CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 27 



their Syrian inroads, the Greeks reduced more than 

 100 cities ; eighteen pulpits of the principal mosques 

 were committed to the ^imes, to expiate the sacri- 

 lege of the disciples of Mohammed. On the shift- 

 ing scene of conquest, the names of Hierapolis, 

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

 The Emperor Zimisces encamped in the Paradise 

 of Damascus, where he accepted the ransom of a 

 submissive people ; and the torrent was only stopped 

 at the impregnable fortress of Tripoli, on the Phe- 

 nician coast. 



From the passage of Mount Taurus to the Persian 

 Gulf, 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 Samos-ata, Edessa, Martyropolis, 

 Amida, and Nisibis, the ancient limit of the Roman 

 empire in the neighbourhood of the Tigris. His 

 ardour was quickened by the desire of grasping the 

 imaginary wealth of the Abbassides in their own 

 capital. But Bagdad was relieved 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 

 lo their capitals ; the Nestorian and Jacobite Chris- 

 tians broke their involuntary oaths and exchanged 

 <heir allegiance ; while the Moslems again purified 

 iheir temples, and overturned the images of the 

 «iainis and martyrs. Antioch, with the towns of 

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

 manent ai\d useful accessions to the Byzantine ter- 

 ritories Oi iiil tne imperial conquests in the East. 



But the ibcovory of so many cities and provinces 

 added nothing ;o vKe exhausted power of the Abbas* 



