1996/07/01 by C. Edmund Bosworth · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Engineering · Medicine · Social Sciences · #Ancient history #Arabic #Archaeology #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Art #Byzantine Studies and History #Caliphate #Engineering #Governor #Historical and Linguistic Studies #History #Islam #Law #Medicine #Period (music) #Political science #Politics #Population #Port (circuit theory) #Reign
paper · doi:10.1017/s1356186300007161
openalex publication_date 1996/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
The period of Mu'āwiya b. Sufyān, as governor over Syria and al-Jazīra under the caliph 'Uthmān from at least 25–6/646–7, and then as Umayyad caliph in Damascus 41–60/661–80, was crucial for the first impetus of Arab expansion in the eastern Mediterranean. Egypt had been conquered by 'Amr b. al-'Āṣ during 'Umar's caliphate, and the great port of Alexandria passed definitively into Arab hands by 21/642. Alexandria possessed famed dockyards, and had a Greco-Egyptian population which the Arabs were able to press into service for manning their warships operating out of the Egyptian ports and out of the harbours along the Syrian coast, such as Jaffa, Acre, Beirut and Tripoli.