biography
pronunciation:
[heraklius]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (c.575–641)
|
| biography:
| 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. |
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