32 CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 



and of his assassin and successor John Zimisces, the 

 two heroes of the age, form the most splendid period 

 of the Byzantine annals. In a series of bloody com- 

 bats, they extended their victories from the moun- 

 tainous denies of Cappadocia to the deserts of Bag- 

 dad. The conquest of Cilicia may be said to have 

 been achieved by the surrender of Masifiya or Mop- 

 suestia, and Tarsus. In the siege of the former city, 

 which was taken by assault, 200,000 Moslems, in- 

 cluding probably the inhabitants of the dependent 

 districts, were predestined to death or slavery. Tar- 

 sus was reduced by the slow progress of famine. 

 The besieged held out in the hope of succour from 

 Egypt ; and no sooner had the Saracens yielded on 

 honourable terms, than they were mortified by the 

 distant view of their supplies, the arrival of which 

 by sea was too late to avail them. The Moham- 

 medan population were dismissed in safety to the 

 confines of Syria, and their places replenished with 

 a colony of Christians. 



Having forced and secured the narrow passes of 

 Mount Amanus, the Greeks repeatedly carried their 

 arms into the heart of Syria. Antioch and Aleppo 

 were once more restored to the faith of Christ and the 

 dominion of the Caesars. Nicephorus, with a strong 

 army, invested the latter place, and having applied 

 his military engines to the walls, he made his attack 

 with great fury. After a fruitless assault of three 

 days, a dissension of the inhabitants left the gates 

 unguarded, and afforded the Greeks an opportunity 

 of entering the town. Vast multitudes of men and 

 women were put to the sword. In the palace the 

 victors seized a well-furnished magazine of arms, 

 a stable of 1400 mules, and 300 bags of silver and 



