Heraclius

Heraclius is rarely mentioned, although he is otherwise well known to history buffs in both the West and the East as one of the most interesting emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire.

It will be that the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (575-641) did more for the Serbs than all other foreign rulers from their arrival in the Balkans in the 7th century until today, since he granted this Slavic tribe the status of a federation and allowed it to settle on the territory of the empire. But, unlike other personalities, Heraclius is rarely mentioned in our public and culture, although he is otherwise well known to history lovers in both the West and the East as one of the most interesting emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire, which we now popularly call Byzantium, by the ancient name Byzant, for Constantinople or Constantinople.

It is not known why Heraclius was particularly interested in this tribe from so many others throughout Sclavini, as the Romans called the territories that the Slavs forcibly occupied in the Balkans at the beginning of the 7th century. The Serbs, who, with the emperor's consent, immigrated and settled first in Thrace, and then in today's areas, recognized his supreme authority and had the status of allies - federations.

Although they do not have their own written history at this time, the arrival of Serbs and Croats in the Balkans was long ago and unequivocally dated during the reign of Emperor Heraclius. The most reliable evidence of this is the famous work "On the Management of the Empire", written by Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the 10th century. This secret document was written by Porphyrogenitus as an instruction to rule his successors, without diplomatic and stylistic embellishments, and as it has long been hidden from the public, historians consider it authentic evidence.

The scripture deals with the people on the territory of the empire, but also around it, in order to describe the Serbs, their lifestyle, characteristics, customs and history in Chapter 32.

Along with his historical legacy, Heraclius was also a dramatic figure as a person. Various experiences were gained in his character - he was big and strong, skilled in battle, but at the same time extremely well-read. He allegedly observed the stars, practiced astrology and, like any educated Romeo, had theological knowledge. It is known for sure that he spoke Greek, Latin and Armenian. He was born in Cappadocia, ruled Armenia in the east, and his father was a Byzantine governor, exarch of Africa, so he spent his youth in Carthage.

He knew Persia well and understood the way they fought, so he will go down in history as the ruler who finally defeated this empire. All these experiences of various cultures made Heraclius at least an unusually skilled ruler, at times cruel as he was towards the conspirators in 638, but also benevolent, as he was obviously towards the Serbs.

With age, he became conservative, but still changed his temper. On the one hand, he led campaigns in thousands of stages, excitedly discussed theological problems, reconciled East and West, outwitted enemies. However, he sank into melancholy uncharacteristic of rulers, and occasionally had bouts of unreasonable fear. Kegi believes that after the battle of Yarmouk, he suffered from a typical post-traumatic syndrome. Namely, he reached the Bosphorus, and then he got a phobia of water, which is why the previously fearless emperor (who sailed the Mediterranean) was not allowed to enter the capital. He returned to Constantinople only when a pontoon bridge was built for him from boats by boat, on which grass was thrown.

He had numerous descendants, but his two sons were emperors. He married twice, in his youth Evdokia, and then Martina, to whom he was extremely attached. The Empress accompanied Heraclius on every campaign and had a huge influence on his affairs and decisions.

Heraclius came to the throne in Constantinople in 610 by overthrowing the unpopular Phocas - at a time when Byzantium lost numerous possessions in the Balkans due to the Slavic invasion, while in the East, Persia conquered vast territories, Jerusalem, fertile Egypt and territories in Italy fell. The kingdom at that time, as many times before and after, was torn apart by one of the great theological conflicts - the struggle between the so-called Monophysites in the East and the Orthodox Chalcedonians over the question of whether there is only one spirit in the body of Christ. Heraclius will offer the two sides a compromise solution - monothelitism, the teachings of Patriarch Sergius, which had significant political weight in the era, but was later abandoned (which is why theologians will not glorify Heraclius too much later).

In the years after the conquest of power, Heraclius will try to consolidate the economic and military forces of the empire, and at the same time he will inform about the fundamental reform that Mavrikije started with the introduction of the exarchate before Phocas. According to the ancestor of our Byzantine studies, Gregory of Ostrog, it was Heraclius who introduced the so-called thematic organization of Byzantium, which for centuries was the foundation of the military and financial power of the Eastern Empire. The topics are military-civilian areas managed by strategists and inhabited by stratiots, free peasants who pay taxes to the emperor and are obliged to provide military force for the needs of the empire.

A decade after gaining power, in a series of impressive military expeditions, Heraclius defeats Persia and not only regains previously lost areas, but also brings to an end the Persian domination in the East with which the Romans fought for centuries. Heraclius liberated Jerusalem in 630, and according to legend, he discovered the Holy Cross.

Although not personally present due to the campaign in the East, in his time, in 626, Constantinople managed to withstand the largest siege undertaken by the Avars and Slavs, after which the Avar domination of the Balkans declined, and this people disappeared.

In the time of Heraclius, in the south, Islam was born in Arabia, and some researchers believe that the emperor was in indirect correspondence with Muhammad himself, as well as that the two rulers respected each other, which is why Islamic sources speak of Heraclius in superlatives.