Heraclius

Related to Heraclius: Leo III, Constans II

Heraclius

Heraclius (hĕrəklīˈəs, hĭrăkˈlēəs), c.575–641, Byzantine emperor (610–41). The son of a governor of Africa, he succeeded the tyrant Phocas, whom he deposed and had executed. In the early years of his reign Avars and Bulgars threatened, attacking even Constantinople, and the Persians conquered Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. In three costly campaigns (622–28) Heraclius recovered the provinces from the Persians, but they fell (629–42) to the Muslim Arabs. He sought to reconcile the Monophysites with the Orthodox Church; this attempt led to the compromise of Monotheletism, which was rejected by both sides. Heraclius began the reorganization of the empire into military provinces (themes). He was succeeded briefly by his son Constantine III and then by his grandson Constans II.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Heraclius

Born 575 in Cappadocia; died Feb. 11, 641, in Constantinople. Byzantine emperor from 610.

Heraclius seized power during a period of profound internal and external political crisis in the Byzantine Empire. He temporarily succeeded in strengthening the empire’s position: in 626 an invasion of Constantinople by the Avars and Slavs was repulsed; in 627–28 the Persians were defeated, and the lands they had conquered in Asia and Egypt were returned. In the succeeding years of Heraclius’ rule, however, these eastern provinces were conquered by the Arabs. Many Byzantine scholars connect major military and administrative reforms with Heraclius’ name, including the creation of the theme system.

Heraclius

?575--641 ad, Byzantine emperor, who restored the Holy Cross to Jerusalem (629)

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

References in periodicals archive ?

After the Romans came the Persians in 619 and ten years later, the Byzantine Empire under Emperor Heraclius who took over Egypt and reinstated Roman rule.

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Jean de Berry also owned various contemporary French medals, including two surviving examples depicting Emperors Constantine and Heraclius, possibly by the Limbourg brothers.

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When the Persians assaulted Jerusalem in 614, the Chalcedonian churchman Sophronius had hoped for assistance from the emperor Heraclius; but after Heraclius tried to reconcile with anti-Chalcedonian communities, Sophronius no longer dreamed of a Roman reconquest when the Arabs defeated the Roman army in 634.

History and Identity in the Late Antique Near East

Sophonisbe will do anything to "fuir l'indignite" of being brought to Rome as a spoil of war (Sophonisbe 3.6.1088); Heraclius and Pulcherie flee "a l'egal de la mort" a union between them which they know to be incestuous (Heraclius 1.1.76), and Camille urges the eponymous Othon to flee in order to avoid attack (4.6.1470).

The cornelian ethics of flight and the case of Horace

Here's a quote from the seventh century by the Emperor Heraclius, who uttered a famous lament when retreating from the plain across the Taurus Mountains near Tarsus:

A mind at peace

"The Patriarchate in Jerusalem has had a strong relationship with the Arab and Islamic world ever since the Arab Caliph Omar Ibn Al Khattab conquered Jerusalem in 636, when he received the keys of the Holy City from Patriarch Sephronius of Jerusalem because the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius had already left the city for Constantinople," Patriarch Theophilos said.

Political solution must include Jerusalem's religious equity

It's definitely under that kind of circumstances, one could say, the easier it becomes his Heraclius task for finding all round comprehensive, appreciable and lasting peace.

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The fall of Rome is based on the myth of the Emperor Heraclius and a letter that he would have written to Muhammad, recognizing him as "the messenger of God,"