ABSTRACT
The wars between Islam and Byzantium occupy so prominent, indeed almost exclusive, a place in our history books and in the chronicles on which they draw, that the student of medieval history may be excused for taking the rubric “Arab-Byzantine Relations” as a record of little more than continual warfare. The record is not untrue, for in fact frontier warfare lasted almost unbrokenly for a period of centuries. It is not, however, the whole truth. The proof of this statement is not easy, for direct references to relations of any other kind in the medieval sources, if we exclude those that arise out of warfare, such as truces and embassies, can almost be counted on the fingers. Fortunately, however, there are, to supplement these scanty materials, a few other facts or details that can be exploited.
