Jousting

I'm not even going to mention that it is Rachel's birthday. I am too excited for Anish's birthday tomorrow. Actually I am excited for Festivus. I am going to gather 'round the pole, air grievances, and compete in the feats of strength as my fore-bearers have done for dozens of years. Yay.

Between 780–1180, the Byzantine Empire and the Abbasid & Fatimid caliphates in the regions of Iraq,Palestine, Syria, Anatolia and Southern Italy fought a series of wars for supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean. After a period of indecisive and slow border warfare, a string of almost unbroken Byzantine victories in the late 10th and early 11th centuries allowed three Byzantine Emperors, namely Nikephoros II Phocas, John I Tzimiskes and finally Basil II to recapture territory lost to theMuslim conquests in the 7th century Byzantine-Arab Wars under the failing Heraclian Dynasty.^[5]

Consequently large parts of Syria,^[5] including its capital city of Damascus, were taken by the Byzantines, even if only for a few years, with a new theme of Syria integrated into the expanding empire. In addition to the natural gains of land, and wealth and manpower received from these victories, the Byzantines also inflicted a psychological defeat on their opponents by recapturing territory deemed holy and important to Christendom, in particular the city of Antioch—allowing Byzantium to hold two of Christendoms' five Patriarchs. ^[6]