290

The Persians capture Jerusalem

[614-615

in a second engagement they were put to flight; Cilicia and Tarsus were occupied by the enemy. Meanwhile in Armenia Philippicus had encamped at Valaršapat, but was compelled to beat a hurried retreat before the Persian forces. The Romans were repulsed on every side. But the worst was not yet: with the year 614 came the overwhelming calamity of the fall of the Holy City. Advancing from Caesarea along the coast the Persians under Sahrbarâz arrived before Jerusalem in the month of April. Negotiations were put an end to by the violence of the circus factions, and the Roman relief force from Jericho, which was summoned by Modestus, was put to flight. The Persians pressed forward the siege, bringing up towers and rams, and finally breaching the walls on the twenty-first day from the investment of the city (? 3 or 5 May 614). For three days the massacre lasted, and the Jews joined the victors in venting their spite on their hated oppressors. We hear of 57,000 killed and 35,000 taken captive. Churches went up in flames, the patriarch Zacharias was carried into Persia and with him, to crown the disaster, went the Holy Cross. At the news Nicetas seems to have hastened to Palestine with all speed, but he could do no more than rescue the holy sponge and the holy lance, and these were despatched for safe custody to the capital. It was true that, when once Jerusalem was in his power, Chosroes was prepared to pursue a policy of conciliation: he deserted his former allies and the Jews were banished from the city, while leave was accorded to rebuild the ruined churches; but this did little to assuage the bitterness of the fact that a Christian empire had not been able to protect its most sacred sanctuary from the violence of the barbarian fire-worshipper.

In 615 the Persians began afresh that occupation of Asia Minor which had been interrupted by the evacuation of Caesarea in 611. When Sahin marched towards Chalcedon, Philippicus invaded Persia, but the effort to draw off the enemy's forces proved unsuccessful. Asia Minor however was not Syria, and Sahîn realised that his position was insecure. He professed himself ready to consider terms of peace. Heraclius sailed over to the enemy's camp and from his ship carried on negotiations with the Persian general. Olympius, praetorian praefect, Leontius, praefect of the city, and Anastasius, the treasurer of St Sophia, were chosen as ambassadors, while the Senate wrote a letter to the Persian monarch in support of the Emperor's action. But as soon as Sahîn had crossed the frontier, the Roman envoys became prisoners and Chosroes would hear no word of peace.

Thus while Syria was lost to the Empire and while Slavs were ranging at will over the European provinces, Heraclius had to face the overwhelming problem of raising the necessary funds to carry on the Even from the scanty records which we possess of this period we can trace the Emperor's efforts towards economy: he reduced the number of the clergy who enjoyed office in the capital, and if any above

war.

609-619]

The Avar Surprise

291

this authorised number desired residence in Constantinople, they were to buy the privilege from the State (612). Three years later the coins in which the imperial largess was paid were reduced to half their value. But in June 617 (?) yet another disaster overtook Heraclius. The Khagan of the Avars made overtures for peace, and Athanasius the patrician and Kosmas the quaestor arranged a meeting between the Emperor and the barbarian chief at Heraclea. Splendid religious rites and a magnificent circus display were to mark the importance of the occasion, and huge crowds had poured forth from the city gates to be present at the festivities. But it was no longer increased money payments that the Khagan sought he aimed at nothing less than the capture of Constantinople. At a sign from his whip the ambushed troops burst forth from their hiding-places about the Long Walls. Heraclius saw his peril: throwing off his purple, with his crown under his arm, he fled at a gallop to the city and warned its inhabitants. Over the plain of the Hebdomon and up to the Golden Gate surged the Avar host: they raided the suburbs, they pillaged the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in the Hebdomon, they crossed the Golden Horn and broke in pieces the holy table in the church of the Archangel. Fugitives who escaped reported that 270,000 prisoners, men and women, had been swept away to be settled beyond the Danube, and there was none to stay the Khagan's march. In 618 those who were entitled at the expense of the State to share in the public distribution of loaves of bread were forced to make a contribution at the rate of three nomismata to the loaf, and a few months later (Aug. 618) the public distribution was entirely suspended. Even such a deprivation as this was felt to be inevitable: the chronicle of events in the capital does not record any popular outbreak.

It was probably in the spring of 619 that the next step was taken in the Persian plan of conquest, when Sahrbarâz invaded Egypt. He advanced by the coast road, capturing Pelusium and spreading havoc amongst its numerous churches and monasteries. Babylon, near Memphis, fell, and thence the Persians, supported by a strong flotilla, followed the main western branch of the Nile past Nikiou to Alexandria and began the siege of the Egyptian capital. All the Emperor's measures were indeed of little avail when Armenia, Rome's recruiting ground, was occupied by Persia, and when Sahrbarâz, encamped round Alexandria, had cut off the supply of Egyptian grain so that the capital suffered alike from pestilence and scarcity of food. The sole province which appeared to offer any hope to the exhausted treasury was Africa, and here only, it seemed, could an effective army be raised. It was with African troops that Nicetas had won Egypt in 609: even now, with Carthage as a base of operations, the Persians might surely be repelled and Egypt regained. Thus reasoning, Heraclius prepared to set sail from Europe (619?). When his determination became known,

292

Peace with the Avars

[619-622 Constantinople was in despair; the inhabitants refused to see themselves deserted and the patriarch extracted an oath from the Emperor that he would not leave his capital. The turbulence of New Rome itself seems to have been silenced in this dark hour.

In Egypt Nicetas, despairing of the defence of Alexandria, had fled from the city, and Persians, disguised as fisher-folk, had entered the harbour at dawn with the other fishing-boats, cutting down any who resisted them, and had thrown open the gates to the army of Sahrbarâz (June 619). It did indeed seem that Chosroes was to be the master of the Roman world. About this time too (we do not know the precise year) the Persians, having collected a fleet,' attacked Constantinople by water: it may well have been that this assault was timed to follow close upon the raid of the Avar horde. But upon the sea at least the Empire asserted its supremacy. The Persians fled, four thousand men perished with their ships, and the enemy did not dare to renew the attempt.

Heraclius realised that in order to carry war into Asia there must at all costs be peace in Europe. He sacrificed his pride and concluded a treaty with the Khagan (619). He raised 200,000 nomismata and sent 2 as hostages to the Avars his own bastard son John or Athalarich, his cousin Stephanus, and John the bastard son of Bonus the magister. Sergius had forced Heraclius to swear that he would not abandon Constantinople, and the Church now supplied the funds for the new campaign. It agreed to lend at interest its vast wealth in plate that the gold and silver might be minted into money; for this was no ordinary struggle: it was a crusade to rescue from the infidel the Holy City and the Holy Cross. Christian State and Christian Church must join hands against a common foe. While Persian troops overran Asia, penetrating even to Bithynia and the Black Sea, Heraclius made his preparations and studied his plan of campaign. From Africa he had been borne to empire under the protection of the Mother of God, and now it was with a conviction of the religious solemnity of his mission that he withdrew into privacy during the winter of 621 before he challenged the might of the unbeliever. He himself, despite the criticism of his subjects, would lead his forces in the field: in the strength of the God of Battles he would conquer or die.

On 4 April 622 Heraclius held a public communion; on the following day he summoned Sergius the patriarch and Bonus the magister, together with the senate, the principal officials and the entire populace of the capital. Turning to Sergius, he said: "Into the hands of God and of His Mother and into thine I commend this city and my son." After solemn prayer in the cathedral, the Emperor took the sacred image of the Saviour and bore it from the church in his arms. The troops

1 These may have been Roman ships captured at Tarsus and other harbours at this time occupied by Persia.

2 So modern historians: but perhaps these hostages were given in 623.

622-623]

Heraclius invades Persian territory

293

then embarked and in the evening of the same day, 5 April, the fleet set sail. Despite a violent storm on 6 April the Emperor arrived in safety at the small town of Pylae in the Bay of Nicomedia. Thence Heraclius marched "into the region of the themes," i.e. in all probability Galatia and perhaps Cappadocia. Here the work of concentration was carried out the Emperor collected the garrisons and added to their number his new army. In his first campaign the object of Heraclius was to force the Persian troops to withdraw from Asia Minor: he sought to pass the enemy on the flank, to threaten his communications, and to appear to be striking at the very heart of his native country. The Persians had occupied the mountains, hoping thus to confine the imperial troops within the Pontic provinces during the winter, but by clever strategy Heraclius turned their position and marched towards Armenia. Sahrbarâz endeavoured to draw the Roman army after him by a raid on Cilicia; but, realising that Heraclius could thus advance unopposed through Armenia into the interior of Persia, he abandoned the project and followed the Emperor. Heraclius at length forced a general engagement and won a signal victory. The Persian camp was captured and Sahrbarâz's army almost entirely destroyed. Rumours of impending trouble with the western barbarians in Europe recalled Heraclius to the capital, and his army went into winter quarters. The Emperor had freed Asia Minor from the invader.

Chosroes now addressed a haughty letter to Heraclius which the Emperor caused to be read before his ministers and the patriarch: the despatch itself was laid before the high altar and all with tears implored the succours of Heaven. In reply to Chosroes Heraclius offered the Persian monarch an alternative: either let him accept conditions of peace, or, should he refuse, the Roman army would forthwith invade his kingdom. On 25 March 623 the Emperor left the capital, and celebrated Easter in Nicomedia on 15 April, awaiting, it would seem, the enemy's answer. Here, in all probability, he learned that Chosroes refused to consider terms and treated with contempt the threat of invasion. Thus (20 April) Heraclius set out on his invasion of Persia, marching into Armenia with all speed by way of Caesarea, where he had ordered his army to assemble. Chosroes had commanded Sahrbarâz to make a raid upon the territory of the Empire, but on the news of the sudden advance of Heraclius he was immediately recalled, and was bidden to join his forces to the newly raised troops under Sahîn. From Caesarea Heraclius proceeded through Karin to Dovin: the Christian capital of the province of Ararat was stormed, and after the capture of Nachčavan he made for Ganzaca (Takhti-Soleïmán), since he heard that Chosroes was here in person at the head of 40,000 men. On the defeat of his guards,

1 The reader is warned that this paragraph rests upon an interpretation of the authorities which is peculiar to the present writer. This he hopes to justify in his special study (to appear in B.Z. June 1912) on the date of the Avar surprise.

294

Heraclius returns to the West

[623-625 however, the Persian king fled before the invaders; the city fell, while the great temple which sheltered the fire of Usnasp was reduced to ruins. Heraclius followed after Chosroes, and sacked many cities on his march, but did not venture to press the pursuit: before him lay the enemy's country and the Persian army, while his rear might at any moment be threatened by the united advance of Sahrbarâz and Sahîn. Despite opposition, extreme cold, and scarcity of provisions he crossed the Araxes in safety, carrying some 50,000 prisoners in his train. It was shrewd policy which dictated their subsequent release; it created a good impression and, as a result, there were fewer mouths to feed.

It was doubtless primarily as a recruiting ground that Heraclius sought these Caucasian districts - the home of hardy and warlike mountaineers for the sorely harried provinces of Asia Minor were probably in no condition to supply him with large contingents of troops. This is not however the place to recount in detail the complicated story of the operations of the winter of 623 and of the year 624. Sahin was utterly discomfited at Tigranokert, but Heraclius was himself forced to retire into Armenia before the army of Sahrbarâz (winter, 623). With the spring of 624 we find Lazes, Abasges, and Iberians as Roman allies, though they subsequently deserted the Emperor when disappointed in their expectations of spoil and plunder. Heraclius was once more unable to penetrate into Persia, but was occupied in Armenia, marching and countermarching between forces commanded by Sarablangas, Sahrbarâz and Sahin. Sarablangas was slain, and late in the year Van was captured, and Sarbar surprised in his winter quarters at Arces or Arsissa (at the N.E. end of Lake Van). The Persian general was all but taken prisoner, and very few of the garrison, 6000 strong, escaped destruction.

With the new year (625) Heraclius determined to return to the West, before he once more attempted a direct attack upon Persia. We can only conjecture the reasons which led him to take this step, but it would seem probable that the principal inducement was a desire to assert Roman influence in the south of Asia Minor and in the islands. The Persians had occupied Cilicia before the capture of Jerusalem; in 623 it would appear that they had made a raid upon Rhodes, had seized the Roman general and led off the inhabitants as prisoners, while in the same year we are told that the Slavs had entered Crete. There is some evidence which points to the conclusion that the Emperor was at this time very anxious to recover the ground thus lost. There was considerable doubt however as to which route should be pursued that through Taranda or that by way of the Taurus chain. The latter was chosen despite its difficulty, as it was thought that provisions would be thus more plentiful. From Van the army advanced through Martyropolis and Amida, where the troops rested. But meanwhile Sahrbarâz, in hot pursuit, had arrived first at the Euphrates and removed the bridge of boats. The Emperor however crossed by a ford and reached Samosata