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celebrated rivals of Akhtal, Jarir and Farazdaq.

6. _Reign of Walid I._--This is the most glorious epoch in the history
of Islam. In Asia Minor and Armenia, Maslama, brother of the caliph, and
his generals obtained numerous successes against the Greeks. Tyana was
conquered after a long siege, and a great expedition against
Constantinople was in preparation. In Armenia Maslama advanced even as
far as the Caucasus. In Africa, Musa b. Nosair, who succeeded Hassan b.
No'man as governor, in a short time carried his conquests as far as Fez,
Tangier and Ceuta, and one of his captains even made a descent on Sicily
and plundered Syracuse. When he returned from the west to Kairawan, he
made his client Tariq (or Tarik) governor of Tangier and of the whole
western part of Africa. Under him the chiefs who had submitted to the
Moslem arms retained their authority. One of them was the Greek exarch
of Tangier, Julian, who, supported by the powerful Berber tribe of
Ghomera, had long resisted and even asked for aid from Spain, but had
been compelled to surrender and was left governor of Ceuta. Meanwhile in
Spain, after the death of the Gothic king Witiza in the year 90
(708-709), anarchy arose, which was terminated by the council of
noblemen at Toledo electing Roderic, the powerful duke of Baetica, to be
his successor in the fifth year of Walid. The eldest son of Witiza then
applied to Julian, and asked the aid of the Arabs for the recovery of
his father's throne. Tariq forwarded the embassy to Kairawan, and Musa
asked the caliph's permission to send an expedition into Spain.
Authorized by Musa, Tariq now sent, in Ramadan 91 (July 710), 500
Berbers under the command of Tarif to reconnoitre the country. This
expedition, seconded by partisans of Witiza, was successful. In the
beginning of A.D. 711 Roderic had been summoned to the north on account
of an invasion of Navarra by the Franks, caused, it is said, by the
conspirators. Tariq, thus certain of meeting no serious opposition to
his landing, passed into Spain himself with an army composed mainly of
Berbers of the Ghomera tribe under the guidance of Julian. The spot
where he landed thence acquired the name of Jebel Tariq, "Mountain of
Tariq," afterwards corrupted into Gibraltar. Having made himself master
of Algeciras and thereby secured his communication with Africa, Tariq
set out at once in the direction of Cordova. At the news of the invasion
Roderic hastened back and led a numerou