CALIPHS or BAGDAD. 27 



their Syrian inroads, tho Greeks reduced more than 

 100 cities ; eiijhteen pulpits of the principal mosques 

 were committed to the tlames, to expiate the sacri- 

 lege of the disciples of Mohammed. On the shift- 

 in": scene of conquest, the names of Hierapolif>, 

 Apamca, Emesa, Acre, and Baalbec, again appear. 

 The Emperor Zimisces encamped in the Paradi.se 

 of Damascus, where he accepted the ransom of a 

 submissive people ; and the torrent was only stopped 

 at tlie impregnable fortress of Tripoh, on the Phe- 

 nician coast. 



From the passage of iMount Taurus to the Persian 

 CiUlf, the Euphrates had been impervious to the 

 Greeks since the days of Heraclius. It was crossed 

 by the victorious Zimisces: and the historian may 

 imitate the speed with which he overran the once 

 famous cities of Samosata, Edessa, Martyropolis, 

 Amida, and Nisibis, the ancient limit of the Roman 

 empire in the neighbourhood of the Tigris. His 

 ardour was quickeried by the desire of grasping tho 

 imaginary v/ealih of the Abbassides in their own 

 capital. But Bagdad was reheved of its apprehen- 

 sions by his sudden retreat. Satiated with glory 

 and laden with plunder, Zimisces returned to Con- 

 stantinople, where he displayed in his triumph the 

 silks and aromatics of Asia, with 300 myriads of 

 gold and silver. The Saracen states recovered from 

 the effects of this transient hurricane. On the de- 

 parture of the Greeks, the fugitive princes returned 

 to their capitals; the Ncstorian and Jacobite Ghris- 

 Cians broke their involuntary oaths and exch.anged 

 vheir allegiance ; while the Moslems again purified' 

 th.'ir temples, and overturned the images of the 

 •ajjus and martyrs. Antioch, with the towns of 

 Cilicla and the isle of Cyprus, were the only per- 

 tuanent and useful accessions to the Byzantine tei--' 

 k'itories of uil the imperial conquests in the East. 



But the revovijiy of so many cities and provinces 

 added nothinc lo iKs; exhausted power of the Abbas- 



