CONQUESTS OF THE SARACENS. 305 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CONQUESTS OF THE SARACENS. 



Disputes in choosing a Successor to Mohammed— Abu Beker 

 elected Caliph— Ali refuses Submission— Turbulent State of 

 the Empire— Invasion of Syria— Success of the Saracens — 

 Capture of Bosra— Siege of Damascus— Battle of Aiznadin— 

 Surrender of Damascus— Death of Abu Beker— Accession of 

 Omar— Pursuit and Plunder of the Damascene Exiles— Action 

 at the Fair of Abyla— Battle of Yermouk— Siege and Capitu- 

 lation of Jerusalem— Journey of the Caliph to that CapUal— 

 Surrender of Aleppo— The Castle besieged and taken by 

 Stratagem— Reduction of Antioch— Flight of Heraclius— 

 Subjugation of Syria and Palestine— Disgrace and Death of 

 Khaled— Invasion of Persia— Battle of Cadesia— Occupation 

 of Madayn— Immense Booty— Battle of Nahavund— Defeat 

 and Death of Yezdijird— Final Conquest of Persia. 



It was a political error in Mohammed, and one 

 that proved fatal to the unity and stability of his em- 

 pire, that he neglected to name his immediate suc- 

 cessor, or lay down regulations for filling the vacant 



Saraka, a city of the Nabathaeans, Sahara, a desert, and an Ara- 

 bic word signifying a thief, have all been adopted as the .true 

 etymon of the name.— Stephan. de Urbibus. Hotting. Hist. Orient. 

 lib i cap. 1. Bocharti Opera,yo\. i. col. 213. Asseman, Bibhoth. 

 Orient, tome iv. p. 567. Abulfed. Geog. a Gagnier, p. 63. The 

 appellation has no allusion to any particular city, or any trait ot 

 national character. It comes from the Arabic word Sharak, and 

 means an Eastern People ; which the Saracens were m reference 

 to the Romans.— Pococfce, Specim. p. 33-35. Quid enim sonat 

 Saracenus quam Sharkion et in plurali Sharkiin, i. e. Orientes 

 incolas.— iVoife's Arab. Vocab. p. 105. It was not till after the 

 Roman conquests in Palestine that the name was known m 

 Europe when it superseded that of IshmaeUtes and Nabathffi- 

 ans It was obscurely applied by PUny and Ptolemy to certain 

 tribes, and used in a larger sense by Ammianus and Procopius. 

 But it w.^s not adopted as a national designation by the Chris- 

 tians until the year 715, in the reign of the CaUph Wahd.— 

 Marigny, Hist, des Arab, tome ii. p. 393. 



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