which still held for the Emperor, and having instructed this officer to watch for Sergius and arrest him if he passed that way, went on to a place called Amnesia. Here Sergius was brought as a prisoner, and Andrew avenged the insult to himself by having him mutilated and then hanged. Sapor now advanced to Hadrianopolis in Bithynia; and Mu'āwiya sent Faḍāla to his assistance, while Constantine sent Nicephorus to oppose him. But, while Sapor was riding before the walls, his horse bolted and dashed his head against the gate, which caused his death. His men then returned to their allegiance; and Faḍāla, who had only reached Hexapolis, was obliged to ask for reinforcements, which were sent under Mu'āwiya's son, Yazīd, while a fleet under another Yazīd supported the army. The Arabs advanced to Chalcedon, and in spring 669 crossed to Thrace and attacked Constantinople, which was defended by Constantine (usually known as Pogonatus), now reigning Emperor. No serious siege was however undertaken; and in the summer pestilence and lack of food compelled them to retire: but on their way back they took Amorium, in which a garrison was placed. During the winter however Andrew surprised the town by night in deep snow and slew the Arabs to a man.
In 670 Faḍāla came again by sea to the Propontis and wintered at Cyzicus; and during the years 668-671 other lesser raids took place. In 672 Busr carried off numerous prisoners, and in 673 another great effort was made. A fleet under Mahomet wintered at Smyrna, and another under Ḳais in Lycia, with which an army under Sufyān co-operated, and a colony was settled in Rhodes, while an attack on Constantinople was being planned, to meet which Constantine prepared fireships provided with Greek fire, the invention of the Syrian architect Callinicus. On the arrival of reinforcements the combined fleet appeared before Constantinople in spring 674, and after occupying Cyzicus assailed the city without success from April to September, and returned to Cyzicus for the winter. The same year Faḍāla and 'Abdallāh wintered in Crete; and other expeditions were made every year without important result: but meanwhile the fleet at Cyzicus attacked Constantinople each year down to 677,[1] when the loss in men and ships compelled it to withdraw. On its return it suffered severely from a storm off the Pamphylian coast, what remained of it was attacked by the division of the Roman fleet which from the town of Cibyra in Pamphylia was called Cibyrrhaeotae, and few, if any, ships returned home. This disaster and the Mardaite invasion of Phoenice and Palestine (678) caused Mu'āwiya for the second time to buy peace by paying tribute. The colony in Rhodes was now withdrawn, and the fortress of Camacha on the Euphrates, which the Arabs had after two earlier unsuccessful attempts taken in 679, restored. The garrison in Cyprus was removed by Yazīd, but the island continued to
- ↑ The invitation to the pope in 678 to send deputies to Constantinople shews that the siege did not last beyond 677.
