George of Antioch

George was born in Antioch of Syria in an Arabized Orthodox family. Together with his parents, he moved from Syria to Tunisia , where his father took up a post at the court of the Sultan of Temim. Having quarreled with his son Yahya, George in 1108 fled on a Sicilian ship from Mahdia to Palermo , where he was received at the court of Roger II . In the following years, he first served with the “couch” - the body that collected taxes and taxes, and then carried out a number of diplomatic missions in Egypt .

Having a good command of Greek and Arabic, possessing wide knowledge of navigation in the Mediterranean Sea , George soon advanced at the court of Roger II, received the title familiaris and became deputy Sicilian admiral Christodule . Under the command of Christodoulos, George participated in the Mahdi campaign of 1123 , the first and unsuccessful attempt of the Sicilian kingdom to gain a foothold on the North African coast, and proved himself in this campaign, occupying the fortress of al-Dimas .

After the death of Christodulus ( 1127 ), George inherited his authority, and in 1132 received the title Ammiratus ammiratum ("emir of emirs"), which made him the governor of Palermo (the initial meaning of this title) and the commander of the Sicilian fleet (since Roger I ). This magnificent title, inherited from the Arabs, but traditionally owned by representatives of the Greek community, was borrowed by all European languages ​​and formed the basis of the modern naval rank “ Admiral ”. In the year of civil wars in Puglia , following the accession of this duchy to Sicily in 1127 , George repeatedly blocked the rebellious cities, forcing them to surrender.

During 1146 - 1148, George conquered for Sicily a number of key cities on the coast of modern Libya and Tunisia : Tripoli (1146), Gabes (1147), Mahdia (1148), Sousse (1148), Sfax (1148). The capture of these cities provided the Sicilian fleet with dominance in the central Mediterranean, and the country brought considerable wealth, as trade routes to the interior of Africa began in these cities.

Since Roger II did not leave Sicily after the internecine wars in Southern Italy ( 1139 ) and the proclamation of the Arian assies ( 1140 ), the war of the Sicilian kingdom against Byzantium ( 1147 - 1149 ) was mainly the work of Admiral George of Antioch. Taking advantage of the internal difficulties of Byzantium and the passage of the participants of the Second Crusade through its territory, George in 1147 captured the island of Corfu - a fortress considered impregnable. After this, the fleet of George circled the Peloponnese , ravaged Athens , Thebes and Corinth .

Having gotten rid of the crusader threat, the Byzantine Empire made an alliance with Venice and, having received the support of its fleet, was ready in April 1148 to launch a naval and land attack on the Sicilian kingdom . The attack on the Cuman Empire, unexpected storms and the death of the Venetian Doge delayed the operation. As a result, the Byzantine and Venetian fleets united in the Adriatic and began the siege of Corfu occupied by the Sicilians only in the autumn of 1148 . The land campaign of the Byzantines was postponed until next year. The Byzantines and Venetians managed to take Corfu only in August 1149 , and the uprising that began in Serbia against the Byzantine rule, supported by Hungary, distracted the Byzantine army from the campaign in Italy. In the summer of the same year, 1149, the fleet of George of Antioch made a pirate raid through the Dardanelles to the walls of Constantinople . Greek chroniclers report that Sicilians ravaged several villas in the vicinity of the capital and fired arrows towards the imperial palace, after which they withdrew with impunity.

In addition to high-profile naval victories, George left a memory in the form of two interesting architectural structures: the Semi-Arch bridge over the Oreto River ("Admiral Bridge") and the Greek Church in Palermo - Martorana (originally St. Mary the Admiral). Mosaics of the twelfth century have been preserved in this church, including the image of George himself, prostrated before the Virgin, and King Roger II, crowned by Christ. Thanks to the great victories of George, his purely Arabian title of admiral became the generally accepted naval rank.

According to the testimony of the Arab historian Ibn al-Athir, George died in the year 546 of the Hijra , i.e. in 1151 or 1152 .

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