Heraclius - Life, Legacy, Family, Note, Sources

Byzantine emperor (610–41), born in Cappadocia, the son of the Roman governor of Africa. Responding to an appeal to free Constantinople from the terror of the tyrant Phocas (ruled 602–10), his father made him leader of a force that ultimately overthrew Phocas and crowned Heraclius emperor. The empire was threatened by the Avars, and by the Persians under Chosroes II (ruled 588–627), who overran Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor. Heraclius carried out far-reaching reorganizations of the army, the provincial government, and the empire's finances, and made Greek its official language. These reforms enabled him to defeat the Persians in a series of campaigns which restored the lost territories (628–33). However, he failed to resolve the differences between the Orthodox and Monophysite parties in the Church, and from 634 the recent gains in the East were almost completely lost to the Arabs and Islam.

Heraclius or Herakleios or (Latin: Flavius Heraclius Augustus;

Life

Origins

Heraclius' family was almost certainly of Armenian origin, though beyond that there is little specific information known about his ancestry. He was the son and namesake of Heraclius (generally referred to retrospectively as "Heraclius the Elder"), who had been a key general of Emperor Maurice's in the 590 war with Bahram Chobin, usurper of the Sassanid Empire.

After the war, Maurice appointed Heraclius the Elder to the position of Exarch of Africa.

Revolt against Phocas and the accession of Heraclius

In 608, the Heraclius the Elder renounced his loyalty to the Emperor Phocas, who had overthrown Maurice six years earlier.

Meanwhile, the younger Heraclius sailed eastward with another force via Sicily and Cyprus. When he reached the capital, the Excubitors, an elite imperial guard unit led by Phocas's own son-in-law Priscus, deserted to Heraclius, and he entered the city without serious resistance. Heraclius personally executed Phocas.

On October 5, 610, Heraclius was crowned for a second time, this time in the Chapel of St. Stephen within the Great Palace, and at the same time wed his betrothed, Fabia, who took the name Eudokia.

War against Persia

When Heraclius took power, the Empire was in a desperate situation. Chosroes II of the Sassanid Empire had been restored to his throne by Maurice and they had remained allies. Chosroes had at his court a man who claimed to be Maurice's son Theodosius, and Chosroes demanded that the Byzantines accept him as Emperor. when Heraclius' revolt resulted in civil war, the Persians took advantage of the internal conflict to advance deep into Syria.

Heraclius offered peace terms to the Persians upon his accession, but Khosrau refused to treat with him, viewing him as just another usurper of the throne of Theodosius I. Heraclius' initial military moves against the Persians ended disastrously, and the Persians rapidly advanced westward.

The situation was so grave that Heraclius reportedly considered moving the capital from Constantinople to Carthage, but was dissuaded by Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople.

This arrangement ensured the continuance of the Empire for hundreds of years and enabled Heraclius to reconquer lands taken by the Persians, ravaging Persia along the way.

Once he had rebuilt the army, Heraclius took the field himself in 621, the first emperor to campaign against a foreign enemy in person since Theodosius I.

In 626, Constantinople itself was besieged by the Avars; Meanwhile, Heraclius acquired the assistance of the Khazars and other Turkic troops. Heraclius also exploited divisions within the Persian Empire, keeping the great Persian general Shahrbaraz neutral by convincing him that Chosroes had grown jealous of him and ordered his execution.

At the Battle of Nineveh in 627, the Roman forces (without the Khazars who left Heraclius) defeated the Persians under Rhahzadh. When Chosroes still refused to make peace, Heraclius continued his campaign; His successor Kavadh II made peace with Heraclius by restoring all the empire's former territories.

Heraclius took for himself the ancient Persian title of "King of Kings", virtually dropping the traditional Roman imperial title of "Augustus". Later on, starting in 629, he styled himself simply as Basileus, the standard Greek word for "monarch", and that title was used by the eastern Roman emperors for the next 800 years. Heraclius also Hellenised the Empire by largely discontinuing the use of Latin as its official language, replacing it with Greek. The empire continued to call itself Roman throughout the rest of its history, but in the eastern empire the term also increasingly came to be used as a Greek self-descriptive.

In 630, he reached the height of his power, marching barefoot as a pious Christian pilgrim into Jerusalem and restoring the True Cross to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

War against the Arabs

Prophet Muhammad had recently succeeded in unifying all the nomadic tribes of the Arabian Peninsula.

Heraclius fell ill soon after his triumph over the Persians and never took the field again.

Legacy

Although his defeat of the Persians produced no lasting benefit to the empire, Heraclius still ranks among the greatest of the Byzantine emperors. Ultimately, the reformed imperial army halted the Muslims in Asia Minor and held on to Carthage for another 60 years, saving a core from which the empire's strength could be rebuilt.

The recovery of the eastern areas of the Byzantine Empire from the Persians once again raised the problem of religious unity centering around the understanding of the true nature of Jesus Christ. Heraclius tried to promote a compromise doctrine called Monothelitism; For this reason, Heraclius was viewed as a heretic and bad ruler by some later religious writers.

Family

Heraclius and Fabia Eudokia had two children:

Epiphania, Augusta Heraclius Constantine (Constantine III), Emperor 613–641

With his second wife Martina, the Emperor had at least ten children, though the names and order of these children are questions for debate:

Fabius, had a paralysed neck Theodosios, was a deaf-mute, married Nike, daughter of Persian general Shahrbaraz Constantine Constantine Heraclius (Heraklonas), Emperor 638–641 David (Tiberios), proclaimed Caesar in 638 Martinos or Marinos Augoustina, Augusta Anastasia and/or Martina, Augusta Febronia

Of these at least two were handicapped, which was seen as punishment for the illegality of the marriage.

He also had at least one illegitimate son, Atalarichos, who conspired a plot against Heraclius with his cousin the magister Theodorus and an Armenian noble David Saharuni.

During the last years of Heraclius' life, it became evident that a struggle was taking place between Heraclius Constantine and Martina who was trying to position her son Heraklonas in line for the throne. When Heraclius died, in his will he left the empire to both Heraclius Constantine and Heraklonas to rule jointly with Martina as Empress and mother of both.

Note

^ Theophylact Simocatta, 109-110

Sources

The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, 1991.

Preceded by: Phocas

Byzantine Emperor 610–641

Succeeded by: Constantine III and Heraklonas