Heraclius

Heraclius, a Byzantine emperor (610-41), of splendid but fitful genius, was born in Cappa- dicia about 575 A.D. In 610 he headed a revolt against the tyrant Phocas, slew him, and ascended his throne. At this time the empire was in great straits: the Avars threatened it on the north-west, and the Persians invaded its frontiers from the Euxine to Egypt. The armies of Khosrau (Chosroes) II. captured Damascus in 613, and in the following year Jerusalem, from which they carried off the sacred cross; then Syria and Egypt were conquered, and the whole of Asia Minor to the gates of Chalcedon, over against Constantinople. At length Heraclius bestirred himself, and, having in 620 concluded a treaty with the Avars, set about disciplining an army. Two years later he took the field against his eastern enemy, and in a series of most brilliant campaigns utterly routed the generals of Persia several times in battle, won back his lost provinces, shut up Khosrau II. within the walls of his strong capital of Ctesiphon (628), and compelled him to restore the true cross, which Heraclius solemnly carried back to Jerusalem in 629. Two years later a new and more formidable enemy appeared in the south-east—viz. the followers of Mohammed, who speedily won from the Christian emperor nearly all that he had gained from the Persians, the people of Asia Minor alone opposing any resistance to their impetuous enthusiasm of conquest. Meanwhile Heraclius, strange to say, wasted his time within his palace at Constantinople in inexplicable inactivity, partly in reprehensible self-indulgence, partly in theological disputes. He died in 641, leaving the throne to his son, Constantine III. See Drapeyron, L'Empereur Héraclius (1869).