The Battle of Caltavuturo was fought in 881 or 882 between the
Byzantine Empire and the
Aghlabid emirate of
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 ...
, during the
Muslim conquest of Sicily. It was a major Byzantine victory, although it could not reverse the
Muslim conquest of Sicily.
In 880, a succession of naval successes under the admiral
Nasar
Nasar ( el, Νάσαρ), originally baptized Basil ( el, Βασίλειος),. was a distinguished Byzantine Empire, Byzantine military leader in the Byzantine–Arab Wars, Byzantine–Arab conflicts of the latter half of the 9th century.
Biograph ...
allowed the
Byzantine emperor Basil I the Macedonian to envisage a counter-offensive against the
Aghlabids in
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 ...
and
Sicily. In Sicily, however, the Aghlabids still held the upper hand: in spring 881, the Aghlabid governor
al-Hasan ibn al-Abbas raided the remaining Byzantine territories and in the process defeated the local commander,
Barsakios, near
Taormina.
In the next year, however,
AH 268 (881/2
CE), according to the
Ibn al-Athir (''
The Complete History'', VII.370.5–7), the Byzantines had their revanche, defeating an Aghlabid army under Abu Thawr so completely that reportedly only seven men survived. The victorious Byzantine commander is identified by modern historians with
Mosilikes, who is known to have served in the area in the early 880s. According to the hagiography of the
Patriarch of Constantinople
The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...
Ignatios, the general invoked the patriarch during the battle, and he appeared on a white horse in the air before him, advising him to launch his attack towards the right. Mosilikes followed the advice, and won. The battle gave its name to the locality: the 12th-century geographer
Muhammad al-Idrisi records the ''Qalʿat Abī Thawr'' ("Castle of Abū Ṯhawr"), which is the origin of the modern name
Caltavuturo.
Over the next years, the Muslims launched several raids against
Catania
Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
, Taormina, and "the king's city" (possibly
Polizzi) in 883, against
Rometta and Catania in 884, and again against Catania and Taormina in 885. These expeditions were successful in so far as they yielded sufficient booty or tribute to pay the army, but failed to capture any Byzantine strongholds.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Caltavuturo, Battle of
880s conflicts
Caltavuturo
Muslim conquest of Sicily
Caltavuturo
Caltavuturo