History of Palermo - Palermo Under Arab Rule

Palermo Under Arab Rule

See also: History of Islam in southern Italy and Emirate of Sicily

After the Byzantines were betrayed by admiral Euphemius who fled to Tunisia in 827 and begged the Aghlabid leader Ziyadat Allah to help him there was a Muslim conquest of Sicily, putting in place the Emirate of Sicily. The Aghlabids were good administrators. Under their rule Sicily became a rich and flourishing land.

The Arab rulers allowed the natives freedom of religion on the condition that they paid a tax. Although their rule was short in time, it was then that Palermo (Balharm during Arab rule) displaced Syracuse as the prime city of Sicily; it was said to have competed with Córdoba and Cairo in terms of importance and splendor. In general, the Arab rule was tolerant, and Jews also had their space and were allowed to prosper.

The Arabs also introduced many agricultural items which remain a mainstay of Sicilian cuisine. After dynasty related quarrels however, there was a Christian reconquest in the form of the Normans from the Duchy of Normandy, descendants of the Vikings; the family who returned the city to Christianity were called the Hautevilles . Palermo was conquered in 831 by Arabs from North Africa and became the capital of the Arabian Emirate of Sicily until 1072, when it returned under Christian rule due largely to the efforts of Robert Guiscard and his army. For more than two hundred years Palermo was the capital of a flourishing Islamic civilisation in Sicily. By 1050, Palermo had a population of 350,000, making it one of the largest cities in Europe, second only to Islamic Spain's capital Córdoba, which had a population of 450,000.

Traces of the ancient Arab domination can be seen still today. Muslim artifacts include the Kasr ("Castle"), on the cape of the Paleopolis, the district of the great mosque, the Kalsa ("Elected"), the emirs’ seat along the sea, the area of the Schiavoni ("slaves"), crossed by the Papireto river; and, in the western region, the Moasker, the soldiers' quarter.

However, the Arab emirate became increasingly torn by inner disputes and was a rather easy prey for the Normans, who had entered Sicily in 1061. In 1072, after four years of siege, Palermo fell to Count Roger I of Sicily, ending the Arab presence in Sicily.