634–642 CEReputable sourceWell documented
The Arab Conquests and the Loss of the East
On the timeline · around 634–642 CE ·
What happened
In the 630s the armies of the new Islamic caliphate exploded out of Arabia. At the Battle of Yarmouk in 636 they annihilated a Byzantine army, and the empire abandoned Syria; Jerusalem fell in 637 and Egypt by 642. The empire's richest and most populous provinces — the granary of Egypt and the wealth of the Levant — were gone forever.
Why it matters
The Arab conquests permanently shrank the Byzantine Empire, stripping away perhaps three-quarters of its revenue and transforming it from a Mediterranean superpower into a medieval Greek Christian state fighting for survival against the Islamic world.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Early Muslim Conquests (622–656 CE) · Reputable source