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Reviewed by:
  • Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium
  • Claudia Rapp
Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium. By Walter E. Kaegi (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2003) 359 pp. $70.00

The reign of Emperor Heraclius, from 610 to 641, was a momentous period in the history of Byzantium and, indeed, the early Middle Ages, East and West, as a whole. It saw the permanent settlements of Slavs and Avars in the Balkans, and the forceful push of Sasanian Persia to the Mediterranean shores and to Constantinople, with Muslim Arabs following in their footsteps.

The Persians were not successful in capturing the capital, but they managed to establish authority over Palestine and Egypt for more than a decade, until the Byzantine counter-offensive forced their retreat in 627. This victory was the most spectacular achievement of Heraclius. He was the first emperor in many centuries to leave the capital and command the troops in person. Since the Persians had captured the city of Jerusalem, deported its Christian population, and seized the precious relic of the Holy Cross in 614, the war was fought with a religious fervor that anticipated the spirit of the Crusades. Soldiers were promised the crown of martyrdom, and church silver was melted down to finance the war effort. Icons, relics, and the stories of saints gained greater currency, and Jews became the target of hostile propaganda and the victims of a state-ordered attempt at forcible conversion.

The six-year war left both Byzantium and Persia exhausted. As a result, Muslim Arabs met with little resistance as they overran these territories in the 630s. The last decade of Heraclius' reign is overshadowed by such events. Kaegi makes a convincing case that Heraclius' winning strategy against the Persians (the use of intelligence and stratagems, the encouragement of defections, and victory by small margins in pitched battle) was doomed to be unsuccessful against the tightly knit and highly mobile Arab troops.

Kaegi's book aims to present Heraclius "as a man and an emperor" who lived "an action-filled life amid strange and terrible happenings" (4,12). It also includes much additional material on Heraclius' religious policy, his administrative measures, his efforts at securing the dynastic succession of his family, his dealings with internal opposition, and speculation whether Heraclius suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder after the Persian Wars. The book is, in short, the biography of a general and statesman, as the culmination of the author's numerous earlier studies on the history of the seventh century. It derives its value from the intrinsic interest of Heraclius and his times, and from the author's expert knowledge of the Greek, Latin, Arabic, Syriac, Armenian, and Coptic sources, complemented by his insights into the archaeological record and the terrain of the military campaigns. Despite the useful maps and the timeline, the book will be difficult for anyone who does not have prior knowledge of the period.

Claudia Rapp
University of California, Los Angeles
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