Battle of the Masts

655 naval battle of the Arab–Byzantine wars

The Battle of the Masts (مَعْرَكَة ذَات الصَّوَارِي) was a naval battle fought in 655 between the Rashidun Caliphate under the command of Abu al A'war and the Byzantine Empire led by emperor Constans II
The battle was part of the earliest campaign by Mu'awiya, the governor of Syria, to reach Constantinople and is considered to be "the first decisive conflict of Islam on the deep". The chronicles of the Armenian Sebeos and Byzantine Theophanes concur with the latter date. In 654, Muawiyah undertook an expedition in Cappadocia while his fleet, under the command of Abu'l Awar, advanced along the southern coast of Anatolia. Emperor Constans embarked against it with a large fleet.

The two forces met off the coast of Mount Phoenix in Lycia, near the harbour of Phoenix (modern Finike). According to the 9th century chronicler Theophanes the Confessor, as the Emperor was preparing for battle, on the previous night he dreamt that he was in Thessalonica; awaking he related the dream to an interpreter of dreams who said: Emperor, would that you had not slept nor seen that dream for your presence in Thessalonica – according to the interpreter, victory inclined to the Emperor's foes. The interpreter interpreted the dream this way because Θεσσαλονίκη ("Thessaloniki") sounds similar to the words 'δές άλλω νίκη' (thes allo nike), which mean 'give victory to another'. Due to the rough seas, Tabari describes the Byzantine and Arab ships being arranged in lines and lashed together, to allow for melee combat. The Arabs were victorious in battle, although losses were heavy for both sides, and Constans barely escaped to Constantinople. According to Theophanes, he managed to make his escape by exchanging uniforms with one of his officers. No further naval attacks on this expedition are recorded in traditional Arabic sources. However the Armenian historian Sebeos records that the Arab fleet continued on beyond the battle at Phoenix to attempt a siege of Constantinople. The siege was unsuccessful, however, due to a fierce storm that sank the ships with war machines aboard, an event the Romans attributed to divine intervention. The land force led by Muawiyah in Chalcedon, having lost their artillery and siege engines, returned to Syria thereafter. Muslim sources do not mention this event but it corresponds to notices in other Christian histories of the eastern Mediterranean, such as the chronicle of Theophanes. It suggests the early 650s invasions of Rhodes, Cyprus, and Asia Minor were preparatory to a full scale assault on the walls of Constantinople. Also it provides a strategic explanation for the Arab fleet's retreat following the victory in the Battle of the Masts, since the First Fitna would not break out until a year later, perhaps influenced by setbacks against the Byzantines and in the Caucasus.

Both the Rashidun and Roman fleets endured major casualties. Nonetheless, the Muslim victory was a significant event in the naval history of the Mediterranean Sea. From long being considered a 'Roman lake', the Mediterranean became a focus of contention between the naval might of the rising Caliphate and the Eastern Roman Empire. This conflict would continue over the subsequent decades, with Muslims using their supremacy in the Mediterranean to go as far as Sicily and establish strongholds in Western Europe. The victory also paved the way for uncontested Muslim expansion along the coastline of North Africa.