Herakleios the Elder

Solidus of Herakleios from the year 608, showing him and his son of the same name as consuls

Herakleios the Elder († around 611 in Carthage ) was the father of the Byzantine emperor Herakleios . He was probably a native Armenian and the first recorded member of the Heraklian dynasty , which came to an end with the assassination of Tiberios , the six-year-old son of Justinian II , in 711.

Herakleios the Elder served as general under Maurikios and fought successfully under General Philippikos on the Byzantine eastern border against the Persians , where he served as a master among other things . In 587 he took over command of the troops stationed there for some time and restored discipline in the army , in 589 he defeated a Persian army near Nisibis . He was then appointed magister militum per Armeniam (Commander-in-Chief in the military district of Armenia) around 595 .

Some time later, probably under Maurikios, but perhaps also not until Phocas , who overthrew Maurikios in 602, Herakleios became Exarch of Africa (see Exarchate of Carthage ). When oppositional circles from the capital Constantinople contacted him - they were dissatisfied with the rule of Emperor Phocas, which was described as tyrannical - he sent his son, also named Herakleios, to Constantinople, while Nicetas, a relative of the exarch, occupied Egypt . Soon after the fall of Phocas, Herakleios the Elder died in Carthage.

literature

• John Robert Martindale: Heraclius 3. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 3A, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1992, ISBN 0-521-20160-8 , pp. 584-586.
• Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 3: Faber Felix - Juwayni, Al- . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2012, ISBN 978-2-503-53243-1 , pp. 229-230.