbacks, the exarchate managed to stave off the threat, but in 698, a Muslim army from Egypt sacked Carthage and conquered the exarchate, ending Roman and Christian rule in North Africa. Thus the last of the provinces of the Western Roman Empire had ceased to exist, 222 years after the fall of Rome and the last Western Roman emperor.
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The 8th and 11th centuries AD, brought Islam and the Arabic language.The introduction of Islam and Arabic had a profound impact on North Africa (or the Maghreb) beginning in the 7th century. The new religion and language introduced changes in social and economic relations, established links with a rich culture, and provided a powerful idiom of political discourse and organisation. From the great Berber dynasties of the Almoravids and Almohads to the militants seeking an Islamic state in the 1990s, the call to return to true Islamic values and practices has had social resonance and political power.
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The first Arab military expeditions into the Maghreb, between 642 and 669, resulted in the spread of Islam. The Umayyads (a Muslim dynasty based in Damascus from 661 to 750) recognised that the strategic necessity of dominating the Mediterranean dictated a concerted military effort on the North African front. By 711 Umayyad forces helped by Berber converts to Islam had conquered all of North Africa.

Byzantine walls (6th century), popularly known as "Solomon's Walls" and flanked by thirteen square towers.Tebessa, Algeria. Photos taken 1860-1890

The City of Tebessa  -   Ancient Theveste

The ancient city of Tébessa is the capital city of the Algerian province of the same name and is situated about 20 kilometres from the Tunisian border. The city is home to more than 160,000 people and is famous for the manufacture of traditional Algerian carpets. Tébessa has a long and diverse history with many interesting sights for visitors to explore.

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Tébessa started off as a town of Numidia, an ancient North African Berber kingdom. In the 7th century BC it became an outpost of Carthage and by 146 CE it had become part of the Roman Empire. The fourishing city with an estimated 30,000 inhabitants was given the designation of collonia during the rule of Roman Emperor Trajan. Under the Ottoman Empire, which reached the zenith of its power in the 16th and 17th centuries, Theveste was home to a garrison of Janizaries, infantry units of the sultan’s household bodyguard troops.

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In 1851 the city was occupied by the French and was given the current name of Tébessa.  The town, which is contained within the walls of a Byzantine citadel, has a number of Roman ruins, including an enormous circus, a triumphal arch, and a great basilica, originally a temple of Minerva. It was a military and commercial centre in Roman times.

Door to Byzantine basilica. Tebessa, Algeria. 1860-1890.
The Basilica of St. Crispinus (4th century AD) is one of the biggest in Africa. It has also chapels, baptism urns, catacombs and gardens.

Ruins of a Byzantine basilica. Basilica of St. Crispinus. Interior. Tebessa, Algeria. 1860-1890

Door of a Byzantine basilica, Basilica of Crispinus. Tebessa, Algeria. 1860-1890

Roman Algeria

Tebessa’s ancient name was Theveste. It is assumed to have been founded about AD 71. Situated at the junction of the roads to Carthage (near Tunis), Cirta (modern Constantine), Lambessa (now Tazoult), and Tacape (modern Gabès), it soon became a place of primary importance. It was probably one of the first towns to adopt Christianity after its introduction into Carthage, AD 150. Its period of greatest splendour was the beginning of the 2nd century when the construction of its finest monuments began. Later Tebessa was razed by the Vandals and disappeared from history until its restoration by Byzantine armies.
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In and around Tébessa are many monuments and remains of ancient buildings relating to the city’s past. The Gate of Caracalla is a Roman triumphal arch dating back to 214 CE. Free standing, ornately decorated triumphal arches were erected as a monument to celebrate a victory in war or in honor of their leader at the time of the victory.

Men at outdoor market in front of Byzantine walls. Tebessa, Algeria. 1860-1890

Ruins of a Byzantine basilica. Genera view. Tebessa, Algeria. 1860-1890

The richly mosaic decorated Temple of Minerva in Tébessa dates back to the early part of the 3rd century CE. The remains of the basilica of St. Crispinus, complete with chapels, baptismal urns, gardens and catacombs, dates back to the 4th century CE. Sixth century Byzantine walls, which are referred to as “Solomon’s Walls”, are flanked by thirteen impressive square towers. Other places of interest include a Roman theater, an archaeological museum and an amphitheater from the 4th century CE.

History

Tebessa was first a Numidian town, then, an outpost of Carthage in the 7th century BC. In 146 AC it became part of the Roman Empire and was known as Theveste (Hekatompyle in Greek).  During the 1st century CE, the Legio III Augusta resided there before being transferred to Lambaesis. It was made a colonia probably under Trajan.

There is mention of a council held there by the Donatists. Among its saints were St Lucius, its bishop, who in 256 assisted at the Council of Carthage and died as a martyr two years later; St Maximilianus, martyred 12 March 295; St Crispina, martyred 5 December 304.

Some of its bishops are known: Romulus in 349; Urbicus in 411; Felix exiled by the Vandals in 484; Palladius mentioned in an inscription.  It was rebuilt by the patrician Solomon at the beginning of the reign of Justinian I, and he built a tomb there which still exists. Under the Ottoman Empire, Theveste had a garrison of Janizaries. Tebessa is very rich in ancient monuments, among them being a triumphal arch of Caracalla, a temple, a Christian basilica of the 4th century. At the time of Trajan, it was a flourishing city with c. 30,000 inhabitants.
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In the 7th century AD, after the Arab invasion of the region, Theveste lost its importance.  Later, during in 16th century, the Ottomans established a small military garrison there.

Ruins of the Roman Temple of Minerva at Tebessa, Algeria. 1860-1890

Sarcophagus in the Temple of Minerva. Tebessa, Algeria. 1860-1890

(Documentarist)

(Wikipedia.org)

(www.alarab.co.uk)

Provinces and cities of the Roman Empire.

The Byzantine Prefecture of Africa covered almost exactly the land controlled by the Vandal Kingdom.
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Northwestern Africa, along with Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearics was reconquered by the East Romans under Belisarius in the Vandalic War of 533, and reorganized as the Praetorian prefecture of Africa by Justinian I. It included the provinces of Africa Proconsularis, Byzacena, Tripolitania, Numidia, Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Sitifensis, and was centered at Carthage. In the 560s, a Roman expedition succeeded in regaining parts of southern Spain, which were administrated as the new province of Spania.

Byzantine Spain

Spania at its greatest extent, with cities indicated and lost territory.
Click for enlarged map of Byzantine Spain.

Byzantine Province of Spania (552 to 624 AD)

Roman rule over Spain ended in 400 AD with the endless barbarian invasions.  The re-conquest of Spain by the Eastern Empire was almost an accident.

The Emperor Justinian had re-conquered North Africa in 534 and was still fighting the long re-conquest of Italy 535 to 554.

It is impossible to say whether Justinian in the early years of his reign had formed any definite plan for re-conquering Spain, but we may be sure that it was one of his ambitions.  But before he had completed the subjugation of the Ostrogoths he was invited to intervene in Spain, and, although the issue of the Italian war was still far from certain, he did not hesitate to take advantage of the occasion.

Emperor Justinian

In a nasty dynastic civil war the Visigoth King Athanagild sought the support of the Emperor Justinian, and the Emperor sent a fleet to the southern coasts of Spain. The commander of this expedition was the octogenarian patrician Liberius.

Liberius was campaigning in Sicily.  He appears not to have returned to Constantinople till late in A.D. 551, it is probable that he received commands to sail directly to Spain with the troops who had accompanied him to Sicily, in A.D. 550, for the date of his expedition cannot have been later than in this year. As the armament must have been small, it achieved a remarkable success. Many maritime cities and forts were captured.

The cities were captured professedly in the interests of Athanagild, but when Athanagild's cause had triumphed, the Imperialists refused to hand them over and the Visigoths were unable to expel them. Athanagild recovered a few places, but Liberius had established an Imperial province in Baetica which was to remain under the rule of Constantinople for about seventy years. There can be no doubt that this change of government was welcomed by the Spanish-Roman population.

Byzantine government in Spania

We have very few details as to the extent of this Spanish province. It comprised districts and towns to the west as well as to the east of the Straits of Gades; it included the cities of New Carthage, Corduba, and Assionia; we do not know whether at any time it included Hispalis.

It was placed under a military governor who had the rank of Master of Soldiers (Magister militum), but we do not know whether he was independent or subordinate to the governor of Africa.

Byzantine settlement of Son Pereto (Mallorca, Spain)

Typically the magister was a member of the highest aristocratic class and bore the rank of patrician. The office, though it only appears in records for the first time in 589, was probably a creation of Justinian, as was the mint, which issued provincial currency until the end of the province.

Enough Roman troops, backed by the Roman fleet, would have been stationed in the province to prevent any re-conquest by the Visigoths.  But there are no records remaining about the local fortifications or the size and make up of the force.

The province of Spania was predominantly Latin Christian.  Some of the Byzantine governors were the same, though some were Eastern Christians.  Despite this, the relationship between subject and ruler and between church and state seems to have been no better than in Arian Visigothic Spain.

The Byzantine Balearic Islands of Spania

The Early Christian and Byzantine settlement of Son Peretó, located in the eastern part of Mallorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands.

Son Peretó is one of the most important sites for the period on the islands and a notable example of Early Christian architecture. Archaeologists have already uncovered a basilica, a baptistery with two baptismal basins and two sectors of adjacent rooms used for housing and funeral rites.

The current project, managed by the Manacor Historical Museum and the University of Barcelona, began in 2005, and since then they have aimed to preserve and restore the remains uncovered during the 20th-century excavations, especially standing structures such as the foundations of several walls and untouched graves. So far the graves uncovered have been found in excellent condition.

Byzantine settlement of Son Peretó, one of the most western outposts of the Byzantine Empire and dating to the 6th century.

Several of the existing archaeological sites on the Balearic Islands dating from the Byzantine era suggest a military use. In the forum of Pollentia, archaeologists discovered that the Byzantines used pre-existing structures such as the Capitoline Temple to build a fortification at the highest point of the city. Likewise, at Can Pins on the nearby island of Formentera, archaeologists uncovered a square fort with towers at each corner, a characteristic that has led scholars to compare it to the Byzantine strongholds in North Africa. But while the architecture suggests proximity to Northern Africa, the mosaics found at Son Peretó display artistic styles closer to the traditional schools in Constantinople.

Religion played an important role as well. The Byzantine churches on the islands thus far studied and excavated include Son Bou (Alaior), Cap des Port (Fornells), Fornàs de Torelló (Maó), and Illa del Rei (Maó) in Menorca; and Cas Frares (Santa Maria des Camí), Son Fradinet (Campos), and Son Peretó in Mallorca. The study of these basilicas and excavation work has led archaeologists to two arguments: that these rural parishes acted as gathering points for dispersed communities, or that they were established to stamp out the remaining pockets of Paganism and replace it with Christianity.

Spania in 586 after the conquests of Leovigild (with dates of conquest on map).

The re-conquest by the Visigoths

The Byzantines were unable to push their offensive forward deeper into Spain and the Visigoths made some successful pushes back.  Around 570, the Visigoth King Leovigild ravaged Bastetania (Bastitania or Bastania, the region of Baza) and took Medina Sidonia through the treachery of an insider named Framidaneus (possibly a Goth).  He may have taken Baza and he certainly raided into the environs of Málaga, defeating a relief army sent from there.

He took many cities and fortresses in the Guadalquivir valley and defeated a large army of rustici (rustics), according to John of Biclarum, who may have been referring to an army of bandits called Bagaudae who had established themselves in the disputed buffer zone between Gothic and Roman control.  In 577 in Orospeda, a region under Byzantine control, Leovigild defeated more rustici rebellantes, probably Bagaudae.

After two seasons of campaigning against the Romans, however, Leovigild concentrated his military efforts elsewhere.  If he was meeting with military success he would have continued.  We might assume that he met stronger Byzantine resistence.

During the rule of Recared I (reigned 586–601) the Byzantines again took the offensive and probably even regained or gained ground.  Recared recognized the legitimacy of the Byzantine frontier and wrote to Pope Gregory requesting a copy be sent from the Emperor Maurice.  Gregory simply replied that the text of the treaty had been lost in a fire during Justinian's reign and warned Recared that he would not want it found because it would have probably granted the Byzantines more territory than they actually then possessed (August 599).  Leovigild's gains against the Roman government were greater than the Roman re-conquests of Recared's reign.

Beginning of the End 

In 602 AD events taking place far in the eastern part of the Empire sealed the fate of  the province of Spania.

The Roman army on the Danube under Phocas revolted against Emperor Maurice and marched on Constantinople.  The Emperor abdicated and fled the city.  The "Green" faction in Constantinople acclaimed Phocas as Emperor.  He was crowned in the Church of St. John the Baptist and his wife Leontia was invested with the rank of Augusta.

Phocas headed a military coup
that made himself Emperor but
thrust the Empire into anarchy.

Maurice was dragged from his monastic sanctuary at Chalcedon, and killed along with his five sons. It is said that he had to watch as his sons were executed in front of his eyes. The bodies were thrown in the sea and the heads of all were exhibited in Constantinople.

Almost at once the Empire was invaded by Persia from the east and the Slavs in the Balkans.  The nation fell into anarchy with Persia conquering Syria, Anatolia, Egypt and the Slavs roaming the Balkans.

The Persian War lasted from 602 until 628.  The Empire was nearly destroyed.  The outer provinces were pretty much on their own.  Though there is no information about troop redeployments it is very possible that the Emperor recalled some troops from Spania to help in other provinces.

It was at this point that the Visigoths renewed their attacks on the Roman cities.

They captured the small town of Gisgonza.  King Gundemar campaigned against Spania in 611, but to no effect. The next king, Sisebut, more than any king before him became the scourge of the Byzantines in Spain. In 614 and 615, he carried out two massive expeditions against them and conquered Málaga before 619.   He conquered as far as the Mediterranean coast and razed many cities to the ground, enough even to catch the attention of the Frankish chronicler Fredegar:
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"King Sisbodus took many cities from the Roman Empire along the coast, destroying them and reducing them to rubble."

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Sisebut probably also razed Cartagena, which was so completely desolated that it never reappeared in Visigothic Spain. Because the Goths were unable to undertake decent sieges, they were forced to reduce the defenses of all fortified places they took in order to prevent later armies from using them against them. Because Cartagena was destroyed but Málaga was spared, it has been inferred that the former fell first while the Byzantine presence was still large enough to constitute a threat. Málaga fell some time after when the Byzantines were so reduced as to no longer form a danger to Visigothic hegemony over the whole peninsula.

In 621, the Byzantines still held a few towns, but Suinthila recovered them shortly.  By 624 the entire province of Spania was in Visigothic hands save the Balearic Islands which remained part of the Byzantine Empire until the Arab invasions.

(Byzantine Son Pereto)

J. B. Bury: History of the Later Roman Empire (1889)

(Byzantine Spain)

The Roman Empire at its' peak under Justinian including the conquest of southern Spain.