 The Muslims, well supplied with siege weapons, launched incessant attacks on the city's defenders, but Syracuse received scant reinforcements from Constantinople, where the bulk of the imperial fleet was apparently occupied with carrying building materials for a sumptuous new church built by Emperor Basil.During nine months of siege, the Arabs gradually occupied the outer defences, and finally, on 21 May 878, stormed the city.The population was massacred or enslaved, and the city thoroughly looted over two months.