Доклады Международного конгресса ИИСАА. Т. 1

II. Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia / Ближний Восток, Кавказ и Центральная Азия 114 Proceedings of the International Congress on Historiography and Source Studies of Asia and Africa.Vol. I. 2020 therefore, there was no reason for the Christians to send away the relics of these saints to safeguard them from the Muslims. 1 In addition, the coffin with the relics of St. Eulalia still resides in Spain (Fig. 2). 2 In spite of the fabricated legend concerning the removal of the relics of these saints, I believe that certain information of historical value can be discerned in the above narration. The author reports that a new situation prevailed in the southern Aegean after the Arab conquest of Crete. The Byzantine naval supremacy was overturned, and the Arabs of Crete expanded their dominion towards the Greek islands. Although a number of the attacks by the Arabs of the Emirate of Crete on the Greek islands were raids for plunder, they were also aimed at the expansion of Dār al-Islām (area of Islam), reviving the maritime jihād of the Umayyads. Unfor- tunately, a number of modern historians, basing their views on the exaggerations of Byzantine hagiographical works, describe the Emirate of Crete as a corsairs’ nest solely engaged in piratical raids and slave trade, confusing the period of the 9 th –11 th century with the much later chaotic situation in the Aegean, especially during the Ottoman period (13 th –15 th century) 3 and the much later period (17 th –18 th century). 4 Avivid example of this confusion appears in Mentis’ statement “from the 9 th until the 19 th century, Germans, Sicilians, Turks, Algerians, Corsicans, French, Spaniards, and others, were active in the Aegean, among them famous pirates such as Barbarosa, Kourtoglou, etc.” 5 1 Professor J. P. Monferrer-Sala was kind enough to inform me that Barcelona as late as the year 960 was in the hands of the Christians, specifically in the hands of Borrel II, Count of Barcelona, and that much later, in 985, al-Manṣur sacked this city. 2 Christides V. The Maritime Arab-Byzantine Frontier in the Southern Aegean (ca. 824/6–961): Cythera, Naxos, Paros, Elaphonesos, Dia. P. 645 and fig. 3. 3 Panopoulou Angeliki. Episodi di pirateria nello spazio marittimo di Cerigo tra il XIII et il XVIII secolo // Koumanoudi Marina, Maltezou Chryssa (eds). Venezia e Cerigo, Atti del Simposio Internazionale. Venezia, 6–7 dicembre 2002. Venice, 2003. P. 133–143. 4 Patramani Maria G. Πειρατεία και κούρσος στα Κύθηρα και η θέση των βενετικών αρχών (17 ος –18 ος αι.) // Η´ Διεθνές Πανιόνιο Συνέδριο (Κύθηρα, 21–25 Μαΐου 2006). Πρακτικά. [Piracy and Pillaging in Cythera and the Attitude of the Venetian Authorities (17 th– 18 th c.) // 8 th International Panionian Conference (Cythera, 21–25 May 2006). Proceedings]. Cythera, 2009. Vol. III. P. 444–455. 5 Mentis C. Η κοινωνικο-πολιτισμική εξέλιξη του Σμιγοπέλαγου Πολιτισμού και η Ένωση του πρώτου κατοικημένου νησιού των Επτανήσων με την Ελλάδα // Η´ Διεθνές Πανιόνιο Συνέδριο (Κύθηρα, 21–25 Μαΐου 2006). Πρακτικά. [The Socio-Cultural Development of the Smigopelagos Culture and the Unification of the First Inhabited Island of the Seven Islands with Greece // 8 th International Panionian Conference (Cythera, 21–25 May 2006). Proceedings]. Cythera, 2009. Vol. III. P. 329. For the confusion of the situation in the earlier period in the Aegean with that of the later period see Christides V. Piracy, Privateering and Maritime Violent Actions: Maritime Violent Activities of the Taifa of Denia in Spain (11 th c.) vs. the Arab Maritime Jihād in the Eastern Mediterranean from the middle of the 7 th –11 th  c. //