1 The Umayyad Siege of Constantinople (717-718) “Because of the frequent assumpon of imperial power and the prevalence of usurpaon, the affairs of the empire and the city were being neglected and declined; educaon destroyed, and military organizaon crumbled.” 1 “When I lie on carpets drinking a morning draught in Dayr Murrān with Umm Kulthūm What do I care about troops suffering from fever and smallpox at Chalcedon?” 2 A: The Umayyad Caliphate After recovering from the rigors of the civil war, the Umayyad Caliphate embarked on a novel wave of expansion into North Africa, Iberia, Central Asia, and northwestern India. Its borders stretched from Iberia to Chinese Turkistan and from the Caucasus to Yemen, while mujahideen (jihad warriors) cherished dreams of further conquests. The concept of continuous universal jihad against the non-Muslim world was deeply rooted in the minds of the early caliphs. The Arab population regarded the occupation of infidel lands as a measure of success and any pause in hostilities as a potential disaster. 3 Unlike the Roman imperial ideology, the Umayyad rulers developed a new philosophy of power in line with the principles of Islam. They aimed to provide a new religious, cultural, and economic identity, replacing existing practices. The Dome of the Rock superseded the ruined Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Imageless gold and silver coins bearing a Hijri date and a mandate from the Quran supplanted Byzantine coinage, which featured depictions of the emperor and Jesus Christ. Additionally, Arabic ousted Greek as the language of the caliphate bureaucracy. 4 1 Nikephoros, Patriarch of Constannople, Short History. (Washington: Dumbarton Oaks, 1990), 121 2 Cited in Marek Jankowiak, The First Arab Siege of Constannople. In: Constann Zuckerman (ed.), Construcng the Seventh Century. (Paris: Associaon des Amis du Centre d’Histoire et Civilisaon de Byzance, 2013), 291 3 Khalid Yahya Blankinship, The End of the Jihad State. (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994), 19-20 4 Blankinship, 28; Andrew Palmer, The Seventh Century in the West-Syrian Chronicles. (Liverpool University Press, 1993), 204 & 209