Rashidun
The Battle of the Masts
The first great Muslim naval victory, off the Lycian coast, 34 AH / 655 CE
c. 34 AH / 655 CE
Educational historical reconstructionWhere
Off the Lycian coast of southern Anatolia (near Phoenix, Finike)
36.3000, 30.1000 · View on OpenStreetMap
Background
The Battle of the Masts, known in Arabic as Dhat al-Sawari, fought about the year 34 after the Hijra (655 CE) off the Lycian coast of southern Asia Minor near the harbour the Greeks called Phoenix, was the first great naval battle of the Muslims and a turning point in the long struggle with the Eastern Roman empire for command of the Mediterranean. In the early conquests the Muslims had been a land power and the sea had remained a Byzantine preserve; but under the caliph Uthman ibn Affan (radiyallahu 'anhu) the governors of Syria and Egypt, with the caliph's leave, built and manned fleets of their own, and a Muslim navy put to sea. Off the Lycian coast this young fleet, under the command of Abdullah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Sarh (radiyallahu 'anhu), the governor of Egypt, met the great war-fleet of the empire, which the Emperor Constans II is said to have led in person. By the accounts of al-Tabari in his Tarikh and al-Baladhuri in Futuh al-Buldan, the ships of the two sides were lashed together with ropes and grappling-hooks, prow to prow, so that the battle was fought hand to hand across the crowded decks amid the masts and rigging, like a land battle carried onto the water, and from this the day takes its name. The Muslims won a hard and decisive victory; the emperor is said to have escaped only with difficulty, having exchanged garments with another to slip away. The battle announced that the caliphate had become a sea power as well as a land power, and opened the centuries-long Mediterranean contest in which Muslim fleets would raid and hold the islands and coasts. This scene depicts the height of the engagement, far out on the open sea: two galleys grappled together by a taut rope in the foreground while a near crew hauls the enemy hull alongside, decks crowded with armed men behind round shields, masts and sails of both fleets crowding the haze, and grey smoke rising beyond. There is no graphic depiction of the slaughter, and in keeping with the Rashidun tier no Companion is shown by likeness.
What you see
An open sea under a bright sky broken with cloud, no coastline in sight, only crowded masts and sails fading into a smoky haze on every side. This is a battle fought far out on the water, not in a harbour or along a shore.
Two hulls have been dragged together and a thick grappling-rope is stretched taut across the foreground; the crew on the near deck haul on the line to lock the enemy ship alongside. From this lashing-together of ships by their ropes and masts the day takes its Arabic name, Dhat al-Sawari, the Battle of the Masts.
The vessels are long oared galleys carrying a single tall mast and a broad square sail, some sails furled to the yard for the close fight. There are no cannon, no gunports and no later high-castled rigging; these are seventh-century war-ships of the Eastern Mediterranean.
The decks are crowded with armed men carrying round shields, ranged ship against ship for a hand-to-hand fight across the rails. Grey smoke rises beyond the far line of vessels. The clash is at its height, the moment the two fleets have grappled and the boarding has begun.
One war-ship bears a dark blue sail blazoned with a device, marking it as a flagship of the Eastern Roman fleet that had ruled these waters unchallenged. Against it stands the young navy of the caliphate, built in Egypt and Syria, here meeting the empire at sea for the first time.
The action lies off the Lycian coast of southern Asia Minor, near the harbour the Greeks called Phoenix, on the sea-road that joined Egypt and Syria to the Roman capital. The mountainous shore itself is out of view, the ships having engaged on the open water.
This is the first great sea battle of the Muslims, fought in the caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan (radiyallahu 'anhu) under the commander Abdullah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Sarh (radiyallahu 'anhu), the governor of Egypt, against a fleet the Emperor Constans II is said to have led in person.
The battle is recorded by al-Tabari in his Tarikh and by al-Baladhuri in Futuh al-Buldan. In keeping with the Rashidun tier no Companion is shown by likeness; the fighters are distant and anonymous and the killing itself is not depicted.
Primary sources
al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa-al-Muluk (9th-10th c.): The principal Sunni historical narrative of the Battle of the Masts, its setting and its place in the reign of Uthman (RA), including the lashing-together of the ships.
al-Baladhuri, Futuh al-Buldan (9th c.): The standard Sunni history of the conquests; the building of the Muslim fleets in Egypt and Syria and the naval war with Byzantium under Uthman (RA).
Further reading & cross-references
Byzantine and modern naval histories (cross-reference): Used for the Byzantine side, the leadership of Constans II, the identification of the site off Lycia near Phoenix, and the strategic consequences. Non-Muslim and academic cross-reference for place and detail only.
The name Dhat al-Sawari (the masts) as a topos: The Arabic name derives from the lashing-together of the ships by their masts and rigging, the distinctive image of the battle and the one the panorama foregrounds with the taut grappling-rope.
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