9
A CHANGED WORLD
Renewed war with PersiaThe peace of 561 did not last. Despite the Emperor Maurice’s help to the
young Chosroes II, the renewed war between Byzantium and Persia in the
final years of the sixth century and the Persian invasion and conquest of
Byzantine territory that followed in the early seventh century were devastating
blows to the future of the empire. In 626 the Persians and the Avars joined in
a siege of Constantinople that put the empire in a desperate situation and was
very nearly successful, the Emperor Heraclius having taken the drastic step
of leaving the capital to gather troops and to campaign.^1 The situation was
very dangerous, and even before the siege started there were angry protests in
the city about the price and supply of bread. The city’s eventual delivery was
ascribed to the intervention of the Virgin Mary:
[God] by the welcome intercession of his undefiled Mother, who is in
truth our Lady Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary, with his mighty
hand saved this humble city of his from the utterly godless enemies who
encircled it in concert.
(Chron. Pasch., p. 169, trans. Whitby and Whitby)The Virgin had become more and more prominent in religious consciousness;
she was depicted in apse decoration and panel paintings, and after the siege
she was now described in the guise of a general leading the inhabitants of
Constantinople to victory.^2
Success against the Persians by Heraclius in 628 and his restoration of the
True Cross to Jerusalem in 630 was followed closely by the Arab invasions and
Heraclius’ decision to retreat from the east.^3 Despite lurid accounts of destruc-
tion in the Greek and Syriac sources, recent archaeological research indicates
that neither the Persian nor the Arab invasions in Palestine and Syria left much
trace on the ground, at least outside Jerusalem and its environs,^4 though the
effects of Persian campaigns on Asia Minor cities such as Sardis may be a dif-
ferent matter (below). But the eastern empire ruled from Constantinople was
greatly diminished; it only began to recover in the second half of the eighth
century as a result of energetic imperial effort, and then in a form that was