desert tribes, but lost her the crucial support of the sedentary oasis-dwellers. Instead of discouraging the Arab armies, her desperate decision hastened defeat. The story of the Kahina is told by a variety of cultures, and each story often offers a different, or even contradictory, perspective. For example, the story is used to promote feminist beliefs. Additionally, it is even told by Arabs to promote their own nationalism. For the Arabs, they told the story in a perspective that made the Kahina seem like a sorcerer, all in an attempt to discredit her. The story of the Kahina was told to paint colonialism in a positive light. The story was told with a message saying that it represented the freeing of Berbers from the Arabs. Another, lesser known account of Dihyā claimed that she had an interest in early studies of desert birds. While this view may or may not be plausible, some evidence has been recovered at the site of her death place, modern-day Algeria. Several fragments of early parchment with a painting of a bird on them were found, although there's no way to conclude the fragments were hers. However, it is possible that she began her interest while in Libya, as the painting was of a Libyan bird species. Defeat and death Hasan eventually returned and, aided by communications with the captured officer Khalid bin Yazid al-Qaysi adopted by Dihya, defeated her at the Battle of Tabarka (a locality in present-day Tunisia near the Algerian borders) about which there is some uncertainty. According to some accounts, Dihya died fighting the invaders, sword in hand. Other accounts say she committed suicide by swallowing poison rather than be taken by the enemy. This final act occurred in the 690s or 700s, with 703 CE given as the most likely year. In that year, she was, according to Ibn Khaldun, 127 years old. This is evidently yet another of the many myths which surround her. In either case she was beheaded, and her head was sent back to the Umayyad Caliph in Damascus as proof of her death. According to many historians, Bagay and Khenchla converted, and led the Berber army to Iberia. However, the historian Ibn al-Athīr says they died with their mother. Legacy Dihya was adopted as a symbol by women, and was used as a symbol against the foreign occupation, and later as a symbol against male