The failed siege of 868 and the conquest of Malta by the Aghlabid Princedom in 870

Abstract

Two books published in Tunisia in 2006 have direct relevance to the history of Malta during Arab rule. The first one, published by the Institut National du Patrimoine, consists of a two-volume work by Bahri Fathi entitled Les Hommes du pouvoir et les hommes du savoir en Ifnqiyya aglabide (184-296/800-909), wherein the author discusses the main personages that held power and knowledge during the time when Malta fell into the hands of the Arabs. The second publication, a festschrift entitled Les Communautis Miditerraniennes de Tunisie, Hommage au Doyen Mohamed Hidi Cherij, contains a number of articles that are of direct and indirect interest to Malta. There is one particular article on which I will be focusing my attention due to its relevance to Maltese medieval history: a paper by Faouzi Mahfoudh entitled 'Itiniraire d'un affranchi aghlabide: Kahalef(sic.}, un constructeur hors pair (203-254 de l'hegire/818-867)'. In my opinion, these two books bring to the fore some of the hidden dynamics behind the conquest of Malta by the Arabs and furnish an Arabic view of the rather complex and unclear history of how the islands of Malta and Gozo fell into Aghlabid hands at the end of a bloody period dominated by harsh wars and perpetual fighting between the Arabs and the Byzantines in the Central Mediterranean.