História - Revista da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto (Jan 2014)

Apontamentos sobre a primeira embaixada bizantina em Córdova

  • Elsa Cardoso

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4
pp. 133 – 143

Abstract

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In the year of 839/840 (225 of the Hijrah) the first Byzantine embassy carrying a letter from Emperor Teophilus arrives at the capital of al-Andalus, Cordoba, under the rule of Emir ‘Abd ar-Rahman II. The dispatch of this embassy clearly falls within the process of the oriental influence of al-Andalus as well as within the undergoing shift of supremacy in the Mediterranean of that time. Through the historical accounts in the sources al-Muqtabis II-1 by Ibn Hayyan and Nafh at-tib min ghosn al-Andalus ar-ratib wa Tarikh Lisan Addin bin Al-Khatib by al-Makkari, I shall discuss the aims of the embassy and the motivation of its dispatch in 839/840 in the framework of the historical and political circumstances of the Mediterranean. This article must be read as an essay which attempts to appreciate the meaning of this embassy, as it is part of the undergoing research thesis project of its author.

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