Cordoba

   City in southern Spain (q.v.) that was home to bishop (q.v.) Hosios, the most influential member of Constantine I's (q.v.) entourage. Attacks on the city by the Visigoths (q.v.) began in 550, prompting Justinian I (q.v.) to send an expeditionary force to southern Spain. Nevertheless, Cordoba fell to the Visigoths in 572. It was subsequently conquered by the Arabs (q.v.) in 711 when they conquered the Visigothic kingdom of Toledo. From 756-1031 it was capital of the caliphate (q.v.) of Cordoba, which received embassies from both Theophilos and Constantine VII (qq.v.). Uprisings against the caliph resulted in the expulsion of 15,000 of its citizens to Alexandria (q.v.) in 815; in 827 they were ejected from Alexandria by a general of the caliph Mamun (q.v.). The exiles chose Crete (q.v.), which they wrested from Byzantine control. Byzantine embassies to Cordoba were sent by Theophilos (q.v.) in 830, and by Constantine VII (q.v.) in 949.