Count Julian
Julian, Count of Ceuta (Spanish: Don Julián, Conde de Ceuta,, Classical Arabic: يليان, (Īlyan ) was, according to some sources a renegade governor, possibly a former comes in Byzantine service in Ceuta and Tangiers who subsequently submitted to the king of Visigothic Spain before joining the Muslims. According to Arab chroniclers, Julian had an important role in the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, a key event in the history of Islam, in which al-Andalus was to play an important part, and in the subsequent history of what were to become Spain and Portugal.
As a historical figure, little is known about Count Julian. The earliest extant source for Julian is Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam's 9th century Dhikr Fatḥ Al-Andalus (History of the Conquest of Spain), who at first resisted the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, and then joined the Umayyad conquest of Hispania. Other details, such as the existence of a daughter known as La Cava also appear in the 11th century Akhbār majmūʿa. A debate concerning Julian's historicity ranges at least to the 19th century; by the 21st century, the academic consensus seemed to lean toward Julian being considered ahistorical, with most scholars since the 1980s agreeing with Roger Collins that the portions of the story concering Florinda la Cava are fantastical and that arguments for even Julian's existence are weak, while not entirely excluding the possibility that he was a real personage.
Byzantine strategy at the time as articulated by John Troglita, a Byzantine general under Justinian I, advocated dispersal and retreat back to artificially or naturally fortified places and ambush tactics against a superior foe. This left scattered Byzantine garrisons surrounded by territory already conquered by the Arabs. The autochthonous Berber tribes also resisted either in concert with the Byzantines, or under native leaders like Dihya (Kahina) and Kusaila (Caecilius). In the view of Walter Kaegi, this strategy was designed to protect the key towns and communications routes, and did so.
...
Wikipedia