(Ἰωάννης Καμενιάτα), cubuclesius, or bearer of the crosier, to the archbishop of Thessalonica, was an eye-witness of the capture of that town by the Arabs in A. D. 904 A. H. 189. Leo, a Syrian renegade, who held a command under the Arabs, made a descent in that year near Thessalonica, with a fleet of fifty-four ships chiefly manned with negro slaves, surprised, took, and plundered the town, then the second in the Greek empire, and sailed off with a great number of captives. Among these were Cameniata and several of his family, who would have been put to death by the Arabs, had not Cameniata saved his and their lives by shewing the victors a spot where the inhabitants had buried part of their riches.
590
The Arabs, however, did not restore him to liberty, but carried him to Tarsus in Cilicia for the purpose of exchanging him for Arab prisoners who had been taken by the Greeks.[W.P]