ped afterwards, rose in rebellion at Kufa in 864, and
was killed in battle. It is reported that the caliph even permitted one
of his buffoons to turn the person of Ali into mockery.

In the year 848-849 Ibn Ba'ith, who had rendered good service in the war
against Babak, but had for some cause been arrested, fled from Samarra
to Marand in Azerbaijan and revolted. Not without great difficulty
Bogha, the Turkish general, succeeded in taking the town and making Ibn
Ba'ith prisoner. He was brought before Motawakkil and died in prison. In
the year 237 (A.D. 851-852) a revolt broke out in Armenia.
Notwithstanding a vigorous resistance, Bogha subdued and pacified the
province in the following year. In that same year, 852-853, the
Byzantines made a descent on Egypt with 300 vessels. 'Anbasa the
governor had ordered the garrison of Damietta to parade at the capital
Fostat. The denuded town was taken, plundered and burned. The Greeks
then destroyed all the fortifications at the mouth of the Nile near
Tinnis, and returned with prisoners and booty. The annual raids of
Moslems and Greeks in the border districts of Asia Minor were attended
with alternate successes, though on the whole the Greeks had the upper
hand. In 856 they penetrated as far as Amid (Diarbekr), and returned
with 10,000 prisoners. But in the year 859 the Greeks suffered a heavy
defeat with losses of men and cattle, the emperor Michael himself was in
danger, whilst the fleet of the Moslems captured and sacked Antalia.
This was followed by a truce and an exchange of prisoners in the
following year.

In 855 a revolt broke out in Homs (Emesa), where the harsh conditions
imposed by the caliph on the Christians and Jews had caused great
discontent. It was repressed after a vigorous resistance. A great many
leading men were flogged to death, all churches and synagogues were
destroyed and all the Christians banished.

In the year 851 the Boja (or Beja), a wild people living between the Red
Sea and the Nile of Upper Egypt, the Blemmyes of the ancients, refused
to pay the annual tribute, and invaded the land of the gold and emerald
mines, so that the working of the mines was stopped. The caliph sent
against them Mahommed al-Qommi, who subdued them in 856 and brought
their king Ali Baba to Samarra before Motawakkil, on condition that he
should be restored to his kingdom.

About this time Sijistan liberated itself from the supremacy of the
Tahirids. Ya'qub b. Laith al-Saffa