Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602–628
Encyclopedia
The Byzantine–Sassanid War of 602–628 was the final and most devastating of the series of wars
fought between the Roman (Byzantine) Empire
and the Sassanid Empire
. The previous war had ended in 591 after Emperor Maurice had helped the Sassanian king Khosrau II
regain his throne. In 602, Maurice was murdered by his political rival Phocas
. Khosrau proceeded to declare war, ostensibly to avenge Maurice's death. This war was a decades-long conflict, the longest single war in the series, and was fought throughout much of the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe: in Egypt
, the Levant
, Mesopotamia
, the Caucasus
, Anatolia
, and even before the walls of Constantinople
itself.
While the Persians proved largely successful during the first stage of the war from 602 to 622, conquering much of the Levant, Egypt, and parts of Anatolia, the ascendancy of Heraclius
in 610 eventually led to the Persians' defeat, despite initial setbacks. Heraclius' campaigns into Persian lands from 622 to 626 altered the balance, forcing the Persians on the defensive and allowing the Byzantines to regain momentum. Allied with the Avars, the Persians made a final attempt to take Constantinople
in 626, but were defeated there. Heraclius then invaded the Persian heartland in 627, forcing the Persians to sue for peace
.
By the end of the conflict, both sides were exhausted and had depleted their human and material resources. Consequently, they were vulnerable to the sudden emergence of the Rashidun Caliphate
, whose forces invaded both empires only a few years after the war. The Muslim forces
swiftly conquered
the entire Sassanid Empire
, and deprived the Eastern Roman Empire of its territories in the Levant
, the Caucasus
, Egypt
, and North Africa
. Over the following centuries, half of the Byzantine Empire
and the entirety of the Sassanid Empire
came under Muslim rule.
ended the Roman–Persian War of 572–591 by helping the exiled Sassanid prince Khosrau
, the future Khosrau II, regain his throne from the usurper Bahrām Chobin
. In return, the Sassanids gave the Byzantines parts of northeastern Mesopotamia
, much of Armenia
, and Caucasian Iberia
, though the exact details are not clear. More importantly for the Byzantine economy, the Byzantines no longer had to pay tribute to the Sassanids. Maurice then began new campaigns in the Balkans
to stop incursions by the Slavs and Avars.
The magnanimity and campaigns of Tiberius II Constantine
had eliminated the surplus in the treasury left from the time of Justin II
. In order to generate a reserve in the treasury, Maurice instituted strict fiscal measures and cut army pay, leading to four mutinies. The final mutiny in 602 resulted from Maurice ordering his troops in the Balkans
to live off the land during the winter. The army proclaimed Phocas
, a Thracian centurion
, as emperor. Maurice attempted to defend Constantinople
by arming the Blues and the Greens, the two major chariot racing teams of the Hippodrome
, but they proved ineffective. Maurice fled, but was soon intercepted and killed by the soldiers of Phocas.
Upon the murder of Maurice, Narses
, the Byzantine governor of the province of Mesopotamia
, rebelled against Phocas and seized Edessa
, which was a major city of Byzantine Mesopotamia. Phocas instructed Germanus
to besiege Edessa, prompting Narses to request help from Khosrau. Khosrau, who was only too willing to help avenge Maurice, his "friend and father", used Maurice's death as a casus belli
(a reason given for war) to attack the Byzantine Empire, trying to reconquer Armenia and Mesopotamia.
Germanus died in battle against the Persians. An army sent by Phocas against Khosrau was defeated near Dara
in Upper Mesopotamia, leading to the capture of that important fortress in 605. Narses escaped from Leontius, the eunuch appointed by Phocas to deal with him, but when Narses attempted to return to Constantinople to discuss peace terms, Phocas ordered him seized and burned alive. The death of Narses along with the failure to stop the Persians damaged the prestige of Phocas' military regime.
, who was the Exarch of Africa, revolted in 608, urged on by Priscus
, the Count of the Excubitors and son-in-law of Phocas. Heraclius proclaimed himself and his son
of the same name as consuls
—thereby implicitly claiming the imperial title—and minted coins with the two wearing the consular robes.
At about the same time, rebellions began in Syria and Palaestina Prima in the wake of Heraclius' revolt. In either 609 or 610, the Patriarch of Antioch, Anastasius II, died. Many sources claim that the Jews were heavily involved in the fighting, though it is unclear where they were just members of certain factions and where they were opponents of the Christians. Phocas responded by appointing Bonus as comes Orientis (Count of the East) to stop the violence. Bonus punished the Greens, a horse racing party, in Antioch for their role in the violence in 609.
Heraclius the Elder sent his nephew Nicetas
to attack Egypt
. Bonus went to Egypt to try to stop Nicetas, but was defeated by the latter outside Alexandria. Nicetas succeeded in capturing the province in 610, establishing a base of power there with the help of Patriarch
John the Almsgiver
, who was elected with the help of Nicetas.
The main rebel force was employed in a naval invasion of Constantinople, led by the younger Heraclius
, who was to be the new emperor. Organized resistance against Heraclius soon collapsed, and Phocas was handed to him by the patrician Probos (Photius). Phocas was executed, though not before a celebrated exchange of comments between him and his successor:
The elder Heraclius disappears soon afterward from sources, supposedly dying, though the date is unknown.
After marrying his niece Martina in an elaborate ceremony and being crowned by the Patriarch
, the 35-year-old Heraclius set out to perform his work as emperor. Phocas' brother, Comentiolus
, commanded a sizable force in central Anatolia, but was assassinated by the Armenian commander Justin, removing a major threat to Heraclius' reign. Still, transfer of the forces commanded by Comentiolus had been delayed, allowing the Persians to advance further in Anatolia. Trying to increase revenues and reduce costs, Heraclius limited the number of state-sponsored personnel of the Church in Constantinople by not paying new staff from the imperial fisc
. He used ceremonies to legitimize his dynasty, and he secured a reputation for justice to strengthen his grip on power.
and Amida
; Edessa
, which most Byzantines believed would be defended by Jesus himself on behalf of King Abgar V of Edessa
against all enemies, fell in 610. In Armenia, the strategically important city of Theodosiopolis
surrendered in 609 or 610 to Ashat Yeztayar due to the persuasion of a man who claimed to be Theodosius
, the eldest son and co-emperor of Maurice, who had supposedly fled to the protection of Khosrau. In 608, the Persians launched a raid into Anatolia that reached Chalcedon
, across the Bosphorus from Constantinople. The Persian conquest was a gradual process; by the time of Heraclius' accession, the Persians had conquered all the Roman cities east of the Euphrates and in Armenia before moving on to Cappadocia, where their general Shahin took Caesarea. There, Phocas' son-in-law Priscus, who had encouraged Heraclius and his father to rebel, started a year-long siege to trap them inside the city.
Heraclius' accession as Emperor did little to reduce the Persian threat. Heraclius began his reign by attempting to make peace with the Persians, since Phocas, whose actions were the original casus belli
, had been overthrown. However, the Persians rejected these overtures since their armies were widely victorious. According to historian Walter Kaegi
, it is conceivable that the Persians' goal was to restore or even surpass the boundaries of the Achaemenid Empire
by destroying the Byzantine Empire, though because of the loss of Persian archives, no document "conclusively proves" this.
By established practice, Byzantine emperors did not personally lead troops into battle. Heraclius ignored this convention and joined with his general Priscus' siege of the Persians at Caesarea. However, Priscus pretended to be ill and did not meet with the emperor. This was a veiled insult to Heraclius, who hid his dislike of Priscus and returned to Constantinople in 612. Meanwhile, Shahin's troops escaped Priscus' blockade and burned Caesarea, much to Heraclius' displeasure. Priscus was soon removed from command, along with others who served under Phocas. Philippicus
, an old general of Maurice's, was appointed as commander-in-chief, but he proved himself incompetent against the Persians, avoiding engagements in battle. Heraclius then appointed himself commander along with his brother Theodore
to finally solidify command of the army.
Khosrau took advantage of the incompetence of Heraclius' generals to launch an attack on Byzantine Syria
, under the leadership of the Persian general Shahrbaraz
. Heraclius attempted to stop the invasion at Antioch
, but despite the blessing of Saint Theodore of Sykeon
, the Byzantines under Heraclius and Nicetas suffered a serious defeat
at the hands of Shahin. The details of the battle are not known. After this victory, the Persians looted the city, slew the Patriarch of Antioch and deported many citizens. The Byzantines lost again while attempting to defend the area just to the north of Antioch at the Cilician Gates
, despite some initial success. The Persians then captured Tarsus
and the Cilician plain. This defeat cut the Empire in half, severing Constantinople and Anatolia's land link to Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and the Exarchate of Carthage.
, Apamea
, and Emesa
fell quickly in 613, giving the Persians a chance to strike further south. Nicetas continued to resist the Persians, but was defeated at Adhri'at. He managed to win a small victory however near Emesa, where both sides suffered heavy casualties: the total death count was 20,000. More seriously, however, the weakness of the resistance enabled the Persians to capture Jerusalem
in three weeks, despite its determined resistance. Somewhere between 57,000 and 66,500 people were slain there; another 35,000 were enslaved, including the Patriarch Zacharias. Many churches in the city (including the Holy Sepulchre) were burned, and numerous relics, including the True Cross
, the Holy Lance
, and the Holy Sponge
, were carried off to Ctesiphon
, the Persian capital. The loss of these relics was thought to be a clear mark of divine displeasure by the Byzantines. Many blamed the Jews for this misfortune and the loss of Syria in general. There were reports that Jews helped the Persians capture certain cities and that the Jews tried to slaughter Christians in cities that the Persians had already conquered, but were found and foiled from doing so. These reports are likely to be greatly exaggerated and the result of general hysteria.
orthodoxy, were not eager to aid imperial forces and afterward were supported by Khosrau, but neither did they resist the Byzantines between 600 and 638, and many saw the Persian occupation in very negative terms. Byzantine resistance in Alexandria was led by Nicetas. After a year-long siege, resistance in Alexandria collapsed, supposedly after a traitor told the Persians of an unused canal, allowing them to storm the city. Nicetas fled to Cyprus along with Patriarch John the Almsgiver, who was a major supporter of Nicetas in Egypt. The fate of Nicetas is unclear, since he disappears from records after this, but Heraclius was presumably deprived of a trusted commander. The loss of Egypt was a severe blow to the empire, as Constantinople
relied on grain shipments from fertile Egypt to feed the multitudes in the capital. The free grain ration in Constantinople (which echoed the earlier grain dole in Rome
) was abolished in 618.
After conquering Egypt, Khosrau sent Heraclius the following letter:
fell in 617 to Shahin, making the Persians visible from Constantinople. Shahin courteously received a peace delegation, but claimed that he did not have the authority to engage in peace talks, directing Heraclius to Khosrau, who rejected Heraclius' offer. Still, the Persians soon withdrew, likely to focus on the invasion of Egypt. Despite this setback, the Persians still retained the advantage, capturing Ancyra, an important military base in central Anatolia, in 620 or 622. The important naval base at Rhodes
may have fallen in 622 or 623, threatening a naval assault on Constantinople, though this event is difficult to confirm. Such was the despair in the Byzantine capital that Heraclius considered moving the government to Carthage
in Africa.
appeared with the usual image of Heraclius and his son Heraclius Constantine, but uniquely carried the inscription of Deus adiuta Romanis or "May God help the Romans"; Kaegi believes this shows the desperation of the empire at this time. The copper follis
also dropped in weight from 11 grams to somewhere between 8 and 9 grams. Heraclius faced severely decreased revenues due to the loss of provinces; furthermore, a plague broke out in 619, which further damaged the tax base, and also increased fears of divine retribution. The debasement
of the coinage allowed the Byzantines to maintain expenditure in the face of declining revenues.
Heraclius now halved the pay of officials, enforced increased taxation, forced loans, and levied extreme fines on corrupt officials in order to finance his counter-offensive. The clergy of the Byzantine Empire, despite disagreements about his incestuous marriage to his niece Martina, strongly backed his efforts by proclaiming that it was the duty of all Christian men to fight against the Persians and by offering to give him a war loan consisting of all the gold and silver plated objects in Constantinople. Precious metals and bronze were stripped from monuments and even the Hagia Sophia
. This military campaign has been seen as the first "crusade", or at least as an antecedent to the Crusades
, by many historians beginning with William of Tyre
, but some, like Kaegi, disagree with this moniker because religion was just one component in the war. Thousands of volunteers were gathered and equipped with money from the church. Heraclius himself decided to command the army from the front lines. Thus, the Byzantine troops had been replenished, re-equipped, and were now led by competent general— while still having a full treasury.
George Ostrogorsky
believed that volunteers were gathered through the reorganization of Anatolia into four themes, where the volunteers were given inalienable grants of land on the condition of hereditary military service. However, modern scholars generally discredit this theory, placing the creation of the themes later, under Heraclius' successor Constans II
.
and the patrician Bonus
. In order to threaten both the Persian forces in Anatolia and Syria, his first move was to sail from Constantinople down the Ionia
n coast to Rhodes and then east to Cilicia
, landing at Issus
, where Alexander the Great had defeated the Persians
in 333 BC. He spent the summer training so as to improve the skills of his men and his own generalship. In the autumn, Heraclius threatened the Persian communications to Anatolia from the Euphrates valley by marching to Cappadocia. This forced the Persian forces in Anatolia under Shahrbaraz to retreat from the front-lines of Bithynia and Galatia to eastern Anatolia in order to block his access to Persia.
What followed next is not entirely clear, but Heraclius certainly won a crushing victory over Shahrbaraz in 622 at the Battle of Issus
. The key factor was Heraclius' discovery of hidden Persian forces in ambush and responding to this ambush by feigning retreat during the battle. The Persians left their cover to chase the Byzantines, whereupon Heraclius' elite Optimatoi
assaulted the chasing Persians, causing them to flee. Thus, he saved Anatolia from the Persians. However, Heraclius had to return to Constantinople to deal with the threat posed to his Balkan domains by the Avars
, and left his army to winter in Pontus
.
(Belgrade), Viminacium
(Kostolac), Naissus (Niš), and Sardica (Sofia), and destroying Salona
in 614. However, numerous attempts by the Slavs and Avars to take Thessalonica, the most important Byzantine city in the Balkans after Constantinople, ended in failure, allowing the Empire to hold onto a vital stronghold in the region. Other minor cities on the Adriatic coast like Jadar
(Zadar), Tragurium
(Trogir), Butua
(Budva), Scodra (Skadar), and Lissus (Ljes) also survived the invasions. Isidore of Seville
even claims that the Slavs took "Greece" from the Byzantines. The Avars also began to raid Thrace
, threatening commerce and agriculture, even near the gates of Constantinople.
Because of the need to defend against these incursions, the Byzantines could not afford to use all their forces against the Persians. Heraclius sent an envoy to the Avar Khagan
, saying that the Byzantines would pay a tribute in return for the Avars' withdrawing north of the Danube. The Khagan replied by asking for a meeting on 5 June 623, at Heraclea
in Thrace, where the Avar army was located; Heraclius agreed to this meeting, coming with his royal court. The Khagan, however, put horsemen en route to Heraclea to ambush and capture Heraclius, so they could hold him for ransom. Heraclius was fortunately warned in time and managed to escape, chased by the Avars all the way to Constantinople. Many members of his court however, as well as an alleged 70,000 Thracian peasants who came to see their Emperor, were captured and killed by the Khagan's men. Despite this treachery, Heraclius was forced to give the Avars a subsidy of 200,000 solidi
along with his illegitimate son John Athalarichos
, his nephew Stephen, and the illegitimate son of the patrician Bonus as hostages in return for peace. This left him more able to focus his war effort completely on the Persians.
and Azerbaijan
to assault the core Persian lands directly. According to Walter Kaegi, he led an army of no more than 40,000, with the size most likely being between 20,000–24,000. Before journeying to the Caucasus, he recovered Caesarea, in defiance of the earlier letter that Khosrau had sent him.
Heraclius went along the Araxes River, destroying Persian-held Dvin
, the capital of Armenia, and Nakhchivan. At Ganzak
a, Heraclius met Khosrau's army, some 40,000 strong. Using loyal Arabs, he captured and killed some of Khosrau's guards, leading to the disintegration of the Persian army. Heraclius then destroyed the famous fire temple
of Takht-i-Suleiman
, an important Zoroastrian shrine. Heraclius' raids went as far as the Gayshawan, a residence of Khosrau in Atrpatakan.
Heraclius wintered in Caucasian Albania
, gathering forces for the next year. Khosrau was not content to let Heraclius quietly rest in Albania. He sent three armies, commanded by Shahrbaraz, Shahin and Shahraplakan
, to try to trap and destroy Heraclius' forces. Shahraplakan retook lands up as far as Siwnik, aiming to capture the mountain passes. Shahrbaraz was sent to block Heraclius' retreat through Caucasian Iberia
and Shahin was sent to block the Bitlis Pass
. Heraclius, planning to engage the Persian armies separately, spoke to his worried Lazic, Abasgian, and Iberian allies and soldiers, saying: "Do not let the number of our enemies disturb us. For, God willing, one will pursue ten thousand."
Two soldiers who feigned desertion were sent to Shahrbaraz, claiming that the Byzantines were fleeing before Shahin. Due to jealousy between the Persian commanders, Shahrbaraz hurried with his army to take part in the glory of the victory. Heraclius met them at Tigranakert and routed Shahraplakan and Shahin's forces one after the other. Shahin lost his baggage train and Shahraplakan (according to one source) was killed, though he re-appears later. After this victory, Heraclius crossed the Araxes and camped in the plains on the other side. Shahin, with the remnants of both his and Shahraplakan's armies, joined Shahrbaraz in the pursuit of Heraclius, but marshes slowed them down. At Aliovit, Shahrbaraz split his forces, sending some 6,000 troops to ambush Heraclius while the remainder of the troops stayed at Aliovit. Heraclius instead launched a surprise night attack on the Persian main camp in February 625, destroying it. Shahrbaraz only barely escaped, naked and alone, having lost his harem
, baggage, and men.
Heraclius spent the rest of winter to the north of Lake Van
. In 625, his forces attempted to push back towards the Euphrates. In a mere seven days, he bypassed Mount Ararat
and the 200 miles along the Arsanias River
to capture Amida and Martyropolis
, important fortresses on the upper Tigris
. Heraclius then carried on towards the Euphrates, pursued by Shahrbaraz. According to Arab sources, he was stopped at the Satidama or Batman Su River and defeated; Byzantine sources however do not mention this incident. There was then another minor skirmish between Heraclius and Shahrbaraz at the Sarus river
near Adana
. Shahrbaraz's forces stationed themselves across the river from the Byzantines. A bridge spanned the river, and the Byzantines immediately charged across it. Shahrbaraz feigned retreat to lead the Byzantines into an ambush, and the vanguard of Heraclius' army was destroyed within minutes. The Persians, however, had neglected covering the bridge, and Heraclius charged across with the rearguard, unafraid of the arrows that the Persians fired, turning the tide of battle against the Persians. Shahrbaraz expressed his admiration at Heraclius to a renegade Greek: "See your Emperor! He fears these arrows and spears no more than would an anvil!" The Battle of Sarus
was a successful retreat for the Byzantines that panegyrists magnified. In the aftermath of the battle, the Byzantine army wintered at Trebizond.
. Because of the Byzantine navy
's control of the Bosphorus strait, however, the Persians could not send troops to the European side to aid their ally. This reduced the effectiveness of the siege, because the Persians were experts in siege warfare. Furthermore, the Persians and Avars had difficulties communicating across the guarded Bosphorus—though undoubtedly, there was some communication between the two forces.
The defense of Constantinople was under the command of Patriarch Sergius and the patrician Bonus. Upon hearing the news, Heraclius split his army into three parts; although he judged that the capital was relatively safe, he still sent some reinforcements to Constantinople to boost the morale of the defenders. Another part of the army was under the command of his brother Theodore and was sent to deal with Shahin, while the third and smallest part would remain under his own control, intending to raid the Persian heartland.
On 29 June 626, a coordinated assault on the walls began. Inside the walls, some 12,000 well-trained Byzantine cavalry troops (presumably dismounted) defended the city against the forces of some 80,000 Avars and Slavs. Despite continuous bombardment for a month, morale was high inside the walls of Constantinople because of Patriarch Sergius' religious fervor and his processions along the wall with the icon of the Virgin Mary, inspiring the belief that the Byzantines were under divine protection.
On August 7, a fleet of Persian rafts ferrying troops across the Bosphorus were surrounded and destroyed by Byzantine ships. The Slavs under the Avars attempted to attack the sea walls from across the Golden Horn
, while the main Avar host attacked the land walls. Patrician Bonus' galleys rammed and destroyed the Slavic boats; the Avar land assault from August 6 to the 7th also failed. With the news that Theodore had decisively triumphed over Shahin (supposedly leading Shahin to die from depression), the Avars retreated to the Balkan hinterland within two days, never to seriously threaten Constantinople again. Even though the army of Shahrbaraz was still encamped at Chalcedon, the threat to Constantinople was over. In thanks for the lifting of the siege and the supposed divine protection of the Virgin Mary, the celebrated Akathist Hymn was written by an unknown author, possibly Patriarch Sergius or George of Pisidia.
Furthermore, after the emperor showed Shahrbaraz intercepted letters from Khosrau ordering the Persian general's death, the latter switched to Heraclius' side . Shahrbaraz then moved his army to northern Syria, where he could easily decide to support either Khosrau and Heraclius at a moment's notice. Still, with the neutralization of Khosrau's most skilled general, Heraclius deprived his enemy of some of his best and most experienced troops, and secured his flanks prior to his invasion of Persia.
of the Göktürks
, led by Tong Yabghu, plying him with wondrous gifts and the promise of marriage to the porphyrogenita Eudoxia Epiphania
. Earlier in 568, the Turks under Ishtemi had turned to Byzantium when their relations with Persia soured over commerce issues. The Turks, based in the Caucasus
, responded by sending 40,000 of their men to ravage the Persian empire in 626, marking the start of the Third Perso-Turkic War
. Joint Byzantine and Göktürk operations were then focused on besieging Tiflis, where the Byzantines used traction trebuchets to breach the walls, one of the first known uses by the Byzantines. Khosrau sent 1,000 cavalry under Shahraplakan to reinforce the city, but it nevertheless fell, probably in late 628. Ziebel was to die by the end of that year however, saving Epiphania from marriage to a barbarian. Whilst the siege proceeded, Heraclius worked to secure his base in the upper Tigris.
describes the seasonal retreat of Heraclius for the winters of 624–626 followed by a change in 627 to threaten Ctesiphon as a "high-risk, relational maneuver on a theater-wide scale" because it habituated the Persians to strategically ineffective raids that caused them to decide not to recall border troops to defend the heartland. His army numbered between 25,000 and 50,000 Byzantine troops and 40,000 Göktürks that quickly deserted him because of the unfamiliar winter conditions and harassment from the Persians. He advanced quickly, but was tailed by a Persian army under the Armenian Rhahzadh
, who faced difficulties in provisioning his army due to the Byzantines taking most of the provisions as they moved south toward Assyria
.
Towards the end of the year, near the ruins of Nineveh
, Heraclius engaged Rhahzadh before reinforcements could reach the Persian commander. The Battle of Nineveh
took place in the fog, reducing the Persian advantage in missile troops. Heraclius feigned retreat, leading the Persians to the plains, before reversing his troops to the surprise of the Persians. After eight hours of fighting, the Persians suddenly retreated to nearby foothills, but the battle did not become a rout. During the battle, approximately 6,000 Persians were killed. Patriarch Nikephoros' Brief History suggests that Rhahzadh challenged Heraclius to personal combat, and that Heraclius accepted and killed Rhahzadh in a single thrust; two other challengers fought against him and also lost.
With no Persian army left to oppose him, Heraclius' victorious army plundered Dastagird, which was a palace of Khosrau's, and gained tremendous riches while recovering 300 captured Byzantine flags. Khosrau had already fled to the mountains of Susiana to try to rally support for the defense of Ctesiphon
. Heraclius then issued an ultimatum to Khosrau:
However, Heraclius could not attack Ctesiphon itself, as the Nahrawan Canal was blocked due to the collapse of a bridge leading over it, and he did not attempt to bypass the canal.
Regardless, the Persian army rebelled and overthrew Khosrau II, raising his son Kavadh II
, also known as Siroes, in his stead. Khosrau was shut in a dungeon, where he suffered for five days on bare sustenance—he was shot to death slowly with arrows on the fifth day. Kavadh immediately sent peace offers to Heraclius. Heraclius did not impose harsh terms, knowing that his own empire was also near exhaustion. Under the terms of the peace treaty, the Byzantines regained all their lost territories, their captured soldiers, a war indemnity, and most importantly for them, the True Cross
and other relics that were lost in Jerusalem in 614.
After some months of travel, Heraclius entered Constantinople in triumph and was met by the people of Constantinople, his son Heraclius Constantine, and Patriarch Sergius, prostrating themselves in joy. His alliance with the Persians resulted in the recovery of the Holy Sponge
which fastened to the True Cross in an elaborate ceremony on September 14, 629. The ceremonial parade went toward the Hagia Sophia
. There, the True Cross was slowly raised up until it vertically towered over the high altar. To many, this was a sign that a new golden age was about the begin for the Byzantine Empire.
The victorious conclusion of the war cemented Heraclius' position as one of history's most successful generals. He was hailed as "the new Scipio
" for his six years of unbroken victories and for leading the Roman army where no Roman army had ever gone before. The triumphal raising of the True Cross in the Hagia Sophia was a crowning moment in his achievements. If Heraclius had died then, he would have been recorded in history, in the words of Norman Davies, as "the greatest Roman general since Julius Caesar
". Instead, he lived through the Arab invasions, losing battle after battle against their onslaught and tarnishing his reputation for victory. John Norwich succinctly described Heraclius as having "lived too long".
For their part, the Sassanids struggled to establish a stable government. When Kavadh II
died only months after coming to the throne, Persia was plunged into several years of dynastic turmoil and civil war. Ardashir III
, Heraclius' ally Shahrbaraz
, and Khosrau's daughters Purandokht and Azarmidokht
all succeeded to the throne within months of each other. Only when Yazdgerd III
, a grandson of Khosrau II, succeeded to the throne in 632 was there stability, but by then, it was too late to rescue the Sassanid kingdom.
. According to Howard-Johnston: "[Heraclius'] victories in the field over the following years and their political repercussions...saved the main bastion of Christianity in the Near East and gravely weakened its old Zoroastrian rival. They may be shadowed by the even more extraordinary military achievements of the Arabs in the following two decades, but hindsight should not be allowed to dim their lustre."
However, the Byzantine Empire was also severely affected, with the Balkans now largely in the hands of the Slavs. Additionally, Anatolia had been devastated by repeated Persian invasions, and the empire's hold on its recently regained territories in the Caucasus, Syria, Mesopotamia, Palestine and Egypt was loosened by years of Persian occupation. With their financial reserves exhausted, the Byzantines found difficulties paying veterans of the war with the Persians and recruiting new troops. Clive Foss called this war the "first stage in the process which marked the end of Antiquity
in Asia Minor."
Neither empire was given much chance to recover, as within a few years they were struck by the onslaught of the Arabs, newly united by Islam
; which according to Howard-Johnston, "can only be likened to a human tsunami". According to George Liska, the "unnecessarily prolonged Byzantine–Persian conflict opened the way for Islam". The Sassanid Empire rapidly succumbed to these attacks and was completely destroyed. During the Byzantine–Arab Wars, the exhausted Byzantine Empire's recently regained eastern and southern provinces of Syria
, Armenia, Egypt
and North Africa
were also lost, reducing the empire to a territorial rump consisting of Anatolia and a scatter of islands and footholds in the Balkans and Italy. However, unlike Persia, the Byzantine Empire ultimately survived the Arab assault, holding onto its residual territories and decisively repulsing two Arab sieges of its capital in 674–678
and 717–718
. The Byzantine Empire also lost its territories in Crete
and southern Italy to the Arabs
in later conflicts, though these too were ultimately recovered.
. The lance was probably their preferred weapon, having the power to skewer two men simultaneously. Their horses were covered in lamellar armor to protect them from enemy archers. Persian archers had a lethal range of about 175 meters and accurate range at about 50–60 meters.
According to Emperor Maurice's Strategikon, a manual of war, the Persians made heavy use of archers that were the most "rapid, although not powerful archery" of all warlike nations, and they avoided weather that hampered their bows. It also claims that they deployed so that their formation was equal in strength in the center and the flanks. They also apparently avoided the charge of Roman lancers by using rough terrain since they tended to avoid hand-to-hand combat. Thus, the Strategikon advised fighting on level terrain with rapid charges to avoid the Persian arrows. They were seen as skilled in laying siege and liked to "achieve their results by planning and generalship."
The most important arm of the Byzantine army was its cataphract
cavalry, which became a symbol of Byzantium. They wore chain mail, had heavily armored horses, and used lances as their primary weapon. They had small shield mounted on their arms, could also use bows, and carried a broadsword and an axe. Heavy Byzantine infantry, or scutati, carried small round shields and wore lamellar armor. They carried many weapons against enemy cavalry such as spears to ward off cavalry and axes to cut the legs off of horses. Light Byzantine infantry, or psiloi, primarily used bows and wore only leather armor. Byzantine infantry played a key role in stabilizing battle lines against enemy cavalry and also as an anchor to launch friendly cavalry attacks. According to Richard A. Gabriel, the Byzantine heavy infantry "combined the best capabilities of the Roman legion with the old Greek phalanx."
The Avars had mounted archers with composite bows that could double as heavy cavalry with lances. They were skilled in siegecraft and could construct trebuchets and siege towers. In their siege of Constantinople, they constructed walls of circumvallation to prevent easy counterattack and used mantelets or wooden frames covered with animal hides to protect against defending archers. Furthermore, like many nomads, they gathered other warriors such as Gepids and Slavs to assist them. However, since Avars depended on raiding the countryside for supplies, it was difficult for them to maintain long sieges, especially when considering their less mobile gathered allies.
According to Kaegi, the Byzantines had "an almost compulsive...preference to avoid changing the essential elements of the status quo." They tried with all diplomatic means to secure allies and divide their enemies. Although they failed against Khosrau and the Avar Khagan, their ties with the Slavs who would become the Serbs and Croats and the their decades long negotiations with the Göktürks resulted in Slavs actively opposing the Avars in addition to a key alliance with the Göktürks.
As for any army, logistics were always a problem. In his initial campaigns in Byzantine territories, especially in Anatolia, Heraclius likely supplied his troops by requisitioning from his surrounding. During Heraclius' offensive raids into Persia, each time, the harsh conditions of winter forced him to desist, partly because both his and the Persian horses needed stored fodder in winter quarters. Forcing his troops to campaign in the winter would be risky as Maurice had been overthrown due to his poor treatment of his troops in winter. Edward Luttwak believes that the Göktürks with their "hardy horses (or ponies)" that could survive "in almost any terrain that had almost any vegetation" were essential in Heraclius' winter campaign in hilly northeast Iran in 627. During the campaign, they took the provisions from Persian lands. With the victory at Nineveh and the capture of Persian palaces, they no longer had issues with supplying their troops in foreign territories and winter conditions.
by an unidentified author from around 630. George of Pisidia wrote many poems and other works that were contemporary. Theophylact Simocatta
has surviving letters along with a history that gives the political outlook of the Byzantines, but that history only really covers from 582 to 602. Theodore the Synkellos has a surviving speech, which was made during the Siege of Constantinople in 626, that contains useful information for some events. There are also some surviving papyri from Egypt from that period.
The Persian archives were lost so there are no contemporary Persian sources of this war. Non-Greek contemporary sources include the Chronicle of John of Nikiu
, which was written in Coptic
but only survives in Ethiopian translation, and the History attributed to Sebeos
(there is controversy over the authorship). The latter is an Armenian compilation of various sources, arranged in only rough chronological order. This gives it an uneven coverage of the war. Furthermore, it was put together with the purpose of correlating Biblical prophecy and contemporary times, making it most certainly not objective. There are also some surviving Syriac materials from that period, which Dodgeon, Greatrex, and Lieu believe are the "most important" of the contemporary sources. These include the Chronicle of 724 by Thomas the Presbyter
, composed in 640. The Chronicle of Guidi or Khuzistan Chronicle gives the perspective of a Nestorian Christian living in Persian territory.
Later Greek accounts include Theophanes
' Chronicle and the Short History of Patriarch Nikephoros I. Theophanes' Chronicle is very useful in creating a framework of the war. It is usually supplemented by even later Syriac sources like the Chronicle of 1234 and the Chronicle by Michael the Syrian
. However, these sources, excepting the Short History by Nikephoros, and the Christian Arabic Agapius of Manbij (Hierapolis
) all likely drew their information from a common source, probably the 8th-century historian Theophilos of Edessa.
The 10th-century Armenian History of the House of Artsrunik by Thomas Artsruni probably have similar sources to the ones that the compiler of Sebeos used. Movses
wrote the History of Armenia in the tenth century and has material from unidentified sources on the 620s. Howard-Johnston considered the histories of Movses and Sebeos as "the most important of extant non-Muslim sources". The Christian Arab Patriarch Eutychius of Alexandria
' history contains many errors, but can still be used. The Quran also provides some detail, but can only be used cautiously. Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
was an Arab historian who wrote the Tarikh al-Tabari (History of the Prophets and Kings), which contains a history of the Sassanid dynasty, which uses now lost sources.
The Byzantine hagiographies
(lives of saints), of Saints Theodore of Sykeon and Anastasios the Persian have proven to be helpful in understanding the era of the war. The Life of George of Khozeba gives an idea of the panic at the time of the Siege of Jerusalem. However, there are some doubts as to whether hagiographic texts may be corrupted from eighth or ninth century interpolations. Numismatics
, or the study of coins, has proven useful to dating. Sigillography
, or the study of seals, is also used for dating. Art and other archaeological findings are also of some use. Epigraphic sources or inscriptions are of limited use. Luttwak called the Strategikon of Maurice the "most complete Byzantine field manual"; it provides valuable insight into the military thinking and practices of the time.
Byzantine–Sassanid Wars
The Byzantine–Sassanid Wars refers to a series of conflicts between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sassanid dynasty of the Persian Empire...
fought between the Roman (Byzantine) Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
and the Sassanid Empire
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
. The previous war had ended in 591 after Emperor Maurice had helped the Sassanian king Khosrau II
Khosrau II
250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II (Khosrow II, Chosroes II, or Xosrov II in classical sources, sometimes called Parvez, "the Ever Victorious" – (in Persian: خسرو پرویز), was the twenty-second Sassanid King of Persia, reigning from 590 to 628...
regain his throne. In 602, Maurice was murdered by his political rival Phocas
Phocas
Phocas was Byzantine Emperor from 602 to 610. He usurped the throne from the Emperor Maurice, and was himself overthrown by Heraclius after losing a civil war.-Origins:...
. Khosrau proceeded to declare war, ostensibly to avenge Maurice's death. This war was a decades-long conflict, the longest single war in the series, and was fought throughout much of the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe: in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
, Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
, the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
, and even before the walls of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
itself.
While the Persians proved largely successful during the first stage of the war from 602 to 622, conquering much of the Levant, Egypt, and parts of Anatolia, the ascendancy of Heraclius
Heraclius
Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...
in 610 eventually led to the Persians' defeat, despite initial setbacks. Heraclius' campaigns into Persian lands from 622 to 626 altered the balance, forcing the Persians on the defensive and allowing the Byzantines to regain momentum. Allied with the Avars, the Persians made a final attempt to take Constantinople
Siege of Constantinople (626)
The Siege of Constantinople in 626 by the Avars, aided by large numbers of allied Slavs and the Sassanid Persians, ended in a strategic victory for the Byzantines...
in 626, but were defeated there. Heraclius then invaded the Persian heartland in 627, forcing the Persians to sue for peace
Suing for peace
Suing for peace is an act by a warring nation to initiate a peace process in which the peace terms are more favorable than an unconditional surrender...
.
By the end of the conflict, both sides were exhausted and had depleted their human and material resources. Consequently, they were vulnerable to the sudden emergence of the Rashidun Caliphate
Rashidun Caliphate
The Rashidun Caliphate , comprising the first four caliphs in Islam's history, was founded after Muhammad's death in 632, Year 10 A.H.. At its height, the Caliphate extended from the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant, Caucasus and North Africa in the west, to the Iranian highlands and Central Asia...
, whose forces invaded both empires only a few years after the war. The Muslim forces
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
swiftly conquered
Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...
the entire Sassanid Empire
Islamic conquest of Persia
The Muslim conquest of Persia led to the end of the Sassanid Empire in 644, the fall of Sassanid dynasty in 651 and the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion in Persia...
, and deprived the Eastern Roman Empire of its territories in the Levant
Muslim conquest of Syria
The Muslim conquest of Syria occurred in the first half of the 7th century, and refers to the region known as the Bilad al-Sham, the Levant, or Greater Syria...
, the Caucasus
Arab conquest of Armenia
The Arab conquest of Armenia was a part of the Muslim conquests after the death of Muhammad in AD 632.Persian Armenia had fallen to the Byzantine Empire shortly before, in AD 629, and was conquered in the Rashidun Caliphate by AD 645.-Islamic expansion:...
, Egypt
Muslim conquest of Egypt
At the commencement of the Muslims conquest of Egypt, Egypt was part of the Byzantine Empire with its capital in Constantinople. However, it had been occupied just a decade before by the Persian Empire under Khosrau II...
, and North Africa
Umayyad conquest of North Africa
The Umayyad conquest of North Africa continued the century of rapid Arab Muslim expansion following the death of Muhammad in 632 CE. By 640 the Arabs controlled Mesopotamia, had invaded Armenia, and were concluding their conquest of Byzantine Syria. Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad caliphate....
. Over the following centuries, half of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
and the entirety of the Sassanid Empire
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
came under Muslim rule.
Background
After decades of inconclusive fighting, the Emperor MauriceMaurice (emperor)
Maurice was Byzantine Emperor from 582 to 602.A prominent general in his youth, Maurice fought with success against the Sassanid Persians...
ended the Roman–Persian War of 572–591 by helping the exiled Sassanid prince Khosrau
Khosrau II
250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II (Khosrow II, Chosroes II, or Xosrov II in classical sources, sometimes called Parvez, "the Ever Victorious" – (in Persian: خسرو پرویز), was the twenty-second Sassanid King of Persia, reigning from 590 to 628...
, the future Khosrau II, regain his throne from the usurper Bahrām Chobin
Bahram Chobin
General Bahrām Chobin was a famous Eran spahbod during the late 6th century in Persia, usurping the Sassanid throne for a year as Bahram VI .- Life :...
. In return, the Sassanids gave the Byzantines parts of northeastern Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia (Roman province)
Mesopotamia was the name of two distinct Roman provinces, the one a short-lived creation of the Roman Emperor Trajan in 116–117 and the other established by Emperor Septimius Severus in ca. 198, which lasted until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century....
, much of Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, and Caucasian Iberia
Caucasian Iberia
Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...
, though the exact details are not clear. More importantly for the Byzantine economy, the Byzantines no longer had to pay tribute to the Sassanids. Maurice then began new campaigns in the Balkans
Maurice's Balkan campaigns
Maurice's Illyricum campaigns were a series of military expeditions conducted by emperor of Constantinopolis Maurice in an attempt to defend the Illyrian provinces of the East Roman Empire from Avars and Slavs...
to stop incursions by the Slavs and Avars.
The magnanimity and campaigns of Tiberius II Constantine
Tiberius II Constantine
Tiberius II Constantine was Byzantine Emperor from 574 to 582.During his reign, Tiberius II Constantine gave away 7,200 pounds of gold each year for four years....
had eliminated the surplus in the treasury left from the time of Justin II
Justin II
Justin II was Byzantine Emperor from 565 to 578. He was the husband of Sophia, nephew of Justinian I and the late Empress Theodora, and was therefore a member of the Justinian Dynasty. His reign is marked by war with Persia and the loss of the greater part of Italy...
. In order to generate a reserve in the treasury, Maurice instituted strict fiscal measures and cut army pay, leading to four mutinies. The final mutiny in 602 resulted from Maurice ordering his troops in the Balkans
Maurice's Balkan campaigns
Maurice's Illyricum campaigns were a series of military expeditions conducted by emperor of Constantinopolis Maurice in an attempt to defend the Illyrian provinces of the East Roman Empire from Avars and Slavs...
to live off the land during the winter. The army proclaimed Phocas
Phocas
Phocas was Byzantine Emperor from 602 to 610. He usurped the throne from the Emperor Maurice, and was himself overthrown by Heraclius after losing a civil war.-Origins:...
, a Thracian centurion
Centurion
A centurion was a professional officer of the Roman army .Centurion may also refer to:-Military:* Centurion tank, British battle tank* HMS Centurion, name of several ships and a shore base of the British Royal Navy...
, as emperor. Maurice attempted to defend Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
by arming the Blues and the Greens, the two major chariot racing teams of the Hippodrome
Hippodrome of Constantinople
The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydanı in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with only a few fragments of the original structure surviving...
, but they proved ineffective. Maurice fled, but was soon intercepted and killed by the soldiers of Phocas.
Beginning of the conflict
Narses (general under Maurice)
Narses was a Byzantine general of Armenian ancestry active during the reigns of the emperors Maurice and Phocas in the late sixth and early seventh centuries. He commanded the army in Mesopotamia under Maurice; when Phocas overthrew Maurice and seized the throne, Narses refused to recognize the...
, the Byzantine governor of the province of Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia (Roman province)
Mesopotamia was the name of two distinct Roman provinces, the one a short-lived creation of the Roman Emperor Trajan in 116–117 and the other established by Emperor Septimius Severus in ca. 198, which lasted until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century....
, rebelled against Phocas and seized Edessa
Edessa, Mesopotamia
Edessa is the Greek name of an Aramaic town in northern Mesopotamia, as refounded by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa.-Names:...
, which was a major city of Byzantine Mesopotamia. Phocas instructed Germanus
Germanus (general under Phocas)
Germanus was a Byzantine general who served under Emperor Phocas in the early stages of the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602–628....
to besiege Edessa, prompting Narses to request help from Khosrau. Khosrau, who was only too willing to help avenge Maurice, his "friend and father", used Maurice's death as a casus belli
Casus belli
is a Latin expression meaning the justification for acts of war. means "incident", "rupture" or indeed "case", while means bellic...
(a reason given for war) to attack the Byzantine Empire, trying to reconquer Armenia and Mesopotamia.
Germanus died in battle against the Persians. An army sent by Phocas against Khosrau was defeated near Dara
Dara (Mesopotamia)
Dara or Daras was an important East Roman fortress city in northern Mesopotamia on the border with the Sassanid Empire. Because of its great strategic importance, it featured prominently in the Roman-Persian conflicts of the 6th century, with the famous Battle of Dara taking place before its walls...
in Upper Mesopotamia, leading to the capture of that important fortress in 605. Narses escaped from Leontius, the eunuch appointed by Phocas to deal with him, but when Narses attempted to return to Constantinople to discuss peace terms, Phocas ordered him seized and burned alive. The death of Narses along with the failure to stop the Persians damaged the prestige of Phocas' military regime.
Heraclius' rebellion
The general Heraclius the ElderHeraclius the Elder
Heraclius the Elder was an East Roman general and the father of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius . Of Armenian origin, the elder Heraclius distinguished himself in the wars against the Sassanid Persians in the 580s. Ca. 600, he was appointed as the Exarch of Africa. In 608, he rebelled with his son...
, who was the Exarch of Africa, revolted in 608, urged on by Priscus
Priscus (general)
Priscus was a leading East Roman general during the reigns of the Byzantine emperors Maurice , Phocas and Heraclius . Although the contemporary sources are markedly biased in his favour, Priscus comes across as an effective and capable military leader...
, the Count of the Excubitors and son-in-law of Phocas. Heraclius proclaimed himself and his son
Heraclius
Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...
of the same name as consuls
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...
—thereby implicitly claiming the imperial title—and minted coins with the two wearing the consular robes.
At about the same time, rebellions began in Syria and Palaestina Prima in the wake of Heraclius' revolt. In either 609 or 610, the Patriarch of Antioch, Anastasius II, died. Many sources claim that the Jews were heavily involved in the fighting, though it is unclear where they were just members of certain factions and where they were opponents of the Christians. Phocas responded by appointing Bonus as comes Orientis (Count of the East) to stop the violence. Bonus punished the Greens, a horse racing party, in Antioch for their role in the violence in 609.
Heraclius the Elder sent his nephew Nicetas
Nicetas (cousin of Heraclius)
Nicetas was the cousin of Emperor Heraclius, helping him the wars against Phocas and the Persians in the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602–628. He helped Heraclius revolt against Phocas by conquering Egypt in 610. At Egypt, Nicetas established a power base because of his friendship with Patriarch John...
to attack Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Bonus went to Egypt to try to stop Nicetas, but was defeated by the latter outside Alexandria. Nicetas succeeded in capturing the province in 610, establishing a base of power there with the help of Patriarch
Patriarch of Alexandria
The Patriarch of Alexandria is the Archbishop of Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation of Pope , and did so earlier than that of the Bishop of Rome...
John the Almsgiver
John the Merciful
John the Merciful was the Patriarch of Alexandria in the early 7th century and a christian saint.- Early life :He was born at Amathus...
, who was elected with the help of Nicetas.
The main rebel force was employed in a naval invasion of Constantinople, led by the younger Heraclius
Heraclius
Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...
, who was to be the new emperor. Organized resistance against Heraclius soon collapsed, and Phocas was handed to him by the patrician Probos (Photius). Phocas was executed, though not before a celebrated exchange of comments between him and his successor:
The elder Heraclius disappears soon afterward from sources, supposedly dying, though the date is unknown.
After marrying his niece Martina in an elaborate ceremony and being crowned by the Patriarch
Patriarch of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarch is the Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome – ranking as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox communion, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church....
, the 35-year-old Heraclius set out to perform his work as emperor. Phocas' brother, Comentiolus
Comentiolus (brother of Phocas)
Comentiolus or Komentiolos was the brother of the Byzantine emperor Phocas .Nothing is known of his early life except that he was the son of Domentzia, along with Phocas and the later magister officiorum Domentziolus...
, commanded a sizable force in central Anatolia, but was assassinated by the Armenian commander Justin, removing a major threat to Heraclius' reign. Still, transfer of the forces commanded by Comentiolus had been delayed, allowing the Persians to advance further in Anatolia. Trying to increase revenues and reduce costs, Heraclius limited the number of state-sponsored personnel of the Church in Constantinople by not paying new staff from the imperial fisc
Fisc
Under the Merovingians and Carolingians, the fisc applied to the royal demesne which paid taxes, entirely in kind, from which the royal household was meant to be supported, though it rarely was...
. He used ceremonies to legitimize his dynasty, and he secured a reputation for justice to strengthen his grip on power.
Persian ascendancy
In the meantime, the Persians took advantage of this civil war by conquering cities along the important fronts in Armenia and Upper Mesopotamia. Along the Euphrates, in 609, they conquered MardinMardin
Mardin is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for its Arabic-like architecture, and for its strategic location on a rocky mountain overlooking the plains of northern Syria.-History:...
and Amida
Diyarbakır
Diyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey...
; Edessa
Edessa, Mesopotamia
Edessa is the Greek name of an Aramaic town in northern Mesopotamia, as refounded by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa.-Names:...
, which most Byzantines believed would be defended by Jesus himself on behalf of King Abgar V of Edessa
Abgar V of Edessa
Abgar V the black or Abgarus V of Edessa BC - AD 7 and AD 13 - 50) was a historical Syriac ruler of the Syriac kingdom of Osroene, holding his capital at Edessa....
against all enemies, fell in 610. In Armenia, the strategically important city of Theodosiopolis
Erzurum
Erzurum is a city in Turkey. It is the largest city, the capital of Erzurum Province. The city is situated 1757 meters above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 361,235 in the 2000 census. .Erzurum, known as "The Rock" in NATO code, served as NATO's southeastern-most air force post during the...
surrendered in 609 or 610 to Ashat Yeztayar due to the persuasion of a man who claimed to be Theodosius
Theodosius (son of Maurice)
Theodosius was the eldest son of Byzantine Emperor Maurice and was co-emperor from 590 until his deposition and execution during a military revolt in November 602. Along with his father-in-law Germanus, he was briefly proposed as successor to Maurice by the troops, but the army eventually...
, the eldest son and co-emperor of Maurice, who had supposedly fled to the protection of Khosrau. In 608, the Persians launched a raid into Anatolia that reached Chalcedon
Chalcedon
Chalcedon , sometimes transliterated as Chalkedon) was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari . It is now a district of the city of Istanbul named Kadıköy...
, across the Bosphorus from Constantinople. The Persian conquest was a gradual process; by the time of Heraclius' accession, the Persians had conquered all the Roman cities east of the Euphrates and in Armenia before moving on to Cappadocia, where their general Shahin took Caesarea. There, Phocas' son-in-law Priscus, who had encouraged Heraclius and his father to rebel, started a year-long siege to trap them inside the city.
Heraclius' accession as Emperor did little to reduce the Persian threat. Heraclius began his reign by attempting to make peace with the Persians, since Phocas, whose actions were the original casus belli
Casus belli
is a Latin expression meaning the justification for acts of war. means "incident", "rupture" or indeed "case", while means bellic...
, had been overthrown. However, the Persians rejected these overtures since their armies were widely victorious. According to historian Walter Kaegi
Walter Kaegi
Walter Emil Kaegi is a historian and scholar of Byzantine History, and professor of history in the University of Chicago. He is also a Voting Member of The Oriental Institute. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 1965...
, it is conceivable that the Persians' goal was to restore or even surpass the boundaries of the Achaemenid Empire
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
by destroying the Byzantine Empire, though because of the loss of Persian archives, no document "conclusively proves" this.
Philippicus (general)
Philippicus or Philippikos was an East Roman general, comes excubitorum, and brother-in-law of Emperor Maurice. His successful career as a general spanned several decades, chiefly against the Persians.- Under Maurice :...
, an old general of Maurice's, was appointed as commander-in-chief, but he proved himself incompetent against the Persians, avoiding engagements in battle. Heraclius then appointed himself commander along with his brother Theodore
Theodore (brother of Heraclius)
Theodore was the brother of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius , a curopalates and leading general in Heraclius' wars against the Persians and against the Arab invasions.-Life:...
to finally solidify command of the army.
Khosrau took advantage of the incompetence of Heraclius' generals to launch an attack on Byzantine Syria
Syria (Roman province)
Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War. It remained under Roman, and subsequently Byzantine, rule for seven centuries, until 637 when it fell to the Islamic conquests.- Principate :The...
, under the leadership of the Persian general Shahrbaraz
Shahrbaraz
Shahrbaraz or Shahrwaraz was a general, with the rank of Eran Spahbod under Khosrau II . His name was Farrokhan, and Shahrbaraz was his title...
. Heraclius attempted to stop the invasion at Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
, but despite the blessing of Saint Theodore of Sykeon
Saint Theodore of Sykeon
Saint Theodore of Sykeon was a revered Byzantine ascetic in the early 600s. His hagiography, written after 641, is a key primary source for the reign of Emperor Heraclius .During the reign of Emperor Maurice Saint Theodore of Sykeon was a revered Byzantine ascetic in the early 600s. His...
, the Byzantines under Heraclius and Nicetas suffered a serious defeat
Battle of Antioch (613)
The Battle of Antioch took place in 613 outside of Antioch, Syria between a Byzantine army led by Heraclius and a Persian army. The victorious Persians were able to maintain a hold on their recently taken Byzantine territory.- History :...
at the hands of Shahin. The details of the battle are not known. After this victory, the Persians looted the city, slew the Patriarch of Antioch and deported many citizens. The Byzantines lost again while attempting to defend the area just to the north of Antioch at the Cilician Gates
Cilician Gates
The Cilician Gates or Gülek Pass is a pass through the Taurus Mountains connecting the low plains of Cilicia to the Anatolian Plateau, by way of the narrow gorge of the Gökoluk River. Its highest elevation is about 1000m....
, despite some initial success. The Persians then captured Tarsus
Tarsus, Mersin
Tarsus is a historic city in south-central Turkey, 20 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea. It is part of the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Turkey with a population of 2.75 million...
and the Cilician plain. This defeat cut the Empire in half, severing Constantinople and Anatolia's land link to Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and the Exarchate of Carthage.
Capture of Jerusalem
Resistance to the Persians in Syria and Palestine was not strong; although the locals constructed fortifications, they generally tried to negotiate with the Persians. The cities of DamascusDamascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, Apamea
Apamea (Syria)
Apamea was a treasure city and stud-depot of the Seleucid kings, was capital of Apamene, on the right bank of the Orontes River. . Its site is found about to the northwest of Hama, Syria, overlooking the Ghab valley...
, and Emesa
Homs
Homs , previously known as Emesa , is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is above sea level and is located north of Damascus...
fell quickly in 613, giving the Persians a chance to strike further south. Nicetas continued to resist the Persians, but was defeated at Adhri'at. He managed to win a small victory however near Emesa, where both sides suffered heavy casualties: the total death count was 20,000. More seriously, however, the weakness of the resistance enabled the Persians to capture Jerusalem
Siege of Jerusalem (614)
The Siege of Jerusalem in 614 was part of the final phase of the Byzantine-Sassanid Wars. The Persian Shah Khosrau II appointed his generals to conquer the Byzantine controlled areas of the Near East, establishing a strategic alliance with the Jewish population of the Sassanid Persia...
in three weeks, despite its determined resistance. Somewhere between 57,000 and 66,500 people were slain there; another 35,000 were enslaved, including the Patriarch Zacharias. Many churches in the city (including the Holy Sepulchre) were burned, and numerous relics, including the True Cross
True Cross
The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a Christian tradition, are believed to be from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.According to post-Nicene historians, Socrates Scholasticus and others, the Empress Helena The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a...
, the Holy Lance
Holy Lance
The Holy Lance is the name given to the lance that pierced Jesus' side as he hung on the cross in John's account of the Crucifixion.-Biblical references:The lance is mentioned only in the Gospel of John and not in any of the...
, and the Holy Sponge
Holy Sponge
The Holy Sponge is one of the Instruments of the Passion of Jesus Christ. It was dipped in vinegar and offered to Christ to drink during the Crucifixion, according to Matthew 27:48; Mark 15:36; and John 19:29...
, were carried off to Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon, the imperial capital of the Parthian Arsacids and of the Persian Sassanids, was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia.The ruins of the city are located on the east bank of the Tigris, across the river from the Hellenistic city of Seleucia...
, the Persian capital. The loss of these relics was thought to be a clear mark of divine displeasure by the Byzantines. Many blamed the Jews for this misfortune and the loss of Syria in general. There were reports that Jews helped the Persians capture certain cities and that the Jews tried to slaughter Christians in cities that the Persians had already conquered, but were found and foiled from doing so. These reports are likely to be greatly exaggerated and the result of general hysteria.
Egypt
In 616, Shahrbaraz's forces invaded Egypt, a province that had been mostly untouched by war for three centuries. The Monophysites living in Egypt, repressed by Byzantine ChalcedonianChalcedonian
Chalcedonian describes churches and theologians which accept the definition given at the Council of Chalcedon of how the divine and human relate in the person of Jesus Christ...
orthodoxy, were not eager to aid imperial forces and afterward were supported by Khosrau, but neither did they resist the Byzantines between 600 and 638, and many saw the Persian occupation in very negative terms. Byzantine resistance in Alexandria was led by Nicetas. After a year-long siege, resistance in Alexandria collapsed, supposedly after a traitor told the Persians of an unused canal, allowing them to storm the city. Nicetas fled to Cyprus along with Patriarch John the Almsgiver, who was a major supporter of Nicetas in Egypt. The fate of Nicetas is unclear, since he disappears from records after this, but Heraclius was presumably deprived of a trusted commander. The loss of Egypt was a severe blow to the empire, as Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
relied on grain shipments from fertile Egypt to feed the multitudes in the capital. The free grain ration in Constantinople (which echoed the earlier grain dole in Rome
Grain supply to the city of Rome
In classical antiquity, the grain supply to the city of Rome could not be met entirely from the surrounding countryside, which was taken up by the villas and parks of the aristocracy and which produced mainly fruit, vegetables and other perishable goods...
) was abolished in 618.
After conquering Egypt, Khosrau sent Heraclius the following letter:
Anatolia
Things began to look even more grim for the Byzantines when ChalcedonChalcedon
Chalcedon , sometimes transliterated as Chalkedon) was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari . It is now a district of the city of Istanbul named Kadıköy...
fell in 617 to Shahin, making the Persians visible from Constantinople. Shahin courteously received a peace delegation, but claimed that he did not have the authority to engage in peace talks, directing Heraclius to Khosrau, who rejected Heraclius' offer. Still, the Persians soon withdrew, likely to focus on the invasion of Egypt. Despite this setback, the Persians still retained the advantage, capturing Ancyra, an important military base in central Anatolia, in 620 or 622. The important naval base at Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
may have fallen in 622 or 623, threatening a naval assault on Constantinople, though this event is difficult to confirm. Such was the despair in the Byzantine capital that Heraclius considered moving the government to Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
in Africa.
Reorganization
Khosrau's letter, however, did not cow Heraclius; instead, it prompted him to try a desperate strike against the Persians. Heraclius now drastically reorganized the remainder of the empire to allow the Byzantines to fight on. Already, in 615, a new, lighter (6.82 grams) silver Byzantine coinHexagram (currency)
The hexagram was a large silver coin of the Byzantine Empire issued primarily during the 7th century AD.With the exception of a few 6th-century ceremonial issues, silver coins were not used in late Roman/early Byzantine monetary system , chiefly because of the great fluctuation of its price...
appeared with the usual image of Heraclius and his son Heraclius Constantine, but uniquely carried the inscription of Deus adiuta Romanis or "May God help the Romans"; Kaegi believes this shows the desperation of the empire at this time. The copper follis
Follis
The follis was a type of coin in the Roman and Byzantine traditions.-Roman coin:The Roman follis was a large bronze coin introduced in about 294...
also dropped in weight from 11 grams to somewhere between 8 and 9 grams. Heraclius faced severely decreased revenues due to the loss of provinces; furthermore, a plague broke out in 619, which further damaged the tax base, and also increased fears of divine retribution. The debasement
Debasement
Debasement is the practice of lowering the value of currency. It is particularly used in connection with commodity money such as gold or silver coins...
of the coinage allowed the Byzantines to maintain expenditure in the face of declining revenues.
Heraclius now halved the pay of officials, enforced increased taxation, forced loans, and levied extreme fines on corrupt officials in order to finance his counter-offensive. The clergy of the Byzantine Empire, despite disagreements about his incestuous marriage to his niece Martina, strongly backed his efforts by proclaiming that it was the duty of all Christian men to fight against the Persians and by offering to give him a war loan consisting of all the gold and silver plated objects in Constantinople. Precious metals and bronze were stripped from monuments and even the Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey...
. This military campaign has been seen as the first "crusade", or at least as an antecedent to the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
, by many historians beginning with William of Tyre
William of Tyre
William of Tyre was a medieval prelate and chronicler. As archbishop of Tyre, he is sometimes known as William II to distinguish him from a predecessor, William of Malines...
, but some, like Kaegi, disagree with this moniker because religion was just one component in the war. Thousands of volunteers were gathered and equipped with money from the church. Heraclius himself decided to command the army from the front lines. Thus, the Byzantine troops had been replenished, re-equipped, and were now led by competent general— while still having a full treasury.
George Ostrogorsky
George Ostrogorsky
George Alexandrovič Ostrogorsky was a Russian-born Yugoslavian historian and Byzantinist who acquired worldwide reputations in Byzantine studies.-Biography:...
believed that volunteers were gathered through the reorganization of Anatolia into four themes, where the volunteers were given inalienable grants of land on the condition of hereditary military service. However, modern scholars generally discredit this theory, placing the creation of the themes later, under Heraclius' successor Constans II
Constans II
Constans II , also called Constantine the Bearded , was Byzantine emperor from 641 to 668. He also was the last emperor to become consul in 642, becoming the last Roman consul in history....
.
Byzantine counter-offensive
By 622, Heraclius was ready to mount a counter-offensive. He left Constantinople the day after celebrating Easter on Sunday, 4 April 622. His young son, Heraclius Constantine, was left behind as regent under the charge of Patriarch SergiusSergius I of Constantinople
Sergius I was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 610 to 638.In 626 during the absence of Emperor Heraclius on campaign against Sassanid Persia, the Avars laid siege to Constantinople. Along with the magister militum Bonus, he had been named regent and was in charge of the city's defense...
and the patrician Bonus
Bonus (patrician)
Bonus was a Byzantine statesman and general, one of the closest associates of Emperor Heraclius , who played a leading role in the successful defense of the imperial capital, Constantinople, during the Avar–Persian siege of 626.-Life:...
. In order to threaten both the Persian forces in Anatolia and Syria, his first move was to sail from Constantinople down the Ionia
Ionia
Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements...
n coast to Rhodes and then east to Cilicia
Cilicia
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
, landing at Issus
Issus (town)
Issus is an ancient settlement on the strategic coastal plain straddling the small Pinarus river below the navigationally difficult inland mountains towering above to the east in the Turkish Province of Hatay, near the border with Syria...
, where Alexander the Great had defeated the Persians
Battle of Issus
The Battle of Issus occurred in southern Anatolia, in November 333 BC. The invading troops, led by the young Alexander of Macedonia, defeated the army personally led by Darius III of Achaemenid Persia in the second great battle for primacy in Asia...
in 333 BC. He spent the summer training so as to improve the skills of his men and his own generalship. In the autumn, Heraclius threatened the Persian communications to Anatolia from the Euphrates valley by marching to Cappadocia. This forced the Persian forces in Anatolia under Shahrbaraz to retreat from the front-lines of Bithynia and Galatia to eastern Anatolia in order to block his access to Persia.
What followed next is not entirely clear, but Heraclius certainly won a crushing victory over Shahrbaraz in 622 at the Battle of Issus
Battle of Issus (622)
The Battle of Issus, also known as the Third Battle of Issus, was the battle fought between the Eastern Roman Emperor Heraclius and the Sassanid Empire at the strategic ground near the small riverine town of Issus below the difficult inland mountains in 622, now in the Turkish Province of Hatay...
. The key factor was Heraclius' discovery of hidden Persian forces in ambush and responding to this ambush by feigning retreat during the battle. The Persians left their cover to chase the Byzantines, whereupon Heraclius' elite Optimatoi
Optimatoi
The Optimatoi were initially formed as an elite Byzantine military unit. In the mid-8th century, however, they were downgraded to a supply and logistics corps and assigned a province in north-western Asia Minor, which was named after them...
assaulted the chasing Persians, causing them to flee. Thus, he saved Anatolia from the Persians. However, Heraclius had to return to Constantinople to deal with the threat posed to his Balkan domains by the Avars
Eurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...
, and left his army to winter in Pontus
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...
.
Avar threat
While the Byzantines had been occupied with the Persians, the Avars and Slavs had poured into the Balkans, capturing several Byzantine cities, namely SingidunumSingidunum
Singidunum is the name for the ancient city in Serbia which became Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It was recorded that a Celtic tribe Scordisci settled the area in the 3rd century BC following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans. The Roman Empire conquered the area in 75 BC and later garrisoned...
(Belgrade), Viminacium
Viminacium
Viminacium was a major city and military camp of the Roman province of Moesia , and the capital of Moesia Superior. The archeological site occupies a total of 450 hectares. Viminacium is located 12 km from Kostolac, was devastated by Huns in the 5th century, but rebuilt by Justinian...
(Kostolac), Naissus (Niš), and Sardica (Sofia), and destroying Salona
Salona
Salona was an ancient Illyrian Delmati city in the first millennium BC. The Greeks had set up an emporion there. After the conquest by the Romans, Salona became the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia...
in 614. However, numerous attempts by the Slavs and Avars to take Thessalonica, the most important Byzantine city in the Balkans after Constantinople, ended in failure, allowing the Empire to hold onto a vital stronghold in the region. Other minor cities on the Adriatic coast like Jadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
(Zadar), Tragurium
Tragurium
Tragurium is a Catholic titular see, corresponding to present-day Trogir in Croatia. The diocese of Trogir existed from the eleventh century to 1828, when it was suppressed.-Bishops:*Giovanni Orsini...
(Trogir), Butua
Budva
Budva is a coastal town in Montenegro. It has around 15,000 inhabitants, and it is the centre of municipality...
(Budva), Scodra (Skadar), and Lissus (Ljes) also survived the invasions. Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
even claims that the Slavs took "Greece" from the Byzantines. The Avars also began to raid Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
, threatening commerce and agriculture, even near the gates of Constantinople.
Because of the need to defend against these incursions, the Byzantines could not afford to use all their forces against the Persians. Heraclius sent an envoy to the Avar Khagan
Khagan
Khagan or qagan , alternatively spelled kagan, khaghan, qaghan, or chagan, is a title of imperial rank in the Mongolian and Turkic languages equal to the status of emperor and someone who rules a khaganate...
, saying that the Byzantines would pay a tribute in return for the Avars' withdrawing north of the Danube. The Khagan replied by asking for a meeting on 5 June 623, at Heraclea
Marmara Eregli
Marmara Ereğlisi is a town and district of Tekirdağ Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. The mayor is İbrahim Uyan .-Facts:Ereğli is 30 km east of the town of Tekirdağ, and 90 km west of Istanbul near a small pointed headland on the north shore of the Marmara Sea...
in Thrace, where the Avar army was located; Heraclius agreed to this meeting, coming with his royal court. The Khagan, however, put horsemen en route to Heraclea to ambush and capture Heraclius, so they could hold him for ransom. Heraclius was fortunately warned in time and managed to escape, chased by the Avars all the way to Constantinople. Many members of his court however, as well as an alleged 70,000 Thracian peasants who came to see their Emperor, were captured and killed by the Khagan's men. Despite this treachery, Heraclius was forced to give the Avars a subsidy of 200,000 solidi
Solidus (coin)
The solidus was originally a gold coin issued by the Romans, and a weight measure for gold more generally, corresponding to 4.5 grams.-Roman and Byzantine coinage:...
along with his illegitimate son John Athalarichos
John Athalarichos
John Athalarichos , also spelled as Atalarichos, Athalaric, and At'alarik, was an illegitimate son of the 7th century Byzantine Emperor Heraclius...
, his nephew Stephen, and the illegitimate son of the patrician Bonus as hostages in return for peace. This left him more able to focus his war effort completely on the Persians.
Byzantine assault on Persia
Heraclius offered peace to Khosrau, presumably in 624, threatening otherwise to invade Persia, but Khosrau rejected the offer. On March 25, 624, Heraclius left Constantinople to attack the Persian heartland. To do this, he willingly abandoned any attempt to secure his rear or his communications with the sea, and marched through ArmeniaArmenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
and Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
to assault the core Persian lands directly. According to Walter Kaegi, he led an army of no more than 40,000, with the size most likely being between 20,000–24,000. Before journeying to the Caucasus, he recovered Caesarea, in defiance of the earlier letter that Khosrau had sent him.
Heraclius went along the Araxes River, destroying Persian-held Dvin
Dvin
Dvin was a large commercial city and the capital of early medieval Armenia. It was situated north of the previous ancient capital of Armenia, the city of Artaxata, along the banks of the Metsamor River, 35 km to the south of modern Yerevan...
, the capital of Armenia, and Nakhchivan. At Ganzak
Ganzak
Ganzak , is an ancient Achaemenid town founded in northwestern Iran. Its name is originally Median but later adopted into Persian...
a, Heraclius met Khosrau's army, some 40,000 strong. Using loyal Arabs, he captured and killed some of Khosrau's guards, leading to the disintegration of the Persian army. Heraclius then destroyed the famous fire temple
Fire temple
A fire temple in Zoroastrianism is the place of worship for Zoroastrians. Zoroastrians revere fire in any form. In the Zoroastrian religion, fire , together with clean water , are agents of ritual purity...
of Takht-i-Suleiman
Takht-i-Suleiman
For the similarly named locations see Takht-e Suleyman Massif in Iran, Taxte Soleymān in Pakistan, and Sulayman Mountain near Osh, Kyrgyzstan.Taxte Soleymān, is an archaeological site in West Azarbaijan, Iran...
, an important Zoroastrian shrine. Heraclius' raids went as far as the Gayshawan, a residence of Khosrau in Atrpatakan.
Heraclius wintered in Caucasian Albania
Caucasian Albania
Albania is a name for the historical region of the eastern Caucasus, that existed on the territory of present-day republic of...
, gathering forces for the next year. Khosrau was not content to let Heraclius quietly rest in Albania. He sent three armies, commanded by Shahrbaraz, Shahin and Shahraplakan
Shahraplakan
Shahraplakan, rendered Sarablangas in Greek sources, was a Sassanid Persian general who participated in the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602–628.Shahraplakan first appears in 624, when the Persian shah Khosrau II Shahraplakan, rendered Sarablangas in Greek sources, was a Sassanid Persian general who...
, to try to trap and destroy Heraclius' forces. Shahraplakan retook lands up as far as Siwnik, aiming to capture the mountain passes. Shahrbaraz was sent to block Heraclius' retreat through Caucasian Iberia
Caucasian Iberia
Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...
and Shahin was sent to block the Bitlis Pass
Bitlis
Bitlis is a town in eastern Turkey and the capital of Bitlis Province. The town is located at an elevation of 1,400 metres, 15 km from Lake Van, in the steep-sided valley of the Bitlis River, a tributary of the Tigris. The local economy is mainly based on agricultural products which include...
. Heraclius, planning to engage the Persian armies separately, spoke to his worried Lazic, Abasgian, and Iberian allies and soldiers, saying: "Do not let the number of our enemies disturb us. For, God willing, one will pursue ten thousand."
Two soldiers who feigned desertion were sent to Shahrbaraz, claiming that the Byzantines were fleeing before Shahin. Due to jealousy between the Persian commanders, Shahrbaraz hurried with his army to take part in the glory of the victory. Heraclius met them at Tigranakert and routed Shahraplakan and Shahin's forces one after the other. Shahin lost his baggage train and Shahraplakan (according to one source) was killed, though he re-appears later. After this victory, Heraclius crossed the Araxes and camped in the plains on the other side. Shahin, with the remnants of both his and Shahraplakan's armies, joined Shahrbaraz in the pursuit of Heraclius, but marshes slowed them down. At Aliovit, Shahrbaraz split his forces, sending some 6,000 troops to ambush Heraclius while the remainder of the troops stayed at Aliovit. Heraclius instead launched a surprise night attack on the Persian main camp in February 625, destroying it. Shahrbaraz only barely escaped, naked and alone, having lost his harem
Harem
Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...
, baggage, and men.
Heraclius spent the rest of winter to the north of Lake Van
Lake Van
Lake Van is the largest lake in Turkey, located in the far east of the country in Van district. It is a saline and soda lake, receiving water from numerous small streams that descend from the surrounding mountains. Lake Van is one of the world's largest endorheic lakes . The original outlet from...
. In 625, his forces attempted to push back towards the Euphrates. In a mere seven days, he bypassed Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat is a snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey. It has two peaks: Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat .The Ararat massif is about in diameter...
and the 200 miles along the Arsanias River
Murat River
The Murat River or Eastern Euphrates is the major source of the Euphrates. It was also called Arsanias in antiquity. The river originates near Mount Ararat north of Lake Van, in eastern Turkey, and flows westward for through mountainous area...
to capture Amida and Martyropolis
Martyropolis
Martyropolis was the former name of a city in Turkey, now known in Turkish as Silvan, in Aramaic as Meiafarakin .It is a Catholic titular see....
, important fortresses on the upper Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
. Heraclius then carried on towards the Euphrates, pursued by Shahrbaraz. According to Arab sources, he was stopped at the Satidama or Batman Su River and defeated; Byzantine sources however do not mention this incident. There was then another minor skirmish between Heraclius and Shahrbaraz at the Sarus river
Seyhan River
The Seyhan River is the longest river in Turkey that is flowing into Mediterranean Sea. The river is 560 km and flows southwest from its headwaters in the Tahtalı-Mountains in Anti-Taurus Mountains to the Mediterranean Sea via a broad delta...
near Adana
Adana
Adana is a city in southern Turkey and a major agricultural and commercial center. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, 30 kilometres inland from the Mediterranean, in south-central Anatolia...
. Shahrbaraz's forces stationed themselves across the river from the Byzantines. A bridge spanned the river, and the Byzantines immediately charged across it. Shahrbaraz feigned retreat to lead the Byzantines into an ambush, and the vanguard of Heraclius' army was destroyed within minutes. The Persians, however, had neglected covering the bridge, and Heraclius charged across with the rearguard, unafraid of the arrows that the Persians fired, turning the tide of battle against the Persians. Shahrbaraz expressed his admiration at Heraclius to a renegade Greek: "See your Emperor! He fears these arrows and spears no more than would an anvil!" The Battle of Sarus
Battle of Sarus
The Battle of Sarus was a battle fought between the East Roman army, led by Emperor Heraclius, and the Persian general Shahrbaraz...
was a successful retreat for the Byzantines that panegyrists magnified. In the aftermath of the battle, the Byzantine army wintered at Trebizond.
Siege of Constantinople
Khosrau, seeing that a decisive counterattack was needed to defeat the Byzantines, recruited two new armies from all the able men, including foreigners. Shahin was entrusted with 50,000 men and stayed in Mesopotamia and Armenia to prevent Heraclius from invading Persia; a smaller army under Shahrbaraz slipped through Heraclius' flanks and bee-lined for Chalcedon, the Persian base across the Bosphorus from Constantinople. Khosrau also coordinated with the Khagan of the Avars so as to launch a coordinated attack on Constantinople from both European and Asiatic sides. The Persian army stationed themselves at Chalcedon, while the Avars placed themselves on the European side of Constantinople and destroyed the Aqueduct of ValensValens Aqueduct
The Valens Aqueduct is a Roman aqueduct which was the major water-providing system of the Eastern Roman capital of Constantinople...
. Because of the Byzantine navy
Byzantine navy
The Byzantine navy was the naval force of the East Roman or Byzantine Empire. Like the empire it served, it was a direct continuation from its imperial Roman predecessor, but played a far greater role in the defense and survival of the state then its earlier iterations...
's control of the Bosphorus strait, however, the Persians could not send troops to the European side to aid their ally. This reduced the effectiveness of the siege, because the Persians were experts in siege warfare. Furthermore, the Persians and Avars had difficulties communicating across the guarded Bosphorus—though undoubtedly, there was some communication between the two forces.
The defense of Constantinople was under the command of Patriarch Sergius and the patrician Bonus. Upon hearing the news, Heraclius split his army into three parts; although he judged that the capital was relatively safe, he still sent some reinforcements to Constantinople to boost the morale of the defenders. Another part of the army was under the command of his brother Theodore and was sent to deal with Shahin, while the third and smallest part would remain under his own control, intending to raid the Persian heartland.
On August 7, a fleet of Persian rafts ferrying troops across the Bosphorus were surrounded and destroyed by Byzantine ships. The Slavs under the Avars attempted to attack the sea walls from across the Golden Horn
Golden Horn
The Golden Horn is a historic inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul and forming the natural harbor that has sheltered Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and other ships for thousands of...
, while the main Avar host attacked the land walls. Patrician Bonus' galleys rammed and destroyed the Slavic boats; the Avar land assault from August 6 to the 7th also failed. With the news that Theodore had decisively triumphed over Shahin (supposedly leading Shahin to die from depression), the Avars retreated to the Balkan hinterland within two days, never to seriously threaten Constantinople again. Even though the army of Shahrbaraz was still encamped at Chalcedon, the threat to Constantinople was over. In thanks for the lifting of the siege and the supposed divine protection of the Virgin Mary, the celebrated Akathist Hymn was written by an unknown author, possibly Patriarch Sergius or George of Pisidia.
Furthermore, after the emperor showed Shahrbaraz intercepted letters from Khosrau ordering the Persian general's death, the latter switched to Heraclius' side . Shahrbaraz then moved his army to northern Syria, where he could easily decide to support either Khosrau and Heraclius at a moment's notice. Still, with the neutralization of Khosrau's most skilled general, Heraclius deprived his enemy of some of his best and most experienced troops, and secured his flanks prior to his invasion of Persia.
Byzantine-Turkic alliance
While the Siege of Constantinople was taking place, Heraclius allied with what Byzantine sources called the "Khazars" under Ziebel, now generally identified as the Western Turkic KhaganateWestern Turkic Khaganate
The Western Turkic Khaganate was formed as a result of the internecine wars in the beginning of the 7th century after the Göktürk Khaganate had splintered into two politiesEastern and Western.The Western Turks initially sought friendly relations with the Byzantine Empire in order to expand their...
of the Göktürks
Göktürks
The Göktürks or Kök Türks, were a nomadic confederation of peoples in medieval Inner Asia. Known in Chinese sources as 突厥 , the Göktürks under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan The Göktürks or Kök Türks, (Old Turkic: Türük or Kök Türük or Türük; Celestial Turks) were a nomadic confederation of...
, led by Tong Yabghu, plying him with wondrous gifts and the promise of marriage to the porphyrogenita Eudoxia Epiphania
Eudoxia Epiphania
Eudoxia Epiphania was the only daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius and his first wife Eudokia. She was born at Constantinople on the July 7, 611 CE, baptized on August 15, and crowned Eudoxia Epiphania (also known as Epiphania, Eudocia or Eudokia) was the only daughter of the Byzantine...
. Earlier in 568, the Turks under Ishtemi had turned to Byzantium when their relations with Persia soured over commerce issues. The Turks, based in the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, responded by sending 40,000 of their men to ravage the Persian empire in 626, marking the start of the Third Perso-Turkic War
Third Perso-Turkic War
The Third Perso-Turkic War was the third and final conflict between the Sassanian Empire and the Western Turkic Khaganate. Unlike the previous two wars, it was fought, not in Central Asia, but in Transcaucasia. Hostilities were initiated in 627 AD by Khagan Tong Yabghu of the Western Göktürks and...
. Joint Byzantine and Göktürk operations were then focused on besieging Tiflis, where the Byzantines used traction trebuchets to breach the walls, one of the first known uses by the Byzantines. Khosrau sent 1,000 cavalry under Shahraplakan to reinforce the city, but it nevertheless fell, probably in late 628. Ziebel was to die by the end of that year however, saving Epiphania from marriage to a barbarian. Whilst the siege proceeded, Heraclius worked to secure his base in the upper Tigris.
Battle of Nineveh
In mid-September 627, leaving Ziebel to continue the siege of Tiflis, Heraclius invaded the Persian heartland in a surprising winter campaign. Edward LuttwakEdward Luttwak
Edward Nicolae Luttwak is an American military strategist and historian who has published works on military strategy, history and international relations.-Biography:...
describes the seasonal retreat of Heraclius for the winters of 624–626 followed by a change in 627 to threaten Ctesiphon as a "high-risk, relational maneuver on a theater-wide scale" because it habituated the Persians to strategically ineffective raids that caused them to decide not to recall border troops to defend the heartland. His army numbered between 25,000 and 50,000 Byzantine troops and 40,000 Göktürks that quickly deserted him because of the unfamiliar winter conditions and harassment from the Persians. He advanced quickly, but was tailed by a Persian army under the Armenian Rhahzadh
Rhahzadh
Razadh, originally Roch Vehan, known in Byzantine sources as Rhazates was a Persian general of Armenian origin under Sassanid king Khosrau II ....
, who faced difficulties in provisioning his army due to the Byzantines taking most of the provisions as they moved south toward Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
.
Towards the end of the year, near the ruins of Nineveh
Nineveh
Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
, Heraclius engaged Rhahzadh before reinforcements could reach the Persian commander. The Battle of Nineveh
Battle of Nineveh (627)
The Battle of Nineveh was the climactic battle of the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602–628. The Byzantine victory broke the power of the Sassanid dynasty and for a period of time restored the empire to its ancient boundaries in the Middle East...
took place in the fog, reducing the Persian advantage in missile troops. Heraclius feigned retreat, leading the Persians to the plains, before reversing his troops to the surprise of the Persians. After eight hours of fighting, the Persians suddenly retreated to nearby foothills, but the battle did not become a rout. During the battle, approximately 6,000 Persians were killed. Patriarch Nikephoros' Brief History suggests that Rhahzadh challenged Heraclius to personal combat, and that Heraclius accepted and killed Rhahzadh in a single thrust; two other challengers fought against him and also lost.
End of the war
Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon, the imperial capital of the Parthian Arsacids and of the Persian Sassanids, was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia.The ruins of the city are located on the east bank of the Tigris, across the river from the Hellenistic city of Seleucia...
. Heraclius then issued an ultimatum to Khosrau:
However, Heraclius could not attack Ctesiphon itself, as the Nahrawan Canal was blocked due to the collapse of a bridge leading over it, and he did not attempt to bypass the canal.
Regardless, the Persian army rebelled and overthrew Khosrau II, raising his son Kavadh II
Kavadh II
Kavadh II , twenty-third Sassanid King of Persia, son of Khosrau II , was raised to the throne in opposition to his father in February 628, after the great victories of the Emperor Heraclius...
, also known as Siroes, in his stead. Khosrau was shut in a dungeon, where he suffered for five days on bare sustenance—he was shot to death slowly with arrows on the fifth day. Kavadh immediately sent peace offers to Heraclius. Heraclius did not impose harsh terms, knowing that his own empire was also near exhaustion. Under the terms of the peace treaty, the Byzantines regained all their lost territories, their captured soldiers, a war indemnity, and most importantly for them, the True Cross
True Cross
The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a Christian tradition, are believed to be from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.According to post-Nicene historians, Socrates Scholasticus and others, the Empress Helena The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a...
and other relics that were lost in Jerusalem in 614.
Short-term consequences
Holy Sponge
The Holy Sponge is one of the Instruments of the Passion of Jesus Christ. It was dipped in vinegar and offered to Christ to drink during the Crucifixion, according to Matthew 27:48; Mark 15:36; and John 19:29...
which fastened to the True Cross in an elaborate ceremony on September 14, 629. The ceremonial parade went toward the Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey...
. There, the True Cross was slowly raised up until it vertically towered over the high altar. To many, this was a sign that a new golden age was about the begin for the Byzantine Empire.
The victorious conclusion of the war cemented Heraclius' position as one of history's most successful generals. He was hailed as "the new Scipio
Scipio Africanus
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus , also known as Scipio Africanus and Scipio the Elder, was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic...
" for his six years of unbroken victories and for leading the Roman army where no Roman army had ever gone before. The triumphal raising of the True Cross in the Hagia Sophia was a crowning moment in his achievements. If Heraclius had died then, he would have been recorded in history, in the words of Norman Davies, as "the greatest Roman general since Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
". Instead, he lived through the Arab invasions, losing battle after battle against their onslaught and tarnishing his reputation for victory. John Norwich succinctly described Heraclius as having "lived too long".
For their part, the Sassanids struggled to establish a stable government. When Kavadh II
Kavadh II
Kavadh II , twenty-third Sassanid King of Persia, son of Khosrau II , was raised to the throne in opposition to his father in February 628, after the great victories of the Emperor Heraclius...
died only months after coming to the throne, Persia was plunged into several years of dynastic turmoil and civil war. Ardashir III
Ardashir III
Ardashir III was the twenty-fourth Sassanid King of Persia from 628 to 630.He was a son of Kavadh II/Shiroes and "Anzoy the Roman". His mother was probably from the Byzantine Empire. He was raised to the throne as a boy of seven years, but was killed 18 months later by his general, Shahrbaraz .-...
, Heraclius' ally Shahrbaraz
Shahrbaraz
Shahrbaraz or Shahrwaraz was a general, with the rank of Eran Spahbod under Khosrau II . His name was Farrokhan, and Shahrbaraz was his title...
, and Khosrau's daughters Purandokht and Azarmidokht
Azarmidokht
Azarmidokht was the twenty-seventh Sassanid Monarch of Persia, and daughter of Khosrau II. She ruled Persia after her sister Purandokht.After the death of her father Khosrau II anarchy spread in the Sassanid empire. The subsequent rulers could stay for only a relatively brief time on the throne,...
all succeeded to the throne within months of each other. Only when Yazdgerd III
Yazdgerd III
Yazdegerd III or Yazdgerd III was the twenty-ninth and last king of the Sassanid dynasty of Iran and a grandson of Khosrau II . His father was Shahryar, whose mother was Miriam, the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Maurice...
, a grandson of Khosrau II, succeeded to the throne in 632 was there stability, but by then, it was too late to rescue the Sassanid kingdom.
Long-term consequences
The devastating impact of the war of 602–628, along with the cumulative effects of a century of almost continuous Byzantine-Persian conflict, left both empires crippled. The Sassanids were further weakened by economic decline, heavy taxation to finance Khosrau II's campaigns, religious unrest, and the increasing power of the provincial landholders at the expense of the ShahShah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...
. According to Howard-Johnston: "[Heraclius'] victories in the field over the following years and their political repercussions...saved the main bastion of Christianity in the Near East and gravely weakened its old Zoroastrian rival. They may be shadowed by the even more extraordinary military achievements of the Arabs in the following two decades, but hindsight should not be allowed to dim their lustre."
However, the Byzantine Empire was also severely affected, with the Balkans now largely in the hands of the Slavs. Additionally, Anatolia had been devastated by repeated Persian invasions, and the empire's hold on its recently regained territories in the Caucasus, Syria, Mesopotamia, Palestine and Egypt was loosened by years of Persian occupation. With their financial reserves exhausted, the Byzantines found difficulties paying veterans of the war with the Persians and recruiting new troops. Clive Foss called this war the "first stage in the process which marked the end of Antiquity
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
in Asia Minor."
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
; which according to Howard-Johnston, "can only be likened to a human tsunami". According to George Liska, the "unnecessarily prolonged Byzantine–Persian conflict opened the way for Islam". The Sassanid Empire rapidly succumbed to these attacks and was completely destroyed. During the Byzantine–Arab Wars, the exhausted Byzantine Empire's recently regained eastern and southern provinces of Syria
Muslim conquest of Syria
The Muslim conquest of Syria occurred in the first half of the 7th century, and refers to the region known as the Bilad al-Sham, the Levant, or Greater Syria...
, Armenia, Egypt
Muslim conquest of Egypt
At the commencement of the Muslims conquest of Egypt, Egypt was part of the Byzantine Empire with its capital in Constantinople. However, it had been occupied just a decade before by the Persian Empire under Khosrau II...
and North Africa
Umayyad conquest of North Africa
The Umayyad conquest of North Africa continued the century of rapid Arab Muslim expansion following the death of Muhammad in 632 CE. By 640 the Arabs controlled Mesopotamia, had invaded Armenia, and were concluding their conquest of Byzantine Syria. Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad caliphate....
were also lost, reducing the empire to a territorial rump consisting of Anatolia and a scatter of islands and footholds in the Balkans and Italy. However, unlike Persia, the Byzantine Empire ultimately survived the Arab assault, holding onto its residual territories and decisively repulsing two Arab sieges of its capital in 674–678
Siege of Constantinople (674)
The First Arab Siege of Constantinople in 674 was a major conflict of the Byzantine-Arab Wars, and was one of the numerous times Constantinople's defences were tested. It was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Umayyad Caliphate...
and 717–718
Siege of Constantinople (718)
The Second Arab Siege of Constantinople was a combined land and sea effort by the Arabs to take the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople. The Arab ground forces, led by Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik, were held off by the massive city walls, decimated by an outbreak of plague and...
. The Byzantine Empire also lost its territories in Crete
Emirate of Crete
The Emirate of Crete was a Muslim state that existed on the Mediterranean island of Crete from the late 820s to the Byzantine reconquest of the island in 961....
and southern Italy to the Arabs
History of Islam in southern Italy
The history of Islam in southern Italy begins with the Islamic conquest and subsequent rule of Sicily and Malta, a process that started in the 9th century. Islamic rule over Sicily was effective from 902, and the complete rule of the island lasted from 965 until 1061...
in later conflicts, though these too were ultimately recovered.
Composition of the armies and strategy
The elite cavalry corps of the Persians was the Savārān cavalrySavaran cavalry
The Savārān cavalry were Persian military units and were a division of cavalry during the time of the Sassanid Persian dynasty; they ranged from light cavalry such as horse archers to heavy cavalry such as Cataphracts. Each Savārān unit would have had its own Drafsh...
. The lance was probably their preferred weapon, having the power to skewer two men simultaneously. Their horses were covered in lamellar armor to protect them from enemy archers. Persian archers had a lethal range of about 175 meters and accurate range at about 50–60 meters.
According to Emperor Maurice's Strategikon, a manual of war, the Persians made heavy use of archers that were the most "rapid, although not powerful archery" of all warlike nations, and they avoided weather that hampered their bows. It also claims that they deployed so that their formation was equal in strength in the center and the flanks. They also apparently avoided the charge of Roman lancers by using rough terrain since they tended to avoid hand-to-hand combat. Thus, the Strategikon advised fighting on level terrain with rapid charges to avoid the Persian arrows. They were seen as skilled in laying siege and liked to "achieve their results by planning and generalship."
The most important arm of the Byzantine army was its cataphract
Cataphract
A cataphract was a form of armored heavy cavalry utilised in ancient warfare by a number of peoples in Western Eurasia and the Eurasian Steppe....
cavalry, which became a symbol of Byzantium. They wore chain mail, had heavily armored horses, and used lances as their primary weapon. They had small shield mounted on their arms, could also use bows, and carried a broadsword and an axe. Heavy Byzantine infantry, or scutati, carried small round shields and wore lamellar armor. They carried many weapons against enemy cavalry such as spears to ward off cavalry and axes to cut the legs off of horses. Light Byzantine infantry, or psiloi, primarily used bows and wore only leather armor. Byzantine infantry played a key role in stabilizing battle lines against enemy cavalry and also as an anchor to launch friendly cavalry attacks. According to Richard A. Gabriel, the Byzantine heavy infantry "combined the best capabilities of the Roman legion with the old Greek phalanx."
The Avars had mounted archers with composite bows that could double as heavy cavalry with lances. They were skilled in siegecraft and could construct trebuchets and siege towers. In their siege of Constantinople, they constructed walls of circumvallation to prevent easy counterattack and used mantelets or wooden frames covered with animal hides to protect against defending archers. Furthermore, like many nomads, they gathered other warriors such as Gepids and Slavs to assist them. However, since Avars depended on raiding the countryside for supplies, it was difficult for them to maintain long sieges, especially when considering their less mobile gathered allies.
According to Kaegi, the Byzantines had "an almost compulsive...preference to avoid changing the essential elements of the status quo." They tried with all diplomatic means to secure allies and divide their enemies. Although they failed against Khosrau and the Avar Khagan, their ties with the Slavs who would become the Serbs and Croats and the their decades long negotiations with the Göktürks resulted in Slavs actively opposing the Avars in addition to a key alliance with the Göktürks.
As for any army, logistics were always a problem. In his initial campaigns in Byzantine territories, especially in Anatolia, Heraclius likely supplied his troops by requisitioning from his surrounding. During Heraclius' offensive raids into Persia, each time, the harsh conditions of winter forced him to desist, partly because both his and the Persian horses needed stored fodder in winter quarters. Forcing his troops to campaign in the winter would be risky as Maurice had been overthrown due to his poor treatment of his troops in winter. Edward Luttwak believes that the Göktürks with their "hardy horses (or ponies)" that could survive "in almost any terrain that had almost any vegetation" were essential in Heraclius' winter campaign in hilly northeast Iran in 627. During the campaign, they took the provisions from Persian lands. With the victory at Nineveh and the capture of Persian palaces, they no longer had issues with supplying their troops in foreign territories and winter conditions.
Historiography
The sources for this war are mostly of Byzantine origin. Foremost among the contemporary Greek texts is the Chronicon PaschaleChronicon Paschale
Chronicon Paschale is the conventional name of a 7th-century Greek Christian chronicle of the world...
by an unidentified author from around 630. George of Pisidia wrote many poems and other works that were contemporary. Theophylact Simocatta
Theophylact Simocatta
Theophylact Simocatta was an early seventh-century Byzantine historiographer, arguably ranking as the last historian of Late Antiquity, writing in the time of Heraclius about the late Emperor Maurice .-Life:His history of the reign of emperor Maurice is in eight books...
has surviving letters along with a history that gives the political outlook of the Byzantines, but that history only really covers from 582 to 602. Theodore the Synkellos has a surviving speech, which was made during the Siege of Constantinople in 626, that contains useful information for some events. There are also some surviving papyri from Egypt from that period.
The Persian archives were lost so there are no contemporary Persian sources of this war. Non-Greek contemporary sources include the Chronicle of John of Nikiu
John of Nikiû
John of Nikiû was an Egyptian Coptic bishop of Nikiû/Pashati in the Nile Delta and appointed general administrator of the monasteries of Upper Egypt in 696...
, which was written in Coptic
Coptic language
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...
but only survives in Ethiopian translation, and the History attributed to Sebeos
Sebeos
Sebeos was a 7th century Armenian bishop and historian who participated in the first Council of Dvin in 645.The history of Sebeos contains detailed descriptions from the period of Sassanid supremacy in Armenia up to the Islamic conquest in 661...
(there is controversy over the authorship). The latter is an Armenian compilation of various sources, arranged in only rough chronological order. This gives it an uneven coverage of the war. Furthermore, it was put together with the purpose of correlating Biblical prophecy and contemporary times, making it most certainly not objective. There are also some surviving Syriac materials from that period, which Dodgeon, Greatrex, and Lieu believe are the "most important" of the contemporary sources. These include the Chronicle of 724 by Thomas the Presbyter
Thomas the Presbyter
Thomas the Presbyter was a 7th century Middle Eastern Jacobite author of anti-chalcedonian Syriac writings whose manuscripsts are preserved in the British library of Syriac Manuscripts....
, composed in 640. The Chronicle of Guidi or Khuzistan Chronicle gives the perspective of a Nestorian Christian living in Persian territory.
Later Greek accounts include Theophanes
Theophanes the Confessor
Saint Theophanes Confessor was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy, who became a monk and chronicler. He is venerated on March 12 in the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Church .-Biography:Theophanes was born in Constantinople of wealthy and noble iconodule parents: Isaac,...
' Chronicle and the Short History of Patriarch Nikephoros I. Theophanes' Chronicle is very useful in creating a framework of the war. It is usually supplemented by even later Syriac sources like the Chronicle of 1234 and the Chronicle by Michael the Syrian
Michael the Syrian
Michael the Syrian , also known as Michael the Great or Michael Syrus or Michael the Elder, to distinguish him from his nephew, was a patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1166 to 1199. He is best known today as the author of the largest medieval Chronicle, which he composed in Syriac...
. However, these sources, excepting the Short History by Nikephoros, and the Christian Arabic Agapius of Manbij (Hierapolis
Hierapolis
Hierapolis was the ancient Greco-Roman city which sat on top of hot springs located in south western Turkey near Denizli....
) all likely drew their information from a common source, probably the 8th-century historian Theophilos of Edessa.
The 10th-century Armenian History of the House of Artsrunik by Thomas Artsruni probably have similar sources to the ones that the compiler of Sebeos used. Movses
Movses
Movses is an Armenian given name.It gave rise to the surname Movsesyan.The name may refer to:* Movses Khorenatsi , Armenian historian and author of History of Armenia.* Movses Kaghankatvatsi, 7th century historian of Caucasian Albania....
wrote the History of Armenia in the tenth century and has material from unidentified sources on the 620s. Howard-Johnston considered the histories of Movses and Sebeos as "the most important of extant non-Muslim sources". The Christian Arab Patriarch Eutychius of Alexandria
Eutychius
Eutychius was the last Exarch of Ravenna .The exarchate had risen in revolt in 727 at the imposition of iconoclasm; the Exarch Paul lost his life attempting to quash the revolt. In response, Emperor Leo III sent the patrician Eutychius to take control of the situation. Eutychius landed in Naples,...
' history contains many errors, but can still be used. The Quran also provides some detail, but can only be used cautiously. Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari was a prominent and influential Sunni scholar and exegete of the Qur'an from Persia...
was an Arab historian who wrote the Tarikh al-Tabari (History of the Prophets and Kings), which contains a history of the Sassanid dynasty, which uses now lost sources.
The Byzantine hagiographies
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
(lives of saints), of Saints Theodore of Sykeon and Anastasios the Persian have proven to be helpful in understanding the era of the war. The Life of George of Khozeba gives an idea of the panic at the time of the Siege of Jerusalem. However, there are some doubts as to whether hagiographic texts may be corrupted from eighth or ninth century interpolations. Numismatics
Numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...
, or the study of coins, has proven useful to dating. Sigillography
Sigillography
Sigillography is one of the auxiliary sciences of history. It refers to the study of seals attached to documents as a source of historical information. It concentrates on the legal and social meaning of seals, as well as the evolution of their design...
, or the study of seals, is also used for dating. Art and other archaeological findings are also of some use. Epigraphic sources or inscriptions are of limited use. Luttwak called the Strategikon of Maurice the "most complete Byzantine field manual"; it provides valuable insight into the military thinking and practices of the time.