Flavius Heraclius (575 - 11 February 641), the first emperor of the Heraclius dynasty of the Byzantine Empire (5 October 610 - 11 February 641), was born into an Armenian family. Traditionally, Heraclius is considered the founder of the military system, the Saima system, which modern scholars believe was established during the reign of Emperor Constance II.

A man who never lies to anyone cannot lie in the name of the Lord - Heraclius on Muhammad

When a hero was proudly preparing to perform his skills on the historical stage, he encountered another hero with a greater impact and finally had to watch the grand cause in his blueprint be greatly discounted. Heraclius, the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, must have a deep understanding of this. He was ordered to save the empire from fire and water in times of difficulty. However, when he was preparing to make great achievements, he encountered the almost invincible Islamic prophet Mohammed and watched helplessly as large areas of the empire fell away.

Knight of Heraclius

In 602 AD, a highly motivated army was marching south on the Balkans, shouting fierce slogans against the emperor. It turned out that this was a mutinous army of the Byzantine Empire. When they were ordered to spend the winter in the enemy's territory on the other side of the Danube River, under the leadership of centurion Foukas, they openly rioted and marched towards Constantinople to deal with Emperor Maurice.

After the death of Justinian the Great, the Byzantine Empire began to decline. The military uprising in 602 was a product of the development of internal conflicts within the Byzantine Empire to a certain extent. With the support of the masses of Constantinople, Foccas 'troops quickly captured the capital and guillotined Emperor Maurice and his children, as well as representatives of the government who were hostile to the army. Centurion Faukas became the new emperor of the Empire in one step, and he brought eight years of bloody civil war.

From the beginning, the notorious Foskas was fiercely opposed by the Imperial Senate, great aristocrats, and administrative officials, who quickly provoked civil wars in the eastern provinces (including Syria, Palestine, Silesia, Asia Minor, Egypt, etc.). The Byzantine Empire's long-time old rival, Sassanid Persian Emperor Kuthlos II, took the opportunity to launch a war against Byzantium. In 604, Kuthro personally led his troops on an expedition, with a puppet claiming to be Theodosius, son of Emperor Maurice, and captured large areas of Armenia, the Two River Basin and Syria. Faced with resistance from all over the country, Emperor Fusas's government could only use cruel killing to deal with the famous aristocrats of the empire. As a result, the more people killed, the more enemies there were. At that time, the situation in the empire could be said to have reached its worst situation.

This is what happened when Heraclius stepped onto the stage of history. Heraclius was the son of the governor of Africa, and he stood up at the most opportune moment. In 609, he launched an uprising against Foca. In the situation that all walks of life in the country had despaired of Foca, he received the effect of "raising his arms and gathering his responders", and soon received the support of the Elders and the Greens. In 610, he successfully marched into the imperial capital, captured the crown, and pushed Forcas to the guillotine. In the autumn of the same year, Heraclius became emperor and established the Heraclius dynasty (610-717).

Heraclius, the first to ascend the throne, had to resist the invasion of the Sassanid Persians. By this time, the Persians had captured Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Armenia, Iberia, and the two rivers, and invaded the hinterland of the Byzantine Empire from Asia Minor. In 615, the Persian general Shahin captured Karlsidon in the Bosphorus Strait, directly threatening the Byzantine capital Constantinople on the opposite side of the strait. Just then, the Slavs and Avars began to attack Byzantium from the northwest. The Byzantine country was in chaos, and Heraclius was in a difficult situation. He was sent to make peace with Kuthlao and was rejected.

In response to the crisis, Heraclius began to reform the Byzantine army, dividing the country into several military districts, each of which strengthened its mobile combat and defense capabilities. The church also donated gold and silver to support Heraclius. In 622, the Byzantine navy attacked the Sassanid Persian army and lifted the siege of Constantinople. Since then, there have been victories and defeats in the standoff with the Persians. The real turning point of the war took place in 626, when Heraclius turned from defense to attack with the assistance of the Khazarian Turks, and invaded Iran from Iberia. The following year, Heraclius captured the Persian military town of Ganzac. He destroyed one of the most important Zoroastrian fire shrines, the fire shrine of Artur Gushnashp. Kuth Lao hurriedly retreated with the holy fire. The Byzantine army then defeated the Sassanid Persians in the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh and sacked the palace of Dastkart. Kuthlao hurriedly fled to Tessiphon, and the Byzantine army followed.

This time it was Sassanid Persia's turn to be troubled internally and externally. The critical situation triggered a palace coup and Kuthro was put into prison. Cavad II (born of Kuthro and Byzantine Princess Mary) was proclaimed king. At the end of February 628, on Kawad's orders, Kuthro was killed in prison. In order to consolidate his throne, he killed all his brothers, reportedly 17 in total. Soon after, the two countries signed a peace treaty, Sassanid Persia withdrew its territory from Edessa to Alexandria, and the two countries exchanged prisoners and returned the "true cross." At this point, the crisis faced by the Byzantine Empire can be said to have come to an end for the time being.

Churches during the Heraclius period

During the war, Heraclius had already tasted the sweetness of military regionalism. After the war, Heraclius still felt pressure from foreigners from all directions of the east, west, north and south of the empire, so he decided to implement military regionalism throughout the country. Military regionalism was originally implemented in North Africa and Italy. Heraclius transplanted it to the eastern provinces, and successively established five military regions: Armenia, Opsikin, Kivileodon, Anadolia, and Thrace. His successors continued to refine and promote the scope of military regionalism, so that it finally became a basic system of the Byzantine Empire.

The essence of the military region system is the integration of local military and government. The local military chiefs have both administrative jurisdiction and two terms, which is similar to the Jiedao system in Chinese history. In fact, the whole country is under military control. Due to the vulnerable geographical characteristics of the Byzantine Empire, war has become a regular function of the state and the government, and the military region system is obviously reasonable and necessary for the Byzantine Empire.

Another important aspect of Heraclius's reform was the establishment of a military garrison system that integrated military service and feudal obligations. In order to solve the crisis of financial shortage, Heraclius distributed the land and land properties of the great aristocrats confiscated during the war to officers and soldiers serving in the military as pay. The land can be inherited or transferred, but the transfer of the land must be transferred together with the military service obligations to the successor. They fought in wartime, cultivated land in peacetime, paid taxes to the government, and were exempted from corvee. Heraclius's successors continued to consolidate the military garrison system. This move not only solved the financial crisis faced at that time, but also promoted the small-scale peasant economy. It was considered to be the key to the transformation of the Byzantine Empire from a slave society to a feudal society.

The relationship between Heraclius and the church was very delicate. In times of crisis, Heraclius received the support of the church. He used a large number of measures to use the religious property, using the material and spiritual strength of the church to call on the army and the people of the country to share the enemy. But after the war, the church's debt collection caused the contradiction between the two sides to rise. In addition, in the face of the severe situation in the eastern part of the empire, in order to win people's hearts and satisfy the heretics of the "Monophysite" school in Egypt and Syria, Heraclius put forward his own "two-sex monism" theory, which believed that Christ had two natures but only one will, but was strongly opposed by the church. Despite this, the contradiction between Heraclius and the Church was still benign, and did not develop to the point of destroying the Church through the "Iconoclastic Movement" as Leo III did later.

Just as Heraclius was busy rectifying internal affairs, he heard the sound of war drums from the southeastern part of the empire.

In the same year that Heraclius won the throne, a prophet appeared in the city of Mecca on the Arabian Peninsula. He claimed to be the messenger of Allah to spread the truth to the public. Since then, the fire of Muslims has spread rapidly in the throat of the world. In the early days, inspired by the spirit of God, Muslims defeated the weak many times, almost invincible.

In 633, the new Arab states pointed the war against the Byzantine Empire. This year, the caliphate's army advanced in all directions, attacking Jerusalem, Busra, Damascus, and Homs. Supported by the "Monophytes" in these areas. In 634, the Arab side, with the tyrant Khalid as the commander, defeated the Byzantine army at Blas in Transjordan and Shinadan in Palestine. In 635, Damascus was conquered, and Palestine and Syria fell into enemy hands one after another. Heraclius sent his king Theodora to fight and recaptured Damascus and other cities for a time, but in June he was defeated miserably at the mouth of the Yarmouk River in Jordan, and Theodora died in battle. By the time of Heraclius's death in 641, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, and even Egypt had become part of a vibrant Arab empire. Since then, the Byzantine Empire has become a country that has greatly contracted its territory and is struggling under the attack of the Arabs.

Failure in his later years cannot deny Heraclius's lifelong struggle. Heraclius's influence on history is undoubtedly significant, which is reflected in two aspects: First, he contributed to the survival and survival of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire). After the decline of the Western Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire was almost the only spark of civilization in Europe at that time. If it died by foreign countries, it is unknown how long the Dark Ages of the Middle Ages would be extended. Secondly, the military region system and military garrison system he established not only became the fundamental system of the Byzantine Empire, but also had a profound impact on the later Ottoman Empire and other Middle Eastern countries. Therefore, he should be included in this ranking of emperors who influenced the world, ranking 76th.

Comments: When Heraclius was in power, he faced two opponents before and after. Sassanid Persia was like the setting sun before setting down the mountain, and the Arab Empire was like a tiger at the beginning of its descent. The victory and defeat of Byzantium had a lot to do with the strength of the opponent. Putting aside military victories and defeats, the valuable thing about Heraclius was that, as a pragmatic political reformer, he established the system of military regions, military land system and other systems, and established the guiding ideology of military establishment, which was absolutely necessary for the survival of the Byzantine Empire surrounded by strong enemies.

¢Ù Artur Gushnashp Fire Temple is a shrine dedicated to the worship of the Persian royal family and warriors, and has the highest status among the shrines of Zoroastrianism.