The Arab Conquest of Egypt (639–642). Review of the perspectives of the first Muslim authors with reference to Alfred Butler’s narrative

Pavle Nikolić
Faculty of Philosophy, Belgrade
University of Belgrade, Serbia
nikolicpavle@protonmail.com
Research paper
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7787949

FULL TEXT IN PDF

Received: 10. 6. 2022.
Accepted: 18. 10. 2022.

Abstract: The early days of the Rashidun or Righteous Caliphate were imbued with conquests that flowed in all directions. Muslims found themselves at the head of a state that stretched across West Asia and North Africa in a relatively short period. The topic of the paper is the Arab conquest of Egypt, whose narrative has not changed much since Alfred Butler’s monograph, The Arab Conquest of Egypt and the Last Thirty Years of the Roman Dominion, ie. from the very beginning of the XX century. The goal is to connect recent research with the first narrative and compare the narratives presented in the first Muslim sources (al-Tabarī, Al-Ya’kūbī, and Аl-Balâdhuri) that testify to the campaign.

Keywords: ’Amr ibn-al-Ᾱṣī, Egypt, Rashidun Caliphate, al-Tabarī, Al-Ya’kūbī, and Аl-Balâdhuri

References:

Charles, Robert H. trans. The Chronicle of John, Bishop of Nikiu. London: Williams & Norgate, 1916.

Gordon, Matthew S., C. F. Robinson, E. K. Rowson and M. Fishbein, ed. The works of Ibn Wāḍiḥ al-Ya’qūbī. Volume I. Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2018.

Gordon, Matthew S., C. F. Robinson, E. K. Rowson and M. Fishbein, ed. The works of Ibn Wāḍiḥ al-Ya’qūbī. Volume III. Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2018.

Hitti, Philip K., trans. Kitâb Futûḥ al-Buldân of al-Imâm abu-l ‘Abbâs Aḥmad ibn-Jâbir al-Balâdhuri. Volume I. New York: Columbia University, 1916.

Juynboll, Gualtherüs H. A., trans. The History of al-Tabarī, Volume XII: The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah and the Conquest of Syria and Palestine. New York University Press, 1989.

Juynboll, Gualtherüs H. A., trans. The History of al-Tabarī, Volume XIII: The Conquest of Iraq, Southwestern Persia and Egypt. New York: New York University Press, 1989.

Rosenthal, Franz., trans. The History of al-Tabarī, Volume I: General Introduction and From the Creation to the Flood. New York: State University of New York Press, 1989.

Bearman, Peri J., Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W. P. Heinrichs, ed. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, volume X: T-U. Leiden: Brill, 2000.

Bearman, Peri J., Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W. P. Heinrichs, ed. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, volume XI: W-Z. Leiden: Brill, 2002.

Booth, Phil. “The Muslim conquest of Egypt reconsidered”. In Constructing the Seventh Century. Edited by C. Zuckerman, 639-670. Paris: Association des Amis du Centre d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance, 2013.

Bosworth, Clifford E., E. van Donzel, B. Lewis and Ch. Pellat, ed. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, volume VI: Mahk-Mid. Leiden: Brill, 1991.

Bosworth, Clifford E., E. van Donzel, W. P. Heinrichs and Ch. Pellat, ed. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, volume VII: Mif-Naz. Leiden: Brill, 1993.

Butler, Alfred J. The Arab Conquest of Egypt and the Last Thirty Years of the Roman Dominion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.

Clackson, Sarah J. “Papirology and the Utilization of Coptic Sources”. In Papyrology and the History of Early Islamic Egypt. Edited by P. M. Sijpesteijn & L. Sundelin, 21-45. Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2004.

Gascoigne, Alison. The Impact of the Arab Conquest on Late Roman Settlement in Egypt, Vol. I: Text, PhD diss., University of Cambridge, 2002.

Gibb Hamilton A. R., J. H. Kramers, E. Lévi-Provençal and J. Schacht, ed. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, volume I: A-B. Leiden: Brill, 1986.

Haas, Christopher. Alexandria in Late Antiquity: Topography and Social Conflict. Baltimore & London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1997.

Haldon, J. “Historicising Resilience: The Paradox of the Medieval East Roman State – Collapse, Adaptation, and Survival”. In Empires and Communities in the Post-Roman and Islamic World, C. 400-1000 CE. Edited by R. Kramer & W. Pohl, 89-120. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.

Hiti, Filip. Istorija Arapa od najstarijih vremena do danas, preveo P. Pejčinović. Sarajevo: Veselin Mаsleša, 1988.

Hurani, Albert.. Istorija arapskih naroda, prevela I. Funduk. Beograd: Klio, 2016. (ćirilica)

MacLeod, Roy, ed. The Library of Alexandria: Centre of Learning in the Ancient World. London & New York: I.B. Tauris, 2004.

Ostrogorski, Georgije. Istorija Vizantije. Beograd: Miba books, 2017. (ćirilica)

Pattenden, Philip. Review: Alfred J. Butler and Peter M. Fraser, ed., The Arab Conquest and the Last Thirty Years of the Roman Dominion, containing also The Treaty of Misr in Tabarī (1913) and Babylon of Egypt (1914). The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. XXX, No. 2 (1980).

Kaegi, Walter E. “Egypt on the eve of the Muslim conquest”. In The Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. I. Edited by C. F. Petry, 34-61. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Picard, Christophe. Sea of the Caliphs, The Mediterranean in the Medieval Islamic World, translated by Nicholas Elliott. Cambridge & London: Harvard University Press, 2018.

Sijpesteijn, Petra M. “The Arab conquest of Egypt and the beginning of Muslim rule”. In Egypt in the Byzantine World 300-700. Edited by R. S. Bagnall, 437-460. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Stratos, Andreas N. Byzantium in the Seventh Century, 636-641, translated by H. T. Hionides. Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 1972.

Velajati, Ali A. Istorija kulture i civilizacije islama i Irana, preveo Muamer Halilović. Beograd: Centar za religijske studije “Kom”, 2016.

Whealey, Alice. Muslim Motives for Conquering the Byzantine Empire 634-720: The Evidence from Eastern Christian Sources, Russian History 30 (2013).