Talk:Siege of Constantinople (718)

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Contents 1 Contemporary Sources 2 Casualties 3 Request for Expansion 4 Fixed infobox reference to "Roman Empire" 5 The Caliphs 6 Merger 7 Bulgarian Aid

[edit] Contemporary Sources

Can we get better reference details a general rewrite of this section, it is just a copy paste as of now which doesn't cut it for wiki.--Tigeroo 06:59, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Casualties

Somebody edited the casualties of the Arabs to only be 80,000. I have reverted it back to what it previously was, since this person only has 2 edits in their history, both of them having to do with 8th century Arab battles, and since 80,000 was merely the number of Arab soldiers that Maslama took with him across Anatolia initially. It doesn't account for the troops landed in the Arab war galleys by sea, the reinforcements, and the sailors, nearly all of whom perished. I've left up R.G. Grant's estimates.--bbcrackmonkey

This may sound stupid but I have a book, a well respected book about battles throughout Human history and unless my eyes are bad, I saw 130,000 - 110,000 casualties. So I agree. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.6.230.65 (talk) 05:00, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

Could you please name that book so we can use it as a source in this article? Thanks. --Grimhelm 10:58, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

HagermanBot is almost certainly talking about "Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat", by R.G. Grant, which is already listed as a source at the bottom of the article. It was actually that book which inspired me to create this article in the first place. There are probably several other battles in the book which I can create stubs on. What I really want is to find out where that person got the stub from Michael of Syria from. Bbcrackmonkey 00:03, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

I have that book too! Its awesome. Tourskin 19:57, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Request for Expansion

We need to expand the related Siege of Constantinople (674) article. Thanks for any help! Grimhelm 18:33, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fixed infobox reference to "Roman Empire"

This battle involved the Byzantine Empire, not the "Roman (Byzantine) Empire." If the nomenclature needed to be revised at all, it would be to "Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire." Dppowell 18:54, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

They are one and the same. Roydosan 14:29, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Roydosan, I agree with you that the so-called "Byzantine Empire" is indeed the legitimate successor to the Roman Empire and I am well aware that it regarded itself as the unbroken continuation of the Roman Empire, albeit with Greek, Armenian, and later Slavic influences instead of Latin. I am also well aware of how the word "Byzantine" came into being and how the denizens of Constantinople would never call themselves "Byzantines". Unfortunately the word has become part of the common nomenclature in order to separate the Western and Eastern Roman Empires as well as to avoid confusion with the "Holy Roman Empire". Because this word is part of the common nomenclature and vernacular, Byzantine must be used when describing this great civilization. Just as the Hellenes are called Greeks, and Nippon is called Japan, so must the Eastern Roman Empire be called the Byzantine Empire. Your edits to change the wording, while noble, are misguided and I would appreciate it if you left my particular article out of your personal crusade. Take the issue up with the Byzantine Empire article itself please. Bbcrackmonkey 08:47, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Caliphs

John Julius Norwich states that the commander of the fleet was named Suleiman, and apparently the Caliph Suleiman was the guy who initially launched the siege. In "A Brief History of Byzantium" Norwich also states that the admiral Suleiman died during the siege, and Caliph Suleiman's wikipedia entry states that he died en-route to attack the Byzantine Empire in 717. Could they be the same person? Caliph Suleiman was actually Maslama's brother, and it seems like he was the one who launched the siege and Caliph Umar II simply picked up where he left off.

[edit] Merger

I don't think this should be merged with "Battle Before Constantinople". The other article appears to have been created by a Bulgarian nationalist and it merely copies segments of my article (poorly), adds nothing new to the discussion and has no sources. In my opinion it should just be deleted.

[edit] Bulgarian Aid

I agree with the idea that the Bulgars did not want Constantinople to fall for their own conquest of the city. But another important reason is that Byzantine had the sufficient resources to bribe the Bulgars into action. This is stated in Previte Orton's "Outlines of Medival hitory". I also wouldn't mind an endnote on the quote you use in the paragraph so i can reference in the future. --Whiskey Blues123 11:51, 29 March 2007 (UTC)