Abulathar 1

Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire
SexM
FloruitM VII
Dates654 (taq) / 654 (tpq)
PmbZ No.71
Variant NamesAboulathar;
Abu 'l-'Awar;
'Abhu 'l `ur
ReligionMuslim
EthnicityArab
LocationsRhodos (Insulae);
Phoinix (Lycia);
Lapethos;
Konstanteia (Cyprus);
Cyprus;
Tripolis (Phoenice);
Kos (Insulae);
Crete
Textual SourcesBar Hebraeus, Chronographia, tr. E. A. W. Budge, The Chronography of Abu 'l-Faraj (London, 1932; repr. Amsterdam, 1976) (history);
Chronicon Anonymi ad annum 1234 pertinens, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, I = CSCO 81-82 (Paris, 1916-20), II = CSCO 109 (Louvain, 1937) (chronicle);
Michael the Syrian, Chronicle, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, La chronique de Michel le Syrien (Paris, 1899-1904) (chronicle);
Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1883-85, repr. Hildesheim/NewYork, 1980); tr. and comm. C. Mango and R. Scott, The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Oxford 1997 (chronicle)

Aboulathar; Theoph. Abu 'l-`Awar; Chron. 1234 ('bw l`wr), Mich. Syr. II 442, 446. 'Abhu 'l `ur; Bar Hebr. He led a second Arab naval expedition to Cyprus, after that of Mu`awiya 1; he captured and plundered Konstantia and much of the island and Lapethos escaped destruction only by surrendering all the valuables in the city; Abu 'l-`Awar then returned to Syria: Chron. 1234, §132 (pp. 271-272). In 654 (year 966 of the Greeks, 13 of Constans, 37 of the Arabs, 9 of Othman: Chron. 1234) he was put in charge of the Arab fleet and its preparation at Tripolis in Phoenice by Mu`awiya 1 (Ἀβουλαθὰρ δὲ ἀρχηγὸν κατέστησε τῆς αὐτῆς πλοιοποιΐας: Theoph. AM 6146); when it sailed he was in command; he encountered the Roman fleet under the emperor Constans II (Konstans 1) off Phoenix in Lycia, defeated it, and pursued the remnants as far as Rhodes; Constans II (Konstans 1) himself barely escaped with his life: Chron. 1234, §134 (pp. 274-75), Theoph. AM 6146. In or soon after the year 960 Sel. (648/649) Abu al-Ur led an Arab army against Cyprus; he plundered throughout the island and looted the city of Lapethos but did no harm to the people to whom he had given pledges of their safety; in the year 965 Sel. (653/654) he took the island of Kos through the treachery of the bishop (Anonymus 731), looting and killing and razing the fortress to the ground; he then plundered Crete and Rhodes where he had the Colossos pulled down and sold off; in A. H. 37 (June 657/June 658) he was sent by Mu'awiya 1 to Phoenicia with an army, and he defeated a Roman fleet under the emperor Constans II (Konstans 1): Bar Hebr., pp. 98-99, Mich. Syr. II 442, 446.

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