Al-Nu'mān ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Shuʿayb ibn ʿUmar al-Qurṭubī, known by the Byzantines as Anemas ( gr, Ἀνεμᾶς), was the son of the last

Emir of Crete The Emirate of Crete ( ar, إقريطش, Iqrīṭish or , ''Iqrīṭiya''; gr, Κρήτη, Krētē) was an Islamic state that existed on the Mediterranean island of Crete from the late 820s to Siege of Chandax, the reconquest of the island by t ...

Abd al-Aziz ibn Shu'ayb ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Shuʿayb ibn ʿUmar al-Qurṭubī al-Ballūṭī ( ar, عبد العزيز بن شعيب بن عمر القرطبي البلوطي), known as Kouroupas ( el, Κουρουπᾶς) in the Byzantine sources, was the tenth and last ...

. Following the

Siege of Chandax The siege of Chandax in 960-961 was the centerpiece of the Byzantine Empire's campaign to recover the island of Crete which since the 820s had been ruled by Muslim Arabs. The campaign followed a series of failed attempts to reclaim the island fro ...

and the reconquest of Crete by the Byzantines, Anemas and his father were taken as prisoners to

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

and displayed during the

triumph The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. For later imitations, in life or in art, see Trionfo. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectl ...

of the conqueror and future emperor

Nikephoros II Phokas Nikephoros II Phokas (; – 11 December 969), Latinized Nicephorus II Phocas, was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969. His career, not uniformly successful in matters of statecraft or of war, nonetheless included brilliant military exploits whi ...

. Upon settling in Constantinople, Anemas converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

and joined the Byzantine army as a member of the imperial bodyguard. When the emperor

John I Tzimiskes John I Tzimiskes (; 925 – 10 January 976) was the senior Byzantine emperor from 969 to 976. An intuitive and successful general, he strengthened the Empire and expanded its borders during his short reign. Background John I Tzimiskes ...

campaigned against the

Kievan Rus Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

in 971, Anemas joined the expedition and went on to fight in a number of engagements during the

Siege of Dorostolon The Battle of Dorostopol was fought in 971 between the Byzantine Empire and forces of Kievan Rus'. The Byzantines, led by John I Tzimiskes, were victorious. Background During the course of the Rus'-Bulgarian war, Svyatoslav I of Kiev overran th ...

. According to

Leo the Deacon Leo the Deacon ( el, Λέων ο Διάκονος) (born c. 950) was a Byzantine Greek historian and chronicler. He was born around 950 at Kaloe in Asia Minor, and was educated in Constantinople, where he became a deacon in the imperial palace. Whi ...

, during a sally of the besieged Rus, Anemas personally engaged and killed their second-in-command, Ikmor. On the next day (Leo gives it as Friday the 24th of July, but the 24th was a Monday) the Rus launched a determined all-out attack around sunset, hoping to break through. Anemas charged the Rus leader,

Sviatoslav Sviatoslav (russian: Святосла́в, Svjatosláv, ; uk, Святосла́в, Svjatosláv, ) is a Russian and Ukrainian given name of Slavic origin. Cognates include Svetoslav, Svatoslav, , Svetislav. It has a Pre-Christian pagan charact ...

, and struck him on the neck, throwing him off his horse; his armour however saved Sviatoslav, and the Rus quickly came to his aid and attacked Anemas. The latter was able to kill several, but in the end was killed himself. The Rus then charged with renewed confidence, but were beaten back with heavy casualties, forcing Sviatoslav to capitulate and sign a treaty with Tzimiskes. It is possible that the

Anemas Anemas ( gr, Ἀνεμᾶς) was the name of a Byzantine Empire, Byzantine aristocratic family, attested from the 9th to the 15th centuries. The origin and etymology of the name are uncertain; it may be connected to ''anemos'', "wind", although th ...

family that appears in the Byzantine aristocracy in the 11th–12th centuries were his descendants.

References

Sources

* * * {{cite book , editor1-first = Alice-Mary , editor1-last = Talbot , editor2-first = Dennis F. , editor2-last = Sullivan , title = The History of Leo the Deacon: Byzantine Military Expansion in the Tenth Century , publisher = Dumbarton Oaks , year= 2005 , isbn= 978-0-88402-324-1 , location=Washington, DC, url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RCDsV41k8A0C 971 deaths 10th-century Arabs 10th-century Byzantine people Byzantine people of Arab descent Converts to Christianity from Islam Byzantines killed in battle Emirate of Crete Year of birth unknown