Скачать или смотреть Three Muslim Dynasties: Sicily's Golden Age of Arabic Rule

𝗙𝗲𝘄 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 that for over two centuries, Sicily was profoundly shaped by Muslim rule.

Three dynasties…the Aghlabids, Fatimids, and Kalbids…turned the island into a Mediterranean jewel.

It began with the 𝘈𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘥𝘴 (827–909 AD), North African rulers from Kairouan, Ifriqiya (modern Tunisia), who crossed the sea with help from a Sicilian admiral seeking revenge on Byzantium.

Landing at Mazara del Vallo, they launched a 75-year campaign that wrested Sicily from Byzantine control.

They introduced citrus, sugarcane, cotton, and mulberries for silk; 𝘲𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘵 irrigation tunnels and 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢 waterwheels made arid lands bloom. Palermo, once a Byzantine outpost, became a thriving garrison city of Arab and Amazigh settlers.

Then came the 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘴 (909–948 AD), a Shi’a dynasty claiming descent from the Prophet’s daughter Fatima.

Stretching from North Africa to Egypt, their empire prized Sicily as a key outpost.

Under their rule, Palermo flourished as a cosmopolitan port: grain, silk, and sugar flowed north; spices and glassware arrived from Cairo and Mahdia. Its 𝘴𝘶𝘲𝘴, 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴, and Great Mosque (now Palermo Cathedral) anchored one of the Mediterranean’s busiest markets. Ideas in astronomy, medicine, and literature traveled with the goods.

Finally, the 𝘒𝘢𝘭𝘣𝘪𝘥𝘴 (948–1053 AD), a Sicilian-based Arab dynasty, presided over a “Kalbid Century.”

By the 10th century, Palermo rivaled Cordoba and Cairo, its mosques, gardens, and schools celebrated by travelers.

Sicily became the breadbasket of the Mediterranean, exporting sugar, saffron, pistachios, almonds, and rice. Sweets like early 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘢 and 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘪 emerged from this fusion.

Poetry in Arabic thrived, and the domes and arabesques of Palermo later inspired Norman kings to build marvels like the Zisa and Cuba.

When you bite into a 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰, stroll a lemon grove, or admire the Palatine Chapel, you’re experiencing the living legacy of the Aghlabids, Fatimids, and Kalbids…

Three Muslim dynasties who remade Sicily into the envy of the world.