Nasar

This article is about the 9th-century Byzantine admiral. For other uses, see Nasar (disambiguation).

Nasar (Greek: Νάσαρ), originally baptized Basil (Greek: Βασίλειος),^[1][2] was a distinguished Byzantine military leader in the Byzantine–Arab conflicts of the latter half of the 9th century.

Little is known about his family. His father Christopher held the high court rank of magistros, and he had a brother Barsanes.^[1] Under Emperor Michael III, he was appointed stratēgos of the Bucellarian Theme, one of the largest and most important of the Empire's themata. In this capacity, together with the patrician Petronas, he participated in the Battle of Lalakaon in 863, where the Byzantines inflicted a crushing defeat on Umar, the emir of Melitene.^[1] On their return to Constantinople, the two generals celebrated a triumph in the Hippodrome.^[3]

In 879 or 880, Nasar replaced Niketas Oryphas as the droungarios of the Imperial Fleet, and was sent by Emperor Basil I against the Tunisian fleet that was raiding the Ionian Islands.^[4] His fleet numbered 140 (according to Arab sources) or 45 (according to Byzantine sources) ships. A mutiny of the fleet's rowers forced him to stop for a while at Methoni, but discipline was restored and Nasar proceeded to score a significant victory in a night battle over the Saracens.^[2] He then proceeded to raid Sicily, capturing many Arab ships and carrying off much booty and merchandise. Reportedly, the price of olive oil in the markets of Constantinople fell sharply as a result.^[2] He then went on to support the concurrent land operations by the Byzantine generals Prokopios and Leo Apostyppes in southern Italy, before defeating another Muslim fleet off Punta Stilo; at the same time, another Byzantine squadron scored a significant victory at Naples. These victories were crucial to the restoration of Byzantine control over southern Italy (the future Catepanate of Italy), compensating to an extent for the effective loss of Sicily following the fall of Syracuse in 878.^[2][4]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Winkelmann et al. (1998), p. 335
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Kazhdan (1991), p. 1439
3. ^ Winkelmann et al. (1998), p. 336
4. ^ ^{a b} Pryor & Jeffreys (2006), pp. 65–66

Sources

• Kazhdan, Alexander, ed (1991). Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6. 
• Pryor, John H.; Jeffreys, Elizabeth M. (2006). The Age of the ΔΡΟΜΩΝ: The Byzantine Navy ca. 500–1204. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-9004151970. 
• Winkelmann, Friedhelm; Lilie, Ralph-Johannes et al. (1998) (in German). Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit: I. Abteilung (641–867), 3. Band: Leon (#4271) – Placentius (#6265). Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-016673-9. http://books.google.gr/books?id=wtLm7NLZJ5wC. 
• Vlysidou, Vasiliki N. (1981). "Συμβολὴ στὴ μελέτη τῆς ἐξωτερικῆς πολιτικῆς τοῦ Βασιλείου Α΄ στὴ δεκαετία 867-877" (in Greek). Byzantina Symmeikta: 301–315. ISSN 1105-1639. http://www.byzsym.org/index.php/bz/article/view/675/593.