- Leo of Tripoli
Leo of Tripoli was a Greek
pirate servingArab interests in the earlytenth century . Born in Greece to Christian parents, he later converted to Islam and took employment with his former captors as an admiral.His first Arabic name was "Ġulām Zurāfa", meaning "slave of Zurafa." He later took the name "Rašiq al-Wardāmī", probably from the Greek "Mardaïtes", meaning "from Attaleia."
On
31 July 904 , Leo sacked Antâliya, eitherAttaleia orSalonika ; an event ostensibly recorded byJohn Kaminiates . In907 , gathering a fleet from Tarsus andLaodicea , he sailed up theDardanelles and assaulted the capital of theByzantine Empire ,Constantinople . In May912 , Leo and his fellow Saracen pirateDamian of Tyre defeated Himerios, thelogothete of theDrome , in retaliation for an attack on someCypriot Arab s. Finally, in924 , the imperial navy annihilated Leo's fleet offLemnos .ources
*Vasiliev, A. A. "Byzance et les Arabes". 1960.
*Jenkins, R. J. H. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0041-977X%281952%2914%3A1%3C180%3AMSITEM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-F Review of "Muslim Sea-Power in the Eastern Mediterranean from the Seventh to the Tenth Century A. D.] " by Aly Mohamed Fahmy. "Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies", Vol. 14, No. 1. (1952), pp. 180-181. University of London.
*Jenkins, R. J. H. " [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0038-7134%28194907%2924%3A3%3C403%3ATSRAOC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7 The Supposed Russian Attack on Constantinople in 907: Evidence of the Pseudo-Symeon.] " "Speculum", Vol. 24, No. 3. (Jul., 1949), pp. 403-406.
*Jenkins, R. J. H. " [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0070-7546%281963%2917%3C399%3AANOT%22T%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E A Note on the 'Letter to the Emir' of Nicholas Mysticus (in Notes)] ." "Dumbarton Oaks Papers", Vol. 17. (1963), pp. 399-401.
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