In 647 CE (26 AH), Gregory the Patrician, a Byzantine exarch who had rebelled against Emperor Constans II (r. 641-668), faced an invading Rashidun force near Sufetula (modern Sbeitla, Tunisia).
Arabic sources such as al-Balādhurī and later al-Ṭabarī describe the Muslim army under ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd as numbering roughly 20,000 men (though early medieval figures are notoriously inflated).
Byzantine-African forces may have been comparable or larger, possibly reinforced by Berber contingents.
According to Islamic tradition, Gregory promised his daughter’s hand in marriage to whichever soldier the killed Abd Allāh ibn Saʿd.
Instead, Gregory himself was killed in battle.
The same sources claim that ʿAbd Allāh then offered Gregory’s daughter to the Muslim warrior who had slain Gregory – an almost literary reversal.
While the anecdote cannot be independently verified from Byzantine sources, it reflects the intensely personal nature of 7th-century command structures and the symbolic capital attached to dynastic marriage.
Strategically, the battle forced Byzantine Africa to pay tribute reportedly amounting to 300 talents (some later sources inflate this to 2.5 million dinars). Although the Muslims withdrew, Sufetula exposed the vulnerability of the Exarchate of Africa. Within 51 years, Carthage would fall permanently to Muslim forces (698 CE).
magnidwarf1900 on
“I also choose that guy daughter”
Muted_Guidance9059 on
Thought this was going to be about Caracalla’s red wedding for the first half
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In 647 CE (26 AH), Gregory the Patrician, a Byzantine exarch who had rebelled against Emperor Constans II (r. 641-668), faced an invading Rashidun force near Sufetula (modern Sbeitla, Tunisia).
Arabic sources such as al-Balādhurī and later al-Ṭabarī describe the Muslim army under ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd as numbering roughly 20,000 men (though early medieval figures are notoriously inflated).
Byzantine-African forces may have been comparable or larger, possibly reinforced by Berber contingents.
According to Islamic tradition, Gregory promised his daughter’s hand in marriage to whichever soldier the killed Abd Allāh ibn Saʿd.
Instead, Gregory himself was killed in battle.
The same sources claim that ʿAbd Allāh then offered Gregory’s daughter to the Muslim warrior who had slain Gregory – an almost literary reversal.
While the anecdote cannot be independently verified from Byzantine sources, it reflects the intensely personal nature of 7th-century command structures and the symbolic capital attached to dynastic marriage.
Strategically, the battle forced Byzantine Africa to pay tribute reportedly amounting to 300 talents (some later sources inflate this to 2.5 million dinars). Although the Muslims withdrew, Sufetula exposed the vulnerability of the Exarchate of Africa. Within 51 years, Carthage would fall permanently to Muslim forces (698 CE).
“I also choose that guy daughter”
Thought this was going to be about Caracalla’s red wedding for the first half