Editing Constantine IV (section)

==The First Arab Siege of Constantinople (667–669)==
{{main|Siege of Constantinople (674–678)}}

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While modern historiography traditionally placed the first Arab siege of Constantinople in 674–678, a new reconstruction of the events has re-dated it to 667–669.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Jankowiak |first=Marek |date=2013 |title=The First Arab Siege of Constantinople |journal=Travaux et Mémoires |volume=17 |pages=237–322}}</ref> In 663, Constantine's father, [[Constans II]], had moved the imperial residence to [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]], during which a large portion of the military was relocated to [[Sicily]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Prigent |first=Vivien |date=2010 |title="La Sicile de Constant II: l'apport des sources sigillographiques" |journal=In la Sicile de Byzance à l'slam, Neff, A. - Prigent, V. (Eds), Paris |pages=157–187}}</ref> This move exposed Constantinople to the danger of the Arab forces. The Arab forays in Anatolia had started already by c. 662/3 in the frontier zone of [[Malatya|Melitene]] shortly after [[Mu'awiya I|Muʿāwiya]] had emerged victorious from the internal civil strife in the Caliphate. One of those raids led by Busr b. Abī Artāt reportedly reached Constantinople plundering its immediate vicinity. The weakened Byzantine armies in the meantime were unable to check the Arab incursions. The situation was propitious for the Byzantine patrician and general of the [[theme of Armeniakon]], Saborios to revolt against the imperial government after having secured the backing of the Arabs. Muʿāwiya I saw in Saborios an unexpected ally and an opportune chance to invade further inland, taking advantage of the Byzantine armies' distress. Although the concerted plan never materialised as such due to the accidental death of Saborios, this did not hamper Muʿāwiya from advancing his plan to bring the Byzantine empire to heel. He launched the offensive in 667 with numerous forces that marched to Constantinople, while another number of his forces was sailing with the fleet to Constantinople. The command of the Arab armies marching to Constantinople had been entrusted by Muʿāwiya to his general and qādī of [[Damascus]], [[Fadālah b. ῾Ubayd al-Ansarī]].<ref name=":0" />

The army invaded the Byzantine territories by summer of 667 and through a number of raids and plundering arrived by the end of 667 at [[Chalcedon|Chalkedon]] where it spent the winter. Meanwhile, the Arab navy consisting of Egyptian and Syrian fleet units under the command of Muʿāwiya son, [[Yazid I|Yazīd b. Muʿāwiya]] was also sailing towards Constantinople which it reached by autumn 667. Among the comrades of Yazīd where four Companions of the Prophet and members of the Medinan aristocracy, to wit ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbbās paternal cousin of the Prophet and ancestor of the [[Abbasid dynasty|Abbasids]],  ʿAbdallāh b. ʿUmar the son of the second caliph and one of the most important transmitters of the hadith, [[Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr|ʿAbdallāh b. al-Zubayr]], son a sister of the Prophet's wife ʿ[[Aisha|Aʾisha]], grandson of [[Abu Bakr|Abū Bakr]] and future caliph during the civil war of 680-692, and [[Abu Ayyub al-Ansari|Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī]] who hosted the Prophet during his stay in [[Medina|Medīna]] according to the Arab historiographer [[Al-Tabari|al-Tabarī]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morony |first=Micheal (trnsl) |title=The History of al-Tabarī. 18, Between Civil Wars: the caliphate of Muʿāwiyah |publisher=The State University of New York Press |year=1987 |isbn=0-87395-933-7 |location=Albany |pages=48–49 AH |language=English}}</ref> The two contingents united after reaching the walls of Constantinople blockaded the capital, although no assault of importance took place until the end of winter of 667 but instead only plundering of the countryside. By spring of 668 the Arab forces strained their blockade and the capital was under siege for the whole of spring up to middle of June 668. However, the numerous Arab armies having wintered at camps were malnourished and soon they were suffering severe famine, whereas the outbreak of a smallpox epidemic decimated them in large numbers forcing Yasīd to lift the siege hurriedly. Nevertheless, the army and navy remained in [[Cyzicus]] from where they engaged in small scale battles and raids in the vicinity of Constantinople and its immediate countryside before they set sail back to Syria around 669/70.