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Heraclius: the emperor who beat Persia

Byzantine Empire · Emperor · c. 575 to 641 · ~6 min read · Updated October 2026

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Piero della Francesca's fresco of the battle between Heraclius and the Persians

Piero della Francesca, 1452 to 1466, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

At a glance

Also known as
Herakleios
Lived
c. 575 to 641
Role
Byzantine emperor, 610 to 641
Famous for
The defeat of Persia; Nineveh, 627
Signature
Campaigning deep inside Persian territory
Legacy
The empire saved, then the Arab conquests
Quick answer

Who was Heraclius?

Heraclius was the Byzantine emperor from 610 to 641. He seized the throne from Phocas, lost Syria, Jerusalem and Egypt to Sasanid Persia, then led his army deep into Persian territory, won near Nineveh in December 627 and forced a peace that returned the True Cross. In his last years the Arab conquests took Syria.

Heraclius commanded his army in person through six years of war with Persia, from 622 to 628, and won his decisive battle at Nineveh in December 627. The later disaster at the Yarmouk, where the Arabs destroyed a Byzantine army in 636, was a battle he did not attend: his generals commanded there.1

Heraclius at a glance

  1. 610Arrives off Constantinople with a fleet from Africa; Phocas is killed and Heraclius is crowned on 5 October.2
  2. 614The Persians take Jerusalem and carry off the relic of the True Cross.3
  3. 622Leaves Constantinople to campaign against Persia.4
  4. 626Avars and Persians besiege Constantinople while he is in the east; the city holds.5
  5. 627Defeats the Persian army near Nineveh on 12 December.6
  6. 628Khosrow II is overthrown and killed; his son Kavadh II makes peace.7
  7. 630Brings the True Cross back to Jerusalem, most probably on 21 March (Bury dated the journey to 629).8
  8. 636His army is destroyed by the Arabs at the Yarmouk.9
  9. 641Dies on 11 February.10

Early life: the exarch's son from Africa

Heraclius was born around 575, the son of Heraclius the Elder and Epiphania. Walter Kaegi judges the family probably of Armenian descent, though some sources call the son a Cappadocian. His father, once a general of the emperor Maurice, became exarch (governor) of Africa at Carthage, and the son spent his young adult years there with him.11

In 602 Maurice was overthrown and killed, and Phocas took the throne. The elder Heraclius and his brother Gregory broke with Phocas in Africa and prepared an expedition to overthrow him.12

How did Heraclius become emperor?

Heraclius became emperor by overthrowing Phocas. His father, the exarch of Africa, gave him command of a fleet, which appeared off Constantinople on 3 October 610. The capital's defenders melted away, Phocas was seized in the palace and killed on 5 October, and the same day the patriarch Sergius crowned Heraclius emperor.13

On the day of his coronation he married Eudocia, also called Fabia, who bore him a daughter, Epiphania, and a son, Heraclius Constantine, before she died in August 612. Soon afterward he married his niece Martina. Many of his subjects condemned the union as incestuous, and it was jeered at the chariot races.14

The first decade went badly. The Persians took Damascus in 613 or 614 and Jerusalem in 614, burning the Lord's tomb and carrying off the relic of the True Cross and the patriarch Zacharias. Their armies then overran Egypt, the granary of Constantinople; Alexandria fell in 619, and the loss of Egyptian grain brought famine to the capital.15

Heraclius came close to giving up the capital. He planned to move the court to Africa and sent treasure ahead, much of it lost in a storm, until the patriarch Sergius made him swear in Hagia Sophia never to abandon the city. At a meeting near Heraclea with the Avar khagan, dated 619 by Bury and 5 June 623 by the Chronicon Paschale, the Avars tried to trap him, and he fled to the city in disguise, hiding his crown.16

Painted monastery wall showing Constantinople's walls and ships under siege
The siege of Constantinople on the outer wall of Moldovița Monastery in Romania. CC0 (public domain)

How did Heraclius defeat Persia?

Heraclius defeated Persia by taking the war into Persian lands instead of defending his shrinking provinces. From 622 he campaigned through Armenia into Atropatene, burned the great fire temple at Thebarmais, won Turkish allies from beyond the Caucasus, and in 627 marched into Mesopotamia, beat the Persian army near Nineveh and seized Khosrow's palace at Dastagird.17

Right after celebrating Easter, 4 April 622, Heraclius left Constantinople for the east. He paid for the war with the Church's treasure, taking the candelabra and other vessels of Hagia Sophia and minting them into coin, and he carried a holy image believed not to have been made by human hands. He left his young son in the capital in the care of the patriarch Sergius and the patrician Bonus.18

In his next campaign, dated to 623 by Bury and to 624 by the translators of the Chronicon Paschale, he marched through Armenia into Atropatene. Khosrow II abandoned the town of Ganzak as the Romans approached, and Heraclius burned the fire temple at Thebarmais. When the army debated where to winter, he had it purify itself for three days, opened the Gospels and read a passage pointing to Albania, in the Caucasus. There he freed some 50,000 Persian captives.19

On his way back west, Shahrbaraz caught up with him at the bridge over the Sarus in Cilicia. His men broke ranks, crossed the bridge and were ambushed. Theophanes tells how Heraclius struck down a giant Persian in the middle of the bridge and then fought on the far bank so boldly that Shahrbaraz himself marveled; Bury thought the story came from a lost poem by George of Pisidia.20

In 626 Khosrow sent Shahrbaraz to Chalcedon, across the Bosporus from Constantinople, while the Avars and their Slav subjects besieged the city by land. Heraclius did not come back. He sent part of his army to the capital, left its defense to the patrician Bonus and the patriarch Sergius, and sent his brother Theodore against a second Persian army under Shahin, which Theodore routed.21

The Persians never crossed. The khagan planned to ferry them over the Bosporus in Slav canoes, but the Roman fleet broke up the attempt, the assault on the land walls failed, and the Slav boats in the Golden Horn were destroyed. The Avars withdrew. Meanwhile Heraclius won as allies the Turks of the steppe beyond the Caucasus; Theophanes says their commander gave him 40,000 men.22 › The Greatest Battles of the Byzantine Empire

Dark locator map with a gold star marking Nineveh on the Tigris in northern Iraq and a small world map inset
Nineveh, on the Tigris in northern Iraq, near which Heraclius defeated the Persian army on 12 December 627. Drawn from Natural Earth data, with no modern borders. Location map: © Echoes of Battle (data: Natural Earth, public domain)23

What happened at the Battle of Nineveh?

At Nineveh, on 12 December 627, Heraclius brought the Persian army of Rhahzadh (Razates) to battle on the plain near the ancient city, in northern Iraq. The Persian commander was killed, and in the night his army withdrew. The victory opened Mesopotamia to Heraclius; Kaegi calls it a marginal victory that turned into a decisive one.24

Theophanes tells that Heraclius rode out ahead of his men, killed the Persian commander and two more Persians in single combat, and that his horse Dorkon was wounded. Kaegi treats this as a panegyrical tradition of questionable accuracy. After the battle Heraclius marched south and took Khosrow's palace at Dastagird and its treasures, while Khosrow fled.25 › Battle of Nineveh, 627

A detail from Piero della Francesca's fresco of Heraclius at war with Persia
Detail from Piero della Francesca's Battle of Heraclius and Khosrow, part of the Legend of the True Cross fresco cycle in the Basilica of San Francesco, Arezzo. Public domain

Khosrow's authority collapsed. Early in 628 his eldest son Kavadh II, also called Siroes, overthrew him with the backing of leading nobles, and Khosrow was put to death. Kavadh made peace, giving up the Roman provinces and the captives and promising to return the True Cross. On 15 May 628 Heraclius' dispatch announcing the fall of Khosrow was read out from the pulpit of Hagia Sophia.26

Heraclius carried the True Cross back to Jerusalem and restored it to its place, most probably on 21 March 630; Bury dated the journey to 629. The Armenian historian Sebeos, writing in the same century, describes the emperor's entry into the city with the relic and the church vessels.27

Painting of Heraclius barefoot and stripped of his robes carrying a large cross toward a city gate
Heraclius, stripped of his royal robes, carries the True Cross into Jerusalem, a panel by Adam Elsheimer from the Frankfurt altarpiece of the Exaltation of the True Cross. Public domain
He marched into the heart of Persia and won back an empire that seemed already lost.

Did Heraclius fight the Arabs?

Not in person. When Arab armies invaded Syria, Heraclius, whose health Bury believed was already failing, left the fighting to his generals. They lost a series of battles, and in 636 the main Byzantine army was destroyed at the Yarmouk. Syria was abandoned, and the True Cross was carried from Jerusalem to Constantinople.28

Theophanes names the Byzantine commanders at the Yarmouk as Baanes and the treasurer (sakellarios) Theodore, and says that Baanes' troops proclaimed him emperor during the campaign. Bury doubted the year but noted that most historians accept 636. Damascus was lost, and the Arabs went on to invade Egypt.29 › Battle of Yarmouk, 636

In religion he tried to reunite the Christians of the East. The Ekthesis of 638, issued in his name, declared that Christ had one will. The popes in Rome condemned it.30

How did Heraclius die?

Heraclius died of dropsy on 11 February 641, aged about 66, after a reign of more than thirty years. Nikephoros says the disease was seen as punishment for his marriage to his niece. His will made his sons Constantine III and Heraclonas joint emperors, with Martina honored as empress, and he was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles.31

In his last years he dreaded the sea. Back from Syria, he stayed at the palace of Hieria on the Asian shore and would not cross the Bosporus by ship, until a bridge of boats was built and hedged with branches so that he could not see the water, and he rode across it.32

Byzantine gold coin with the facing busts of Heraclius and his son
Gold solidus of Heraclius and his son Heraclius Constantine, crowned co-emperor in 613 (Metropolitan Museum of Art). CC0 (public domain)33

What was Heraclius famous for?

Heraclius is remembered for rescuing the empire from Persia. After losing Syria, Palestine and Egypt, he led his army in person for six years, won near Nineveh in 627, forced Persia to return the lost provinces and the True Cross, and carried the relic back to Jerusalem, a story later retold in the medieval legend of the Cross.34

Bury counted him among the heroes who outlived their glory: the emperor who saved the inheritance of Rome in its time of sorest need lived to see the provinces he had won back fall to the Arabs. Kaegi credits him with a rare combination of strategic and operational skill in the campaign of 627.35 › 12 December in military history

Explore the other great commanders of the Byzantine Empire and Belisarius, who fought Persia a century earlier.

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

  1. Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  2. Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  3. Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”; Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”. ↩
  4. Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  5. Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  6. Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; Walter E. Kaegi, “The invasion of Mesopotamia”. ↩
  7. Walter E. Kaegi, “The invasion of Mesopotamia”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  8. Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”; Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  9. Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  10. Nikephoros, “Short History”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  11. Walter E. Kaegi, “Armenia and Africa”; Nikephoros, “Short History”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  12. Walter E. Kaegi, “Armenia and Africa”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”; Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”. ↩
  13. Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  14. Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”; Nikephoros, “Short History”. ↩
  15. Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”; Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”; Nikephoros, “Short History”. ↩
  16. J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”; Nikephoros, “Short History”; Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”. ↩
  17. Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  18. Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  19. Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”; Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”. ↩
  20. Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  21. Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”; Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”. ↩
  22. Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”; Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; Walter E. Kaegi, “The invasion of Mesopotamia”. ↩
  23. Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; Walter E. Kaegi, “The invasion of Mesopotamia”. ↩
  24. Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; Walter E. Kaegi, “The invasion of Mesopotamia”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  25. Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”; Walter E. Kaegi, “The invasion of Mesopotamia”. ↩
  26. Walter E. Kaegi, “The invasion of Mesopotamia”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”; Nikephoros, “Short History”; Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”. ↩
  27. Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”; Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”; Sebeos, “Sebeos’ History”. ↩
  28. J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”; Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; Sebeos, “Sebeos’ History”. ↩
  29. Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  30. J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”; Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”. ↩
  31. Nikephoros, “Short History”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”; Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”. ↩
  32. Nikephoros, “Short History”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”. ↩
  33. Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Solidus of Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine”; Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD”. ↩
  34. Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”; J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”; Städel Museum, “The Altarpiece of the Holy Cross”. ↩
  35. J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2”; Walter E. Kaegi, “The invasion of Mesopotamia”. ↩

Sources

  • Theophanes the Confessor, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor”, trans. Cyril Mango and Roger Scott (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997)
  • J. B. Bury, “A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. 2” (London: Macmillan, 1889)
  • Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby (trans.), “Chronicon Paschale 284 to 628 AD” (Liverpool University Press, 1989)
  • Walter E. Kaegi, “The invasion of Mesopotamia”, in Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium (Cambridge University Press, 2003)
  • Nikephoros, Patriarch of Constantinople, “Short History”, ed. and trans. Cyril Mango (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1990)
  • Walter E. Kaegi, “Armenia and Africa: the formative years”, in Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium (Cambridge University Press, 2003)
  • Sebeos, “Sebeos’ History”, trans. Robert Bedrosian
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Solidus of Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine”
  • Städel Museum, “The Altarpiece of the Holy Cross” (Adam Elsheimer)

Frequently asked questions

Who was Heraclius?

Heraclius was the Byzantine emperor from 610 to 641. He overthrew Phocas, saw Persia conquer Syria, Jerusalem and Egypt, then led a six-year counteroffensive that ended with his victory near Nineveh in 627 and a peace returning the lost provinces and the True Cross. Arab armies later took Syria.

What is Heraclius famous for?

He is famous for defeating Sasanid Persia when the empire seemed lost. He took the war deep into Persian territory from 622, won near Nineveh in December 627, saw Khosrow II overthrown in 628 and brought the True Cross back to Jerusalem in March 630, a story retold in medieval legend.

What happened at the Battle of Nineveh?

On 12 December 627 Heraclius fought the Persian army of Rhahzadh on the plain near Nineveh, in northern Iraq. The Persian commander was killed and his army driven off. Heraclius then took Khosrow's palace at Dastagird, and early in 628 Khosrow was overthrown by his son Kavadh II, who made peace.

Was Heraclius in Constantinople during the siege of 626?

No. He stayed in the east and sent part of his army to the capital instead. The patrician Bonus and the patriarch Sergius led the defense, the Roman fleet stopped the Persians from crossing the Bosporus in Slav canoes, the Avar assault on the walls failed, and the Avars withdrew.

Did Heraclius fight the Arabs?

Not in person. When Arab armies invaded Syria, Heraclius, already in failing health, left the war to his generals. In 636 the main Byzantine army was destroyed at the Yarmouk, Damascus and Syria were lost, and the Arabs went on to invade Egypt before his death in 641.

Did Heraclius recover the True Cross?

Yes. The Persians carried the relic off from Jerusalem in 614. The peace made with Kavadh II in 628 required its return, and Heraclius brought it back to Jerusalem himself, most probably in March 630, although Bury dated that journey to 629. During the Arab conquests it was taken to Constantinople.

How did Heraclius die?

Heraclius died of dropsy on 11 February 641, aged about 66, after a reign of more than thirty years. Some saw the illness as punishment for his marriage to his niece Martina. He left the throne jointly to his sons Constantine III and Heraclonas and was buried in the Holy Apostles.

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