cantly, however, repeated attacks on Anatolia, the orthodox heartland of the Byzantine Empire, failed to produce permanent conquests.

From 661 until 750 the rapidly expanding Islamic world was governed by the Ummayad caliphs with their capital at Damascus. While emphasizing their desert origins as a segregated warrior élite, the Ummayads showed a practical sense of eclecticism in their adoption of the art and culture of their subjects and their exploitation of local wealth to finance their pleasures and raiding. A vast free-trade zone was established and local populations preserved their culture and their prosperity under a regime which resembled a benign protectorate rather than an empire.

Meanwhile, Byzantium found itself locked in a struggle for survival. The interior of Asia Minor became a no man's land, the scene of a bitter war of attrition. Gradually the empire succeeded in stabilizing its position by a series of drastic measures. The field armies which had retreated in the face of the initial blitzkrieg were stationed in military zones known as themes, and a complete break was made with the traditional division of power between civil and military authority. Local power was devolved into the hands of theme commanders and the state turned a blind eye to the amassing of land by local troops. A scorched-earth policy was adopted, and forces were withdrawn or shut up in fortresses while the enemy's lines of communication grew over-extended, pitched battles were avoided, and guerrilla attacks were launched to harry the Arabs' weak points. General winter also helped: a chronicler reported that in 791 raiders 'met with such cold that their hands and feet dropped off'.

The impact on the Anatolian plateau was catastrophic. Urban life and arable farming became impossible as Arab forays caused repeated devastation and Byzantine 'home guards' shepherded peasants and their flocks into fortresses. Cities in the interior became mere kastra, fortified army bases, and even the great cities of the western coast fell into a precipitate decline. Although the tide of Arab raids was gradually stemmed, thanks especially to the military expertise of the Isaurian

-12-