VOYTENKO A.A. Arab Conquests. View from Egypt
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2023.6.18
Anton A. Voytenko
Doctor of Sciences (History), Leading Researcher,
Centre for Egyptological Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
Prosp. Leninskiy, 29, Bld. 8, 119071 Moscow, Russian Federation
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3895-9909
Abstract. The reasons for the success of the Arab conquests present a complex problem. It is difficult to explain the victories of the Arab-Muslim troops, which had much less military-demographic potential than neighboring Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) and Sasanian Empire. The article is devoted to identifying the main causes of Egypt’s loss by Byzantium and its capture by the Arabs.
Methods. The main research method was factor analysis, which allows to find out all the possible reasons for the success of the Arabs and the defeat of the Byzantines, to identify their internal relationship and hierarchy, classifying them into basic and situational ones.
Analysis. The study analyzed the influence of the religious factor (Islam for the Arabs, the Christological schism for Egypt), the military potential of the Arabs and the Byzantines (the expected number of troops, the strategy and tactics of the warring parties, the motivation of the armies, etc.), the degree of the consolidation of the elites, public sentiment. Special attention was paid to the route of the Arabs, the role of Patriarch Cyrus (Mukaukus), two attempts to reconquist Egypt by the Byzantines, the system of administration and taxation of the Arabs on the conquered territory.
Results. The main factor in the defeat of the Byzantines in Egypt can be considered the weak integration of this region into the Empire, as indicated by the unresolved religious issue (Chalcedonian schism), insufficient military contingent, weak social support for the central government, etc. The main reason for the success of the Arabs in conquering and keeping Egypt under their rule can be considered a “symbiosis” of two factors: 1) early Islam, which contributed to the consolidation of society and the elites, gave meaning for the motivation of the army, contributed to the establishment of the dhimma system, which provided Christian communities with autonomy in religious matters, and 2) the genesis of the Arab state, which passed at the same time and created real conditions for borrowing managerial and fiscal models, “natural” for the conquered territories.
Key words: late Antiquity, early Byzantium, Byzantine Egypt, Blues and Greens in Byzantium, Cyrus (Mukaukas) Patriarch of Alexandria, Arab conquests.
Citation. Voytenko A.A. Arab Conquests. View from Egypt. Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 4. Istoriya. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya [Science Journal of Volgograd State University. History. Area Studies. International Relations], 2023, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 240-259. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2023.6.18.
Arab Conquests. View from Egypt by Voytenko A.A. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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