CHAPTER XV

THE MOSLEM DOMINATION IN SICILY

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Classic Souvenirs of Sicily--Its Great Natural Advantages--It becomes the Stronghold of the Papacy--Invasion of the Arabs--They besiege Syracuse--Strength of that City--Failure of the Enterprise--Capture of Palermo--Rapid Progress of the Moslems--Condition of Italy--Arab Alliance with Naples--Messina taken--Betrayal of Castrogiovanni--Rout of the Greeks near Syracuse--Feuds of the Conquerors--Their Successes in Italy--Second Siege of Syracuse--The City is stormed and destroyed by Ibn-Mohammed--Peril of Rome--Appearance of the Normans in the South of Europe--They invade Sicily--Siege of Palermo--Subjection of the Island--Influence of the Moslems over their Conquerors--General Condition of Sicily--Its Civilization--Palermo and its Environs--Science, Art, and Literature--The Great Work of Edrisi--Arab Occupation of Sardinia, Crete, Corsica, and Malta 1