ʿAmmar ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī () was a member of the
Kalbid
The Kalbids () were a Muslim Arab dynasty in the Emirate of Sicily, which ruled from 948 to 1053. They were formally appointed by the Fatimids, but gained, progressively, ''de facto'' autonomous rule.
History
In 827, in the midst of internal ...
family and a military commander for the
Fatimid Caliphate
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the ea ...
in its
wars
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
with the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
in
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
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and
southern Italy
Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half.
The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...
in the 950s.
Biography
As evidenced by his ''
nisba
The Arabic word nisba (; also transcribed as ''nisbah'' or ''nisbat'') may refer to:
* Nisba, a suffix used to form adjectives in Arabic grammar, or the adjective resulting from this formation
**comparatively, in Afro-Asiatic: see Afroasiatic_lang ...
'', Ammar hailed from the Arab
Banu Kalb
The Banu Kalb ( ar, بنو كلب) was an Arab tribe which mainly dwelt in the desert between northwestern Arabia and central Syria. The Kalb was involved in the tribal politics of the eastern frontiers of the Byzantine Empire, possibly as early ...
tribe, and belonged to an aristocratic family established in
Ifriqiya
Ifriqiya ( '), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna ( ar, المغرب الأدنى), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia and eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (today's western Libya). It included all of what had previously ...
since the
Muslim conquest of the Maghreb
The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb ( ar, الْفَتْحُ الإسلَامِيُّ لِلْمَغرِب) continued the century of rapid Muslim conquests following the death of Muhammad in 632 and into the Byzantine-controlled territories of ...
. The family had evidently embraced the
Fatimid
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dy ...
regime after the overthrow of the
Aghlabids
The Aghlabids ( ar, الأغالبة) were an Arab dynasty of emirs from the Najdi tribe of Banu Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya and parts of Southern Italy, Sicily, and possibly Sardinia, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a cen ...
in 909, and his father Ali had served the Fatimids with distinction, being killed by the rebellious populace in
Agrigento
Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one of ...
in 938. Along with his brother
Hasan, Ammar belonged to the close circle around
Jawdhar
Jawdhar ( ar, جوذر, before 909March 973), surnamed al-Ustadh ( ar, الأستاذ, , the Master), was a eunuch slave who served the Fatimid caliphs al-Qa'im, al-Mansur, and al-Mu'izz as chamberlain and ''de facto'' chief minister until his ...
, the powerful chamberlain and chief minister of Caliph
al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah
Abu Tahir Isma'il ( ar, أبو طاهر إسماعيل, Abū Ṭāhir ʾIsmāʿīl; January 914 – 18 March 953), better known by his regnal name al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah (), was the third caliph of the Fatimid Caliphate in Ifriqiya, ruling from ...
.
In spring or early summer 956, Caliph
al-Mu'izz
Abu Tamim Ma'ad al-Muizz li-Din Allah ( ar, ابو تميم معد المعزّ لدين الله, Abū Tamīm Maʿad al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh, Glorifier of the Religion of God; 26 September 932 – 19 December 975) was the fourth Fatimid calip ...
dispatched him to
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
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at the head of a
fleet
Fleet may refer to:
Vehicles
*Fishing fleet
*Naval fleet
*Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles
*Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company
Places
Canada
*Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet
England
* The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beach, ...
, to confront the
Byzantines. Ammar inflicted a heavy defeat on the Byzantine fleet, and the Fatimids under Ammar's brother Hasan and
Jawhar al-Siqilli
Al-Qaid Jawhar ibn Abdallah ( ar, جوهر بن عبد الله, Jawhar ibn ʿAbd Allāh, better known as Jawhar al Siqilli, al-Qaid al-Siqilli (The Sicilian General); died 28 April 992) was a Shia Muslim Fatimid general from the Byzantine (Easte ...
scored further victories and raided
Calabria
, population_note =
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. The local Byzantine commander,
Marianos Argyros
Marianos Argyros ( el, Μαριανός Ἀργυρός, – 16 August 963) was a Byzantine aristocrat and member of the Argyros family. A monk, in 944 he supported the assumption of sole rule by Constantine VII, and was allowed to leave the mon ...
, visited the caliphal court and arranged for truce, but it was soon broken and warfare resumed. In spring 957, Ammar crossed from Sicily to Calabria, but the Fatimids themselves suffered heavy losses in a storm. Another effort by Argyros to renew the truce in autumn failed, and in the next year, Ammar and Hasan defeated his forces in Sicily; but soon after, as the Fatimid fleet was returning from Calabria to Sicily, it was again wrecked in a storm off
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
, in which Ammar perished (on 24 September 958, according to the ''
Cambridge Chronicle
The ''Cambridge Chronicle'' is a weekly newspaper that serves Cambridge, Massachusetts. The newspaper was founded by Andrew Reid in May 1846 and is the oldest weekly newspaper in the United States.Cambridge Chronicle, May 30, 1996 Owned by Ganne ...
'';
al-Maqrizi
Al-Maqrīzī or Maḳrīzī (Arabic: ), whose full name was Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-'Abbās Aḥmad ibn 'Alī ibn 'Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Maqrīzī (Arabic: ) (1364–1442) was a medieval Egyptian Arab historian during the Mamluk era, kn ...
places these events two years earlier). As a result, al-Mu'izz accepted new Byzantine proposals for a renewed five-year truce. Ammar's body was recovered among the wreckage, and buried by his brother Hasan in Sicily.
Ammar's son
Hasan also served against the Byzantines in Sicily and Italy before going to newly conquered
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
, where he rose to become chief minister under Caliph
al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah
Abū ʿAlī Manṣūr (13 August 985 – 13 February 1021), better known by his regnal name al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh ( ar, الحاكم بأمر الله, lit=The Ruler by the Order of God), was the sixth Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismaili ima ...
in 996–997, before being overthrown and executed by
Bajarwan
Abū'l-Futūh Barjawān al-Ustādh (عَبْدُ الْفُتُوحِ بَرْجَوَانِ الْأُسْتَاذِ; died 25/26 March 1000) was a eunuch palace official who became the prime minister ('' wāsiṭa'') and ''de facto'' regent of th ...
.
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ammar ibn Ali al-Kalbi
10th-century Arabs
Admirals of the Fatimid Caliphate
Kalbids
Fatimid people of the Arab–Byzantine wars
10th-century people from the Fatimid Caliphate
Sicily under the Fatimid Caliphate
958 deaths
Deaths by drowning
Year of birth unknown