Photios (Emirate of Crete)

Photios was a Byzantine admiral who defected to the Arabs in the early 9th century and played a crucial role in the establishment and consolidation of the Emirate of Crete. The exact details of his origin are debated, with sources suggesting he was either of Slavic or Byzantine Greek descent.

Photios, serving as a Byzantine officer in the Kibyrrhaiotai Theme, the principal Byzantine fleet in southern Anatolia, betrayed the empire sometime between 824 and 827. Along with other Byzantine defectors, he led a group of Andalusian Muslims exiled after a failed revolt against the Umayyad Emirate of Cordoba to seize Crete. The island was then under loose Byzantine control.

Landing on Crete, Photios and his fellow defectors secured the island, establishing a new Arab emirate based at Chandax (modern Heraklion). He seems to have been instrumental in organizing the governance and military structure of the new emirate. He is credited with participating in raids against Byzantine territories in the Aegean Sea, though the extent of his involvement after the initial conquest is unclear from available sources.

The Emirate of Crete became a persistent thorn in the side of the Byzantine Empire for over a century, serving as a base for pirates who disrupted Byzantine trade and frequently raiding the Aegean coasts. Photios’ actions, though seen as traitorous by the Byzantines, were pivotal in establishing this long-lasting Arab presence in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Byzantine Empire eventually reconquered Crete in 961 under the command of Nikephoros Phokas, eliminating the emirate.