The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

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This, told by the I'yzantine writers, is not mentioned Ijy our annalist
;
A.T). 847-61] WAR WITH BYZANTINES 527
road between Ef^}-pt and Mecca. His tribe still held to A.H. 232-
their fetish faith, and 'All Baba shocked the men of
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Samarra by carrying with him an idol of stone, the object
of his daily worship. It is strange to see the heathen thus
tolerated and honoured with an important trust, while
Christian captives, refusing Islam, were put to death.
In Armenia, which in the war with Babek had been on Bogha's
friendly terms with the Muslim court, the overbearinp- -""^5'.'"
Armenia,
conduct of a Muslim general, who treacherously sent some 237-23S a.h.
of their patricians to Samarra, led to a serious outbreak, in
which the hated officer was slain and his troops cut to
pieces or scattered in the hills to perish in the cold. A
heavy campaign under Bogha "the elder" took a signal
revenge : 30,000 were slain, and great numbers sold into
slavery. Bogha then advanced to Tiflis, where a prince
of the Umeiyad line had established himself as indepenc'ent
ruler. The city, built of wood, was destroyed by streams
of naphtha, and 50,000 perished in the flames. He then
advanced to the shores of the Caspian and the Black Sea.
Certain Armenian princes were sent from thence to the
Caliph's court, who, refusing to accept Islam, fell mart\rs to
their faith.^
On the side of Asia Minor, the border was the scene Asia Minor,
of raids first by the Muslim troops and then by their
enemies. The Greeks carried off so many prisoners, that
thousands are said to have been put to death b}- the
Empress Theodora, and only those spared who embraced
the Christian faith. Some 900 men and women alone
were left for ransom.'- In the next few years, the Greeks
again advanced towards Syria and laid siege to Sumeisat
;
and then the Muslims, aided by the Paulician enemies of
the Emperor, made reprisals, carried off immense boot}'
in herds and flocks, and took the town of Lu'lu'a. It was
restored in return for a thousand captives, but bej-ond
this, and large moneys paid in ransom, no permanent gain
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