Доклады Международного конгресса ИИСАА. Т. 1

II. Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia / Ближний Восток, Кавказ и Центральная Азия 116 Proceedings of the International Congress on Historiography and Source Studies of Asia and Africa.Vol. I. 2020 between the year 904, the time Leo of Tripoli sacked Thessaloniki and sailed to Crete after stopping in Naxos, and the year 949 during which the Byzantines under- took an expedition for the recovery of Crete. The exact date of this expedition is reported in a document inserted in the work of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, De ceremonii aulae byzantinae , called Stadiodromicon , which demonstrates the itinerary of the Byzantine fleet from Constantinople to Crete via Naxos, 1 but it does not mention that the inhabitants of Naxos continued to have the above-mentioned tax arrangement. No doubt, such friendly stable relations between the local people and the Arabs of Crete were limited to a few islands situated near Crete, e.g. the small island of Dia across Handax, the capital of the Emirate of Crete. 2 In contrast, the island of Cythera, located at the westernmost corner of the maritime front between Byzantium and the Emirate of Crete, had become a constant battle field. 3 To conclude, after careful scrutiny, the often relevant, overlooked hagiographical sources are useful to complete our knowledge about concrete but elliptic historical events. References 1. AbuljadaylAisha. The death of King Dhū Nuwās (ca 517–525 CE) in the Himyarite Inscriptions, Syriac, Greek and Arabic sources: His Military and Religious Policy // Christides V. (ed). Interrelations between the Peoples of the Near East and Byzantium in Pre-Islamic Times. Cordoba, 2015. P 11–23. 1 See Christides V. The Conquest of Crete by the Arabs. P. 221–224; Haldon J. Theory and Practice in Tenth-Century Military Administration: Chapters II, 44 and 45 of the Book of Ceremonies // Travaux et Mémoires . 2000. 13. P. 218–235, esp. 234–235; Pryor J. H. The Σταδιοδρομικόν of the De Cerimoniis of Constantine VII, ByzantineWarships, and the Cretan Expedition of 949 // Chrysostomides J., Dendrinos Ch., Harris J. (eds.). The Greek Islands and the Sea. Camberley, Surrey, 2004. P. 77–83. 2 Christides V. The MaritimeArab-Byzantine Frontier in the SouthernAegean (ca. 824/6– 961): Cythera, Naxos, Paros, Elaphonesos, Dia. P. 646–647. 3 For Cythera, see Coldstream J. N., Huxley G. L. (eds.) Kythera, Excavations and Stud- ies Conducted by the University of Pennsylvania Museum and the British School of Athens. London, 1972; Leontsini M. Όψεις του κυθηραϊκού τοπίου από τους σχολαστικούς υπομνη- ματισμούς στην αγιολογική αναπαράσταση // Α´ Διεθνές Συνέδριο Κυθηραϊκών Μελετών Ι. [Views of the Cytherean Landscape from the Scholarly Remarks on the Hagiographical Reproductions // First International Conference of Cytherean Studies I]. Cythera, 2003. P. 310. For a hagiographical source with valuable information about the Arab-Byzantine struggle in the southernAegean in the tenth century, see Oikonomides N. A. Ο βίος τουΑγίου Θεοδώρου Κυθήρων (10 ος αι.) (12 Μαΐου-ΒΗG 3 , αρ. 2430) // Πρακτικά Τρίτου Πανιονίου Συνεδρίου. [The Life of St. Theodore of Cythera (10 th c.) (12 May-BHG 3 , no. 2430) // Proceedings of the Third Panionian Conference]. Athens, 1967. P. 264–291.