lad, and the caliph himself was reconducted to Samarra as a
prisoner in the year 882. From that time there was war between the
Abbasids and the Tulunids. Ahmad died in 270 (884). His son Khomaruya
succeeded him, and maintained himself in power till his death in 896, in
which year his daughter was married to the caliph Motadid. Ten years
later Egypt was conquered by a general of the caliph Moktafi.

During the reign of Motamid the emperor Basil I. conducted the war
against the Moslems with great success, till in the year 270 (A.D. 884)
his army suffered a terrible defeat near Tarsus, in which the greater
part of the army, the commander Andreas, and many other patricians
perished.

Motamid had appointed his son al-Mofawwid as successor to the Caliphate,
and after him his brother Mowaffaq. When the latter died in the year
891, his son Abu 'l-'Abbas, _al-Mo'tadid_ ("he who seeks his support in
God"), was put in his place. Next year Mofawwid was compelled to
abdicate in favour of his cousin. Shortly after Motamid died, Rajab 279
(October 892). Not long before these events, the seat of the Caliphate
had been restored to Bagdad.

16. _Reign of Motadid_.--Motadid may be called, after Mansur, the most
able and energetic of all the Abbasid rulers. He took good care of the
finances, reformed the administration, was an excellent commander in
war, and maintained order as far as possible. The Kharijites in
Mesopotamia, who for many years had molested the government, were
finally crushed with the aid of their former ally Hamdan, who became the
founder of the well-known dynasty of the Hamdanites. The mighty house of
Abu Dolaf in the south-west of Media, which had never ceased to encroach
on the Caliphate, was put down. The governor of Azerbaijan and Armenia,
belonging to the powerful Turkish house of the Sajids or Sajites, whose
loyalty was always doubtful, planned an invasion of Syria and Egypt.
Motadid frustrated it by a quick movement. The citizens of Tarsus who
were involved in the plot were severely punished. The chief punishment,
however, the burning of the fleet, was a very impolitic measure, as it
strengthened the hands of the Byzantines.

Almost simultaneously with the rising of the negro slaves in Basra there
arose in the province of Kufa the celebrated sect of the Carmathians
(q.v.), Fatimites[41] or Isma'ilites. This powerful sect, which save for
a difference of opinion would have joined the negro rising, remained
outwa