_Second Reign of Chosroes II. (Eberwiz). His Rule at first Unpopular,
His Treatment of his Uncles, Bindoes and Bostam. His vindictive
Proceedings against Bahram. His supposed Leaning towards Christianity.
His Wives, Shirin and Kurdiyeh. His early Wars. His Relations with the
Emperor Maurice. His Attitude towards Phocas. Great War of Chosroes with
Phocas, A.D. 603-610. War continued with Heraclius. Immense Successes
of Chosroes, A.D. 611-620. Aggressive taken by Heraclius A.D. 622. His
Campaigns in Persian Territory A.D. 622-628. Murder of Chosroes. His
Character. His Coins_.
The second reign of Chosroes II., who is commonly known as Chosroes
Eberwiz or Parwiz, lasted little short of thirty-seven years--from the
summer of A.D. 591 to the February of A.D. 628. Externally considered,
it is the most remarkable reign in the entire Sassanian series,
embracing as it does the extremes of elevation and depression. Never at
any other time did the Neo-Persian kingdom extend itself so far, or
so distinguish itself by military achievements, as in the twenty years
intervening between A.D. 602 and A.D. 622. Seldom was it brought so low
as in the years immediately anterior and immediately subsequent to
this space, in the earlier and in the later portions of the reign whose
central period was so glorious.
Victorious by the help of Rome, Chosroes began his second reign amid the
scarcely disguised hostility of his subjects. So greatly did he mistrust
their sentiments towards him that he begged and obtained of Maurice the
support of a Roman bodyguard, to whom he committed the custody of his
person. To the odium always attaching in the minds of a spirited people
to the ruler whose yoke is imposed upon them by a foreign power, he
added further the stain of a crime which is happily rare at all times,
and of which (according to the general belief of his subjects) no
Persian monarch had ever previously been guilty. It was in vain that he
protested his innocence: the popular belief held him an accomplice in
his father’s murder, and branded the young prince with the horrible name
of “parricide.”
It was no doubt mainly in the hope of purging himself from this
imputation that, after putting to death the subordinate instruments by
whom his father’s life had been actually taken, he went on to institute
proceedings against the chief contrivers of the outrage--the two uncles
who had ordered, and probably witnessed, the execution. So long as the
success of his arms was doubtful, he had been happy to avail himself of
their support, and to employ their talents in the struggle against
his enemies. At one moment in his flight he had owed his life to the
self-devotion of Bindoes; and both the brothers had merited well of him
by the efforts which they had made to bring Armenia over to his cause,
and to levy a powerful army for him in that region. But to clear his own
character it was necessary that he should forget the ties both of blood
and gratitude, that he should sink the kinsman in the sovereign, and the
debtor in the stern avenger of blood. Accordingly, he seized Bindoes,
who resided at the court, and had him drowned in the Tigris. To Bostam,
whom he had appointed governor of Rei and Khorassan, he sent an order
of recall, and would undoubtedly have executed him, had he obeyed;
but Bostam, suspecting his intentions, deemed it the wisest course to
revolt, and proclaim himself independent monarch of the north country.
Here he established himself in authority for some time, and is even
said to have enlarged his territory at the expense of some of the border
chieftains; but the vengeance of his nephew pursued him unrelentingly,
and ere long accomplished his destruction. According to the best
authority, the instrument employed was Bostam’s wife, the sister of
Bahram, whom Chosroes induced to murder her husband by a promise to make
her the partner of his bed.
Intrigues not very dissimilar in their character had been previously
employed to remove Bahram, whom the Persian monarch had not ceased to
fear, notwithstanding that he was a fugitive and an exile. The Khan of
the Turks had received him with honor on the occasion of his flight,
and, according to some authors, had given him his daughter in marriage.
Chosroes lived in dread of the day when the great general might reappear
in Persia, at the head of the Turkish hordes, and challenge him to renew
the lately-terminated contest.
He therefore sent an envoy into Turkestan, well supplied with rich
gifts, whose instructions were to procure by some means or other the
death of Bahram. Having sounded the Khan upon the business and met with
a rebuff, the envoy addressed himself to the Khatun, the Khan’s wife,
and by liberal presents induced her to come into his views. A slave
was easily found who undertook to carry out his mistress’s wishes, and
Bahram was despatched the same day by means of a poisoned dagger. It is
painful to find that one thus ungrateful to his friends and relentless
to his enemies made, to a certain extent, profession of Christianity.
Little as his heart can have been penetrated by its spirit, Chosroes
seems certainly, in the earlier part of his reign, to have given
occasion for the suspicion, which his subjects are said to have
entertained, that he designed to change his religion, and confess
himself a convert to the creed of the Greeks. During the period of his
exile, he was, it would seem, impressed by what he saw and heard, of
the Christian worship and faith; he learnt to feel or profess a high
veneration for the Virgin; and he adopted the practice, common at the
time, of addressing his prayers and vows to the saints and martyrs,
who were practically the principal objects of the Oriental Christians’
devotions. Sergius, a martyr, hold in high repute by the Christians of
Osrhoene and Mesopotamia, was adopted by the superstitious prince as
a sort of patron saint; and it became his habit, in circumstances of
difficulty, to vow some gift or other to the shrine of St. Sergius
at Sergiopolis, in case of the event corresponding to his wishes. Two
occasions are recorded where, on sending his gift, he accompanied
it with a letter explaining the circumstances of his vow and its
fulfilment; and even the letters themselves have come down to us, but in
a Greek version. In one, Chosroes ascribes the success of his arms on a
particular occasion to the influence of his self-chosen patron; in the
other, he credits him with having procured by his prayers the pregnancy
of Sira (Shirin), the most beautiful and best beloved of his wives. It
appears that Sira was a Christian, and that in marrying her Chosroes had
contravened the laws of his country, which forbade the king to have a
Christian wife. Her influence over him was considerable, and she is said
to have been allowed to build numerous churches and monasteries in and
about Ctesiphon. When she died, Chosroes called in the aid of sculpture
to perpetuate her image, and sent her statue to the Roman Emperor, to
the Turkish Khan, and to various other potentates.
Chosroes is said to have maintained an enormous seraglio; but of these
secondary wives, none is known to us even by name, except Kurdiyeh, the
sister of Bahram and widow of Bostam, whom she murdered at Chosroes’s
suggestion.
During the earlier portion of his reign Chosroes seems to have been
engaged in but few wars, and those of no great importance. According to
the Armenian writers, he formed a design of depopulating that part of
Armenia which he had not ceded to the Romans, by making a general levy
of all the males, and marching them off to the East, to fight against
the Ephthalites; but the design did not prosper, since the Armenians
carried all before them, and under their native leader, Smbat, the
Bagratunian, conquered Hyrcania and Tabaristan, defeated repeatedly the
Koushans and the Ephthalites, and even engaged with success the Great
Khan of the Turks, who came to the support of his vassals at the head
of an army consisting of 300.000 men. By the valor and conduct of Smbat,
the Persian dominion was re-established in the north-eastern mountain
region, from Mount Demavend to the Hindu Kush; the Koushans, Turks, and
Ephthalitos were held in check; and the tide of barbarism, which had
threatened to submerge the empire on this side, was effectually resisted
and rolled back.
With Rome Chosroes maintained for eleven years the most friendly
and cordial relations. Whatever humiliation he may have felt when he
accepted the terms on which alone Maurice was willing to render him aid,
having once agreed to them, he stifled all regrets, made no attempt to
evade his obligations, abstained from every endeavor to undo by intrigue
what he had done, unwillingly indeed, but yet with his eyes open. Once
only during the eleven years did a momentary cloud arise between him
and his benefactor. In the year A.D. 600 some of the Saracenic tribes
dependent on Rome made an incursion across the Euphrates into Persian
territory, ravaged it far and wide, and returned with their booty
into the desert. Chosroes was justly offended, and might fairly have
considered that a _casus belli_ had arisen; but he allowed himself to
be pacified by the representations of Maurice’s envoy, George, and
consented not to break the peace on account of so small a matter. George
claimed the concession as a tribute to his own amiable qualities; but
it is probable that the Persian monarch acted rather on the grounds of
general policy than from any personal predilection.
Two years later the virtuous but perhaps over-rigid Maurice was deposed
and murdered by the centurion, Phocas, who, on the strength of his
popularity with the army, boldly usurped the throne. Chosroes heard
with indignation of the execution of his ally and friend, of the insults
offered to his remains, and of the assassination of his numerous sons,
and of his brother. One son, he heard, had been sent off by Maurice to
implore aid from the Persians; he had been overtaken and put to death
by the emissaries of the usurper; but rumor, always busy where royal
personages are concerned, asserted that he lived, that he had escaped
his pursuers, and had reached Ctesiphon. Chosroes was too much
interested in the acceptance of the rumor to deny it; he gave out that
Theodosius was at his court, and notified that it was his intention
to assert his right to the succession. When, five months after his
coronation, Phocas sent an envoy to announce his occupation of the
throne, and selected the actual murderer of Maurice to fill the post,
Chosroes determined on an open rupture. He seized Lilius, the envoy,
threw him into prison, announced his intention of avenging his deceased
benefactor, and openly declared war against Rome.
The war burst out the next year (A.D. 603). On the Roman side there was
disagreement, and even civil war; for Narses, who had held high command
in the East ever since he restored Chosroes to the throne of his
ancestors, on hearing of the death of Maurice, took up arms against
Phocas, and, throwing himself into Edessa, defied the forces of the
usurper. Germanus, who commanded at Daras, was a general of small
capacity, and found himself quite unable to make head, either against
Narses in Edessa, or against Chosroes, who led his troops in person into
Mesopotamia. Defeated by Chosroes in a battle near Daras, in which he
received a mortal wound, Germanus withdrew to Constantia, where he died
eleven days afterwards. A certain Leontius, a eunuch, took his place,
but was equally unsuccessful. Chosroes defeated him at Arxamus, and
took a great portion of his army prisoners; whereupon he was recalled by
Phocas, and a third leader, Domentziolus, a nephew of the emperor, was
appointed to the command. Against him the Persian monarch thought it
enough to employ generals. The war now languished for a short space; but
in A.D. 605 Chosroes came up in person against Daras, the great Roman
stronghold in these parts, and besieged it for the space of nine months,
at the end of which time it surrendered. The loss was a severe blow to
the Roman prestige, and was followed in the next year by a long
series of calamities. Chosroes took Tur-abdin, Hesen-Cephas, Mardin,
Capher-tuta, and Amida. Two years afterwards, A.D. 607, he captured
Harran (Carrhse), Ras-el-ain (Resaina), and Edessa, the capital of
Osrhoene, after which he pressed forward to the Euphrates, crossed with
his army into Syria, and fell with fury on the Roman cities west of the
river. Mabog or Hierapolis, Kenneserin, and Berhoea (now Aleppo), were
invested and taken in the course of one or at most two campaigns; while
at the same time (A.D. 609) a second Persian army, under a general
whose name is unknown, after operating in Armenia, and taking Satala
and Theodosiopolis, invaded Cappadocia and threatened the great city of
Caesarea Mazaca, which was the chief Roman stronghold in these parts.
Bands of marauders wasted the open country, carrying terror through the
fertile districts of Phyrgia and Galatia, which had known nothing of
the horrors of war for centuries, and were rich with the accumulated
products of industry. According to Theophanes, some of the ravages even
penetrated as far as Chalcedon, on the opposite side of the straits
from Constantinople; but this is probably the anticipation of an event
belonging to a later time. No movements of importance are assigned to
A.D. 610; but in the May of the next year the Persians once more crossed
the Euphrates, completely defeated and destroyed the Roman army which
protected Syria, and sacked the two great cities of Apameia and Antioch.
Meantime a change had occurred at Constantinople. The double revolt of
Heraclius, prefect of Egypt, and Gregory, his lieutenant, had brought
the reign of the brutal and incapable Phocas to an end, and placed
upon the imperial throne a youth of promise, innocent of the blood
of Maurice, and well inclined to avenge it. Chosroes had to consider
whether he should adhere to his original statement, that he took up arms
to punish the murderer of his friend, and benefactor, and consequently
desist from further hostilities now that Phocas was dead, or whether,
throwing consistency to the winds, he should continue to prosecute the
war, notwithstanding the change of rulers, and endeavor to push to the
utmost the advantage which he had already obtained. He resolved on this
latter alternative. It was while the young Heraclius was still insecure
in his seat that he sent his armies into Syria, defeated the Roman
troops, and took Antioch and Apameia. Following up blow with blow, he
the next year (A.D. 612) invaded Cappadocia a second time and captured
Csesarea Mazaca. Two years later (A.D. 614) he sent his general
Shahr-Barz, into the region east of the Antilibanus, and took the
ancient and famous city of Damascus. From Damascus, in the ensuing year,
Shahr-Barz advanced against Palestine, and, summoning the Jews to his
aid, proclaimed a Holy War against the Christian misbelievers, whom
he threatened to enslave or exterminate. Twenty-six thousand of these
fanatics flocked to his standard; and having occupied the Jordan region
and Galileee, Shahr-Barz in A.D. 615 invested Jerusalem, and after a
siege of eighteen days forced his way into the town, and gave it over to
plunder and rapine. The cruel hostility of the Jews had free vent.
The churches of Helena, of Constantine, of the Holy Sepulchre, of the
Resurrection, and many others, were burnt or ruined; the greater part of
the city was destroyed; the sacred treasuries were plundered; the relics
scattered or carried off; and a massacre of the inhabitants, in which
the Jews took the chief part, raged throughout the whole city for some
days. As many as seventeen thousand or, according to another account,
ninety thousand, were slain. Thirty-five thousand were made prisoners.
Among them was the aged Patriarch, Zacharius, who was carried captive
into Persia, where he remained till his death.
The Cross found by Helena, and believed to be “the True Cross,” was at
the same time transported to Ctesiphon, where it was preserved with care
and duly venerated by the Christian wife of Chosroes.
A still more important success followed. In A.D. 616 Shahr-Barz
proceeded from Palestine into Egypt, which had enjoyed a respite from
foreign war since the time of Julius Caesar, surprised Pelusium, the
key of the country, and, pressing forward across the Delta, easily made
himself master of the rich and prosperous Alexandria. John the Merciful,
who was the Patriarch, and Nicetas the Patrician, who was the governor,
had quitted the city before his arrival, and had fled to Cyprus. Hence
scarcely any resistance was made. The fall of Alexandria was followed at
once by the complete submission of the rest of Egypt. Bands of Persians
advanced up the Nile valley to the very confines of Ethiopia, and
established the authority of Chosroes over the whole country--a country
in which no Persian had set foot since it was wrested by Alexander of
Macedon from Darius Codomannus.
While this remarkable conquest was made in the southwest, in the
north-west another Persian army under another general, Saina or Shahen,
starting from Cappadocia, marched through Asia Minor to the shores of
the Thracian Bosphorus, and laid siege to the strong city of Chalcedon,
which lay upon the strait, just opposite Constantinople. Chalcedon
made a vigorous resistance; and Heraclius, anxious to save it, had an
interview with Shahen, and at his suggestion sent three of his highest
nobles as ambassadors to Chosroes, with a humble request for peace.
The overture was ineffectual. Chosroes imprisoned the ambassadors and
entreated them cruelly; threatened Shahen with death for not bringing
Heraclius in chains to the foot of his throne; and declared in reply
that he would grant no terms of peace--the empire was his, and Heraclius
must descend from his throne. Soon afterwards (A.D. 617) Chalcedon,
which was besieged through the winter, fell; and the Persians
established themselves in this important stronghold, within a mile
of Constantinople. Three years afterwards, Ancyra (Angora), which
had hitherto resisted the Persian arms, was taken; and Rhodes, though
inaccessible to an enemy who was without a naval force, submitted.
Thus the whole of the Roman possessions in Asia and Eastern Africa were
lost in the space of fifteen years. The empire of Persia was extended
from the Tigris and Euphrates to the Egean and the Nile, attaining once
more almost the same dimensions that it had reached under the first and
had kept until the third Darius. It is difficult to say how far their
newly acquired provinces wore really subdued, organized, and governed
from Ctesiphon, how far they were merely overrun, plundered, and
then left to themselves. On the one hand, we have indications of the
existence of terrible disorders and of something approaching to anarchy
in parts of the conquered territory during the time that it was held by
the Persians; on the other, we seem to see an intention to retain,
to govern, and even to beautify it. Eutychius relates that, on the
withdrawal of the Romans from Syria, the Jews resident in Tyre, who
numbered four thousand, plotted with their co-religionists of Jerusalem,
Cyprus, Damascus, and Galilee, a general massacre of the Tyrian
Christians on a certain day. The plot was discovered; and the Jews of
Tyre were arrested and imprisoned by their fellow-citizens, who put the
city in a state of defence; and when the foreign Jews, to the number of
26,000, came at the appointed time, repulsed them from the walls, and
defeated them with great slaughter. This story suggests the idea of a
complete and general disorganization. But on the other hand we hear of
an augmentation of the revenue under Chosroes II., which seems to imply
the establishment in the regions conquered of a settled government; and
the palace at Mashita, discovered by a recent traveller, is a striking
proof that no temporary occupation was contemplated, but that Chosroes
regarded his conquests as permanent acquisitions, and meant to hold them
and even visit them occasionally.
Heraclius was now well-nigh driven to despair. The loss of Egypt reduced
Constantinople to want, and its noisy populace clamored for food. The
Avars overran Thrace, and continually approached nearer to the capital.
The glitter of the Persian arms was to be seen at any moment, if he
looked from his palace windows across the Bosphorus. No prospect of
assistance or relief appeared from any quarter. The empire was reduced
to the walls of Constantinople, with the remnant of Greece, Italy, and
Africa, and some maritime cities, from Tyre to Trebizond, of the Asiatic
Coast. It is not surprising that under the circumstances the despondent
monarch determined on flight, and secretly made arrangements for
transporting himself and his treasures to the distant Carthage, where
he might hope at least to find himself in safety. His ships, laden with
their precious freight, had put to sea, and he was about to follow them,
when his intention became known or was suspected; the people rose; and
the Patriarch, espousing their side, forced the reluctant prince to
accompany him to the church of St. Sophia, and there make oath that,
come what might, he would not separate his fortunes from those of the
imperial city.
Baffled in his design to escape from his difficulties by flight,
Heraclius took a desperate resolution. He would leave Constantinople to
its fate, trust its safety to the protection afforded by its walls and
by the strait which separated it from Asia, embark with such troops as
he could collect, and carry the war into the enemy’s country. The one
advantage which he had over his adversary was his possession of an ample
navy, and consequent command of the sea and power to strike his blows
unexpectedly in different quarters. On making known his intention,
it was not opposed, either by the people or by the Patriarch. He was
allowed to coin the treasures of the various churches into money, to
collect stores, enroll troops, and, on the Easter Monday of A.D. 622, to
set forth on his expedition.
His fleet was steered southward, and, though forced to contend
with adverse gales, made a speedy and successful voyage through the
Propontis, the Hellespont, the Egean, and the Cilician Strait, to the
Gulf of Issus, in the angle between Asia Minor and Syria. The position
was well chosen, as one where attack was difficult, where numbers would
give little advantage, and where consequently a small but resolute force
might easily maintain itself against a greatly superior enemy. At the
same time it was a post from which an advance might conveniently be
made in several directions, and which menaced almost equally Asia Minor,
Syria, and Armenia. Moreover, the level tract between the mountains and
the sea was broad enough for the manoeuvres of such an army as Heraclius
commanded, and allowed him to train his soldiers by exercises and sham
fights to a familiarity with the sights and sounds and movements of a
battle. He conjectured, rightly enough, that he would not long be left
unmolested by the enemy. Shahr-Barz, the conqueror of Jerusalem and
Egypt, was very soon sent against him; and, after various movements,
which it is impossible to follow, a battle was fought between the two
armies in the mountain country towards the Armenian frontier, in which
the hero of a hundred fights was defeated and the Romans, for the first
time since the death of Maurice, obtained a victory. After this, on the
approach of winter, Heraclius, accompanied probably by a portion of his
army, returned by sea to Constantinople.
The next year the attack was made in a different quarter. Having
concluded alliances with the Khan of the Khazars and some other chiefs
of inferior power, Heraclius in the month of March embarked with 5000
men, and proceeded from Constantinople by way of the Black Sea first
to Trebizond, and then to Mingrelia or Lazica. There he obtained
contingents from his allies, which, added to the forces collected from.
Trebizond and the other maritime towns, may perhaps have raised his
troops to the number of 120,000, at which we find them estimated. With
this army, he crossed the Araxes, and invaded Armenia. Chosroes, on
receiving the intelligence, proceeded into Azorbijan with 40,000 men,
and occupied the strong city of Canzaca, the site of which is probably
marked by the ruins known as Takht-i-Suleiman. At the same time he
ordered two other armies, which he had sent on in advance, one of them
commanded by Shahr-Barz, the other by Shahen, to effect a junction
and oppose themselves to the further progress of the emperor. The two
generals were, however, tardy in their movements, or at any rate were
outstripped by the activity of Heraclius, who, pressing forward from
Armenia into Azerbijan, directed his march upon Canzaca, hoping to bring
the Great King to a battle. His advance-guard of Saracens did actually
surprise the picquets of Chosroes; but the king himself hastily
evacuated the Median stronghold, and retreated southwards through
Ardelan towards the Zagros mountains, thus avoiding the engagement which
was desired by his antagonist. The army, on witnessing the flight of
their monarch, broke up and dispersed. Heraclius pressed upon the flying
host and slew all whom he caught, but did not suffer himself to be
diverted from his main object, which was to overtake Chosroes. His
pursuit, however, was unsuccessful. Chosroes availed himself of the
rough and difficult country which lies between Azerbijan and the
Mesopotamian lowland, and by moving from, place to place contrive to
baffle his enemy. Winter arrived, and Heraclius had to determine whether
he would continue his quest at the risk of having to pass the cold
season in the enemy’s country, far from all his resources, or relinquish
it and retreat to a safe position. Finding his soldiers divided in their
wishes, he trusted the decision to chance, and opening the Gospel at
random settled the doubt by applying the first passage that met his eye
to its solution. The passage suggested retreat; and Heraclius, retracing
his steps, recrossed the Araxes, and wintered in Albania.
The return of Heraclius was not unmolested. He had excited the
fanaticism of the Persians by destroying, wherever he went, the temples
of the Magians, and extinguishing the sacred fire, which it was a part
of their religion to keep continually burning. He had also everywhere
delivered the cities and villages to the flames, and carried off many
thousands of the population. The exasperated enemy consequently hung
upon his rear, impeded his march, and no doubt caused him considerable
loss, though, when it came to fighting, Heraclius always gained the
victory. He reached Albania without sustaining any serious disaster,
and even brought with him 50,000 captives; but motives of pity, or of
self-interest, caused him soon afterwards to set these prisoners free.
It would have been difficult to feed and house them through the long and
severe winter, and disgraceful to sell or massacre them.
In the year A.D. 624 Chosroes took the offensive, and, before Heraclius
had quitted his winter quarters, sent a general, at the head of a force
of picked troops, into Albania, with the view of detaining him in that
remote province during the season of military operations. But Sarablagas
feared his adversary too much to be able very effectually to check his
movements; he was content to guard the passes, and hold the high ground,
without hazarding an engagement. Heraclius contrived after a time
to avoid him, and penetrated into Persia through a series of plains,
probably those along the course and about the mouth of the Araxes. It
was now his wish to push rapidly southward; but the auxiliaries on whom
he greatly depended were unwilling; and, while he doubted what course
to take, three Persian armies, under commanders of note, closed in upon
him, and threatened his small force with destruction. Heraclius feigned
a disordered flight, and drew on him an attack from two out of the three
chiefs, which he easily repelled. Then he fell upon the third, Shahen,
and completely defeated him. A way seemed to be thus opened for him into
the heart of Persia, and he once more set off to seek Chosroes; but now
his allies began to desert his standard, and return to their homes;
the defeated Persians rallied and impeded his march; he was obliged to
content himself with a third, victory, at a place which Theophanes
calls Salban, where he surprised Shahr-Barz in the dead of the night,
massacred his troops, his wives, his officers, and the mass of the
population, which fought from the flat roofs of the houses, took the
general’s arms and equipage, and was within a little of capturing
Shahr-barz himself. The remnant of the Persian army fled in disorder,
and was hunted down by Heraclius, who pursued the fugitives unceasingly
till the cold season approached, and he had to retire into cantonments.
The half-burnt Salban afforded a welcome shelter to his troops during
the snows and storms of an Armenian winter.
Early in the ensuing spring the indefatigable emperor again set his
troops in motion, and, passing the lofty range which separates the basin
of Lake Van from the streams that flow into the upper Tigris, struck
that river, or rather its large affluent, the Bitlis Chai, in seven days
from Salban, crossed into Arzanene, and proceeding westward recovered
Martyropolis and Amida, which had now been in the possession of the
Persians for twenty years. At Amida he made a halt, and wrote to
inform the Senate of Constantinople of his position and his victories,
intelligence which they must have received gladly after having lost
sight of him for above a twelvemonth. But he was not allowed to remain
long undisturbed. Before the end of March Shahr-Barz had again taken
the field in force, had occupied the usual passage of the Euphrates, and
threatened the line of retreat which Heraclius had looked upon as open
to him. Unable to cross the Euphrates by the bridge, which Shahr-barz
had broken, the emperor descended the stream till he found a ford,
when he transported his army to the other bank, and hastened by way of
Samosata and Germanicaea into Cilicia. Here he was once more in his own
territory, with the sea close at hand, ready to bring him supplies or
afford him a safe retreat, in a position with whose advantages he was
familiar, where broad plains gave an opportunity for skilful maneuvers,
and deep rapid rivers rendered defence easy. Heraclius took up a
position on the right bank of the Sarus (Syhuri), in the immediate
vicinity of the fortified bridge by which alone the stream could be
crossed. Shahr-Barz followed, and ranged his troops along the left bank,
placing the archers in the front line, while he made preparations to
draw the enemy from the defence of the bridge into the plain on the
other side. He was so far successful that the Roman occupation of the
bridge was endangered; but Heraclius, by his personal valor and by
almost superhuman exertions, restored the day; with his own hand he
struck down a Persian of gigantic stature and flung him from the bridge
into the river; then pushing on with a few companions, he charged the
Persian host in the plain, receiving undaunted a shower of blows, while
he dealt destruction on all sides. The fight was prolonged until the
evening and even then was undecided; but Shahr-Barz had convinced
himself that he could not renew the combat with any prospect of victory.
He therefore retreated during the night, and withdrew from Cilicia.
Heraclius, finding himself free to march where he pleased, crossed
the Taurus, and proceeded to Sebaste (Sivas), upon the Halys, where
he wintered in the heart of Cappadocia, about half-way between the two
seas. According to Theophanes the Persian monarch was so much enraged at
this bold and adventurous march, and at the success which had attended
it, that, by way of revenging himself on Heraclius, he seized the
treasures of all the Christian churches in his dominions, and
compelled the orthodox believers to embrace the Nestorian heresy. The
twenty-fourth year of the war had now arrived, and it was difficult
to say on which side lay the balance of advantage. If Chosroes still
maintained his hold on Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor as far as
Chalcedon, if his troops still flaunted their banners within sight
of Constantinople, yet on the other hand he had seen his hereditary
dominions deeply penetrated by the armies of his adversary; he had had
his best generals defeated, his cities and palaces burnt, his favorite
provinces wasted; Heraclius had proved himself a most formidable
opponent; and unless some vital blow could be dealt him at home, there
was no forecasting the damage that he might not inflict on Persia by a
fresh invasion. Chosroes therefore made a desperate attempt to bring the
war to a close by an effort, the success of which would have changed the
history of the world. Having enrolled as soldiers, besides Persians,
a vast number of foreigners and slaves, and having concluded a close
alliance with the Khan of the Avars, he formed two great armies, one
of which was intended to watch Heraclius in Asia Minor, while the other
co-operated with the Avars and forced Constantinople to surrender. The
army destined to contend with the emperor was placed under the command
of Shahen; that which was to bear a part in the siege of Constantinople
was committed to Shahr-Barz. It is remarkable that Heraclius, though
quite aware of his adversary’s plans, instead of seeking to baffle
them, made such arrangements as facilitated the attempt to put them
into execution. He divided his own troops into three bodies, one only of
which he sent to aid in the defence of his capital. The second body he
left with his brother Theodore, whom he regarded as a sufficient match
for Shahen. With the third division he proceeded eastward to the remote
province of Lazica, and there engaged in operations which could but very
slightly affect the general course of the war. The Khazars were once
more called in as allies; and their Khan, Ziebel, who coveted the
plunder of Tiflis, held an interview with the emperor in the sight of
the Persians who guarded that town, adored his majesty, and received
from his hands the diadem that adorned his own brow. Richly entertained,
and presented with all the plate used in the banquet, with a royal robe,
and a pair of pearl earrings, promised moreover the daughter of the
emperor (whose portrait he was shown) in marriage, the barbarian chief,
dazzled and flattered, readily concluded an alliance, and associated his
arms with those of the Romans. A joint attack was made upon Tiflis, and
the town was reduced to extremities; when Sarablagas, with a thousand
men, contrived to throw himself into it, and the allies, disheartened
thereby, raised the siege and retired.
Meanwhile, in Asia Minor, Theodore engaged the army of Shahen; and, a
violent hailstorm raging at the time, which drove into the enemy’s face,
while the Romans were, comparatively speaking, sheltered from its force,
he succeeded in defeating his antagonist with great slaughter. Chosroes
was infuriated; and the displeasure of his sovereign weighed so heavily
upon the mind of Shahen that he shortly afterwards sickened and died.
The barbarous monarch gave orders that his corpse should be embalmed and
sent to the court, in order that he might gratify his spleen by treating
it with the grossest indignity.
At Constantinople the Persian cause was equally unsuccessful.
Shahr-Barz, from Chalcedon, entered into negotiations with the Khan of
the Avars, and found but little difficulty in persuading him to make
an attempt upon the imperial city. From their seats beyond the Danube
a host of barbarians--Avars, Slaves, Gepidas, Bulgarians, and
others--advanced through the passes of Heemus into the plains of Thrace,
destroying and ravaging. The population fled before them and sought the
protection of the city walls, which had been carefully strengthened in
expectation of the attack, and were in good order. The hordes forced the
outer works; but all their efforts, though made both by land and sea,
were unavailing against the main defences; their attempt to sap the wall
failed; their artillery was met and crushed by engines of greater power;
a fleet of Slavonian canoes, which endeavored to force an entrance by
the Golden Horn, was destroyed or driven ashore; the towers with which
they sought to overtop the walls were burnt; and, after ten days of
constantly repeated assaults, the barbarian leader became convinced
that he had undertaken an impossible enterprise, and, having burnt his
engines and his siege works, he retired. The result might have been
different had the Persians, who were experienced in the attack of walled
places, been able to co-operate with him; but the narrow channel which
flowed between Chalcedon and the Golden Horn proved an insurmountable
barrier; the Persians had no ships, and the canoes of the Slavonians
were quite unable to contend with the powerful galleys of the
Byzantines, so that the transport of a body of Persian troops from
Asia to Europe by their aid proved impracticable. Shahr-Barz had the
annoyance of witnessing the efforts and defeat of his allies, without
having it in his power to take any active steps towards assisting the
one or hindering the other.
The war now approached its termination; for the last hope of the
Persians had failed; and Heraclius, with his mind set at rest as
regarded his capital, was free to strike at any part of Persia that he
pleased, and, having the prestige of victory and the assistance of the
Khazars, was likely to carry all before him. It is not clear how he
employed himself during the spring and summer of A.D. 627; but in the
September of that year he started from Lazica with a large Roman army
and a contingent of 40,000 Khazar horse, resolved to surprise
his adversary by a winter campaign, and hoping to take him at a
disadvantage. Passing rapidly through Armenia and Azerbijan without
meeting an enemy that dared to dispute his advance, suffering no
loss except from the guerilla warfare of some bold spirits among
the mountaineers of those regions, he resolved, notwithstanding the
defection of the Khazars, who declined to accompany him further south
than Azerbijan, that he would cross the Zagros mountains into Assyria,
and make a dash at the royal cities of the Mesopotamian region, thus
retaliating upon Chosroes for the Avar attack upon Constantinople of the
preceding year, undertaken at his instigation. Chosroes himself had for
the last twenty-four years fixed his court at Dastagherd in the plain
country, about seventy miles to the north of Ctesiphon. It seemed to
Heraclius that this position might perhaps be reached, and an effective
blow struck against the Persian power. He hastened, therefore, to cross
the mountains; and the 9th of October saw him at Chnaethas, in the low
country, not far from Arbela, where he refreshed his army by a week’s
rest. He might now easily have advanced along the great post-road which
connected Arbela with Dastagherd and Ctesiphon; but he had probably by
this time received information of the movements of the Persians, and was
aware that by so doing he would place himself between two fires, and
run the chance of being intercepted in his retreat. For Chosroes, having
collected a large force, had sent it, under Ehazates, a new general,
into Azerbijan; and this force, having reached Canzaca, found itself in
the rear of Heraclius, between him and Lazica. Heraclius appears not to
have thought it safe to leave this enemy behind him, and therefore he
idled away above a month in the Zab region, waiting for Ehazates to make
his appearance. That general had strict orders from the Great King
to fight the Romans wherever he found them, whatever might be the
consequence; and he therefore followed, as quickly as he could, upon
Heraclius’s footsteps, and early in December came up with him in the
neighborhood of Nineveh. Both parties were anxious for an immediate
engagement, Rhazates to carry out his master’s orders, Heraclius because
he had heard that his adversary would soon receive a reinforcement.
The battle took place on the 12th of December, in the open plain to the
north of Nineveh. It was contested from early dawn to the eleventh hour
of the day, and was finally decided, more by the accident that Rhazates
and the other Persian commanders were slain, than by any defeat of the
soldiers. Heraclius is said to have distinguished himself personally
during the fight by many valiant exploits; but he does not appear to
have exhibited any remarkable strategy on the occasion. The Persians
lost their generals, their chariots, and as many as twenty-eight
standards; but they were not routed, nor driven from the field. They
merely drew off to the distance of two bowshots, and there stood firm
till after nightfall. During the night they fell back further upon
their fortified camp, collected their baggage, and retired to a strong
position at the foot of the mountains. Here they were joined by
the reinforcement which Chosroes had sent to their aid; and thus
strengthened they ventured to approach Heraclius once more, to hang on
his rear, and impede his movements. He, after his victory, had resumed
his march southward, had occupied Nineveh, recrossed the Groat Zab,
advanced rapidly through Adiabene to the Lesser Zab, seized its bridges
by a forced march of forty-eight (Roman) miles, and conveyed his army
safely to its left bank, where he pitched his camp at a place called
Yesdem, and once more allowed his soldiers a brief repose for the
purpose of keeping Christmas. Chosroes had by this time heard of the
defeat and death of Rhazates, and was in a state of extreme alarm.
Hastily recalling Shahr-Barz from Chalcedon, and ordering the troops
lately commanded by Rhazates to outstrip the Romans, if possible, and
interpose themselves between Heraclius and Dastaghord, he took up
a strong position near that place with his own army and a number of
elephants, and expressed an intention of there awaiting his antagonist.
A broad and deep river, or rather canal, known as the Baras-roth or
Barazrud, protected his front; while at some distance further in advance
was the Torna, probably another canal, where he expected that the army
of Rhazates would make a stand. But that force, demoralized by its
recent defeat, fell back from the line of the Torna, without even
destroying the bridge over it; and Chosroes, finding the foe advancing
on him, lost heart, and secretly fled from Dastagherd to Ctesiphon,
whence he crossed the Tigris to Guedeseer or Seleucia, with his treasure
and the best-loved of his wives and children. The army lately under
Rhazates rallied upon the line of the Nahr-wan canal, three miles
from Ctesiphon; and here it was largely reinforced, though with a mere
worthless mob of slaves and domestics. It made however a formidable
show, supported by its elephants, which numbered two hundred; it had a
deep and wide cutting in its front; and, this time, it had taken care
to destroy all the bridges by which the cutting might have been crossed.
Heraclius, having plundered the rich palace of Dastagherd, together
with several less splendid royal residences, and having on the 10th of
January encamped within twelve miles of the Nahrwan, and learnt from
the commander of the Armenian contingent, whom he sent forward to
reconnoitre, that the canal was impassable, came to the conclusion that
his expedition had reached its extreme limit, and that prudence required
him to commence his retreat. The season had been, it would seem,
exceptionally mild, and the passes of the mountains were still open; but
it was to be expected that in a few weeks they would be closed by the
snow, which always falls heavily during some portion of the winter.
Heraclius, therefore, like Julian, having come within sight of
Ctesiphon, shrank from the idea of besieging it, and, content with
the punishment that he had inflicted on his enemy by wasting and
devastation, desisted from his expedition, and retraced his steps. In
his retreat he was more fortunate than his great predecessor. The defeat
which he had inflicted on the main army of the Persians paralyzed their
energies, and it would seem that his return march was unmolested. He
reached Siazurus (_Shehrizur_) early in February, Barzan (_Berozeh_)
probably on the 1st of March,176 and on the 11th of March Canzaca, where
he remained during the rest of the winter.
Chosroes had escaped a great danger, but he had incurred a terrible
disgrace. He had fled before his adversary without venturing to give
him battle. He had seen palace after palace destroyed, and had lost
the magnificent residence where he had held his court for the last
four-and-twenty years. The Romans had recovered 300 standards, trophies
gained in the numerous victories of his early years. They had shown
themselves able to penetrate into the heart of his empire, and to retire
without suffering any loss. Still, had he possessed a moderate amount
of prudence, Chosroes might even now have surmounted the perils of
his position, and have terminated his reign in tranquillity, if not
in glory. Heraclius was anxious for peace, and willing to grant it on
reasonable conditions. He did not aim at conquests, and would have been
contented at any time with the restoration of Egypt, Syria, and Asia
Minor. The Persians generally were weary of the war, and would have
hailed with joy almost any terms of accommodation. But Chosroes was
obstinate; he did not know how to bear the frowns of fortune; the
disasters of the late campaign, instead of bending his spirit, had
simply exasperated him, and he vented upon his own subjects the
ill-humor which the successes of his enemies had provoked. Lending a
too ready ear to a whispered slander, he ordered the execution of
Shahr-Barz, and thus mortally offended that general, to whom the
despatch was communicated by the Romans. He imprisoned the officers
who had been defeated by, or had fled before Heraclius. Several other
tyrannical acts are alleged against him; and it is said that he was
contemplating the setting aside of his legitimate successor, Siroes, in
favor of a younger son, Merdasas, his offspring by his favorite wife,
the Christian Shirin, when a rebellion broke out against his authority.
Gurdanaspa, who was in command of the Persian troops at Ctesiphon,
and twenty-two nobles of importance, including two sons of Shahr-Barz,
embraced the cause of Siroes, and seizing Chosroes, who meditated
flight, committed him to “the House of Darkness,” a strong place where
he kept his money. Here he was confined for four days, his jailers
allowing him daily a morsel of bread and a small quantity of water; when
he complained of hunger, they told him, by his son’s orders, that he
was welcome to satisfy his appetite by feasting upon his treasures. The
officers whom he had confined were allowed free access to his prison,
where they insulted him and spat upon him. Merdasas, the son whom he
preferred, and several of his other children, were brought into his
presence and put to death before his eyes. After suffering in this way
for four days he was at last, on the fifth day from his arrest (February
28), put to death in some cruel fashion, perhaps, like St. Sebastian,
by being transfixed with arrows. Thus perished miserably the second
Chosroes, after having reigned thirty-seven years (A.D. 591-628), a just
but tardy Nemesis overtaking the parricide.
The Oriental writers represent the second Chosroes as a monarch whose
character was originally admirable, but whose good disposition was
gradually corrupted by the possession of sovereign power. “Parviz,” says
Mirkhond, “holds a distinguished rank among the kings of Persia through
the majesty and firmness of his government, the wisdom of his views, and
his intrepidity in carrying them out, the size of his army, the amount
of his treasure, the flourishing condition of the provinces during his
reign, the security of the highways, the prompt and exact obedience
which he enforced, and his unalterable adherence to the plans which
he once formed.” It is impossible that these praises can have been
altogether undeserved; and we are bound to assign to this monarch, on
the authority of the Orientals, a vigor of administration, a strength
of will, and a capacity for governing, not very commonly possessed
by princes born in the purple. To these merits we may add a certain
grandeur of soul, and power of appreciating the beautiful and
the magnificent, which, though not uncommon in the East, did not
characterize many of the Sassanian sovereigns. The architectural remains
of Chosroes, which will be noticed in a future chapter, the descriptions
which have come down to us of his palaces at Dastagherd and Canzaca, the
accounts which we have of his treasures, his court, his seraglio, even
his seals, transcend all that is known of any other monarch of his line.
The employment of Byzantine sculptors and architects, which his works
are thought to indicate, implies an appreciation of artistic excellence
very rare among Orientals. But against these merits must be set a number
of most serious moral defects, which may have been aggravated as time
went on, but of which we see something more than the germ, even while
he was still a youth. The murder of his father was perhaps a state
necessity, and he may not have commanded it, or have been accessory
to it before the fact; but his ingratitude towards his uncles, whom he
deliberately put to death, is wholly unpardonable, and shows him to have
been cruel, selfish, and utterly without natural affection, even in the
earlier portion of his reign. In war he exhibited neither courage nor
conduct; all his main military successes were due to his generals; and
in his later years he seems never voluntarily to have exposed himself to
danger. In suspecting his generals, and ill-using them while living, he
only followed the traditions of his house; but the insults offered to
the dead body of Shahen, whose only fault was that he had suffered a
defeat, were unusual and outrageous. The accounts given of his seraglio
imply either gross sensualism or extreme ostentation; perhaps we may
be justified in inclining to the more lenient view, if we take into
consideration the faithful attachment which he exhibited towards Shirin.
The cruelties which disgraced his later years are wholly without excuse;
but in the act which deprived him of his throne, and brought him to a
miserable end--his preference of Merdasas as his successor--he exhibited
no worse fault than an amiable weakness, a partiality towards the son of
a wife who possessed, and seems to have deserved, his affection.
The coins of the second Chosroes are numerous in the extreme, and
present several peculiarities. The ordinary type has, on the obverse,
the king’s head in profile, covered by a tiara, of which the chief
ornament is a crescent and star between two outstretched wings. The
head is surrounded by a double pearl bordering, outside of which, in the
margin, are three crescents and stars. The legend is _Khusrui afzud_,
with a monogram of doubtful meaning. The reverse shows the usual
fire altar and supporters, in a rude form, enclosed by a triple pearl
bordering. In the margin, outside the bordering, are four crescents and
stars. The legend is merely the regnal year and a mint-mark. Thirty-four
mint-marks have been ascribed to Chosroes II. [PLATE XXIII., Fig. 4.]
A rarer and more curious type of coin, belonging to this monarch,
presents on the obverse the front face of the king, surmounted by a
mural crown, having the star and crescent between outstretched wings at
top. The legend is _Khusrui mallean malka--afzud_. “Chosroes, king of
kings--increase (be his).” The reverse has a head like that of a woman,
also fronting the spectator, and wearing a band enriched with pearls
across the forehead, above which the hair gradually converges to a
point. [PLATE XXIV., Fig. 1.] A head very similar to this is found on
Indo-Sassanian coins. Otherwise we might have supposed that the uxorious
monarch had wished to circulate among his subjects the portrait of his
beloved Shirin.
[Illustration: PLATE XXIV.]