Emirate of Sicily Emirate of Sicily The Emirate of Sicily () was an emirate on the island of Sicily which existed from 831 to 1091. Its capital was Palermo. Muslim Moors, who first conquered in 652, seized control of the entire island from the Byzantine Empire in a prolonged series of conflicts from 827 to 902. An Arab-Byzantine culture developed, producing a multiconfessional and multilingual state. The Emirate was conquered by Christian Norman mercenaries under Roger I of Sicily, who founded the County of Sicily in 1071. The last Muslim city in the island, Noto, was conquered in 1091. Sicilian Muslims remained citizens
History of Sicily status, Sicily was able to make a contribution to Roman culture through the historian Diodorus Siculus and the poet Calpurnius Siculus. The most famous archeological remains of this period are the mosaics of a nobleman's villa in present-day Piazza Armerina. An inscription from Hadrian's reign lauds the emperor as "The Restorer of Sicily", although it is not known what he did to earn this accolade. It was also during this period that we find one of the very first Christian communities in Sicily. Amongst the very earliest Christian martyrs were the Sicilians Saint Agatha of Catania and Saint Lucy of