Heraclius of Edessa
Encyclopedia
Heraclius of Edessa was an Eastern Roman Empire general who took part in the failed campaign against the Vandals
in 468.
, according to Theophanes the Confessor
. John of Antioch
and Theophanes both identify him as a son of Florus.
Before 468, Heraclius was probably the Comes rei militaris of the Eastern court. He was sent with troops to support the Lazi
against the Sassanids
and the Iberians
, but his allies failed to adequately supply his troops, forcing him to withdraw.
In 468, he was sent from Constantinople
to Egypt, where he gathered troops for a massive campaign against the Vandals
in Africa. The overall plan called for a three-pronged attack led by commander in chief Basiliscus
, Marcellinus
, and Heraclius. Basiliscus, the brother-in-law of Leo I the Thracian, was to land at a distance from Carthage
with the main army, transported by an armada of over 1,000 ships, and link up with Heraclius, advancing from Tripolitania
. Marcellinus was to secure Sicily
and Sardinia
.
Accompanied by Marsus, Heraclius landed in Tripolitania and defeated the Vandal forces. He occupied the local cities and continued overland to Carthage. However, the rest of the plan failed. Geiseric, King of the Vandals, called for negotiations with Basiliscus. Basiliscus agreed, unaware that Geiseric was actually preparing a surprise attack. The Vandal monarch sent fire ship
s against Basiliscus' fleet, destroying most of his ships. The rest retreated. Marcellinus achieved his main goal of securing the two islands for the Western Roman Empire
, but was assassinated in Sicily, probably at the instigation of his political rival, Ricimer
. Heraclius, left to stand alone against the Vandals, returned to Constantinople.
In 471, Heraclius helped Emperor Leo I
to get rid of the influential barbarian Magister militum
Aspar
. In 474, during the reign of Zeno
, Heraclius had reached the rank of Magister militum per Thracias. In that capacity, he faced the Goths
of Theodoric Strabo
, but was captured in Thrace
. He was later freed when the emperor paid a ransom.
According to Malchus
, Zeno sent him home, but along the way, at Arcadiopolis, he was murdered by some soldiers for the cruelties he had committed during his tenure. John of Antioch, however, mentions him being killed by Strabo in the Chersonese
.
Malchus criticizes Heraclius as hasty and impetuous, lacking foresight and prudence. Theophanes praises him as an energetic general. There are surviving fragments of a panegyric
honouring a military commander called Heraclius, more likely than not, Heraclius of Edessa.
has supported a theory which suggests that Heraclius of Edessa was a namesake ancestor of Heraclius the Elder
and through him of the Heraclian Dynasty. There seems to be no primary source confirming the connection.
Vandals
The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
in 468.
Biography
Heraclius was born in Edessa, MesopotamiaEdessa, Mesopotamia
Edessa is the Greek name of an Aramaic town in northern Mesopotamia, as refounded by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa.-Names:...
, according to Theophanes the Confessor
Theophanes the Confessor
Saint Theophanes Confessor was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy, who became a monk and chronicler. He is venerated on March 12 in the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Church .-Biography:Theophanes was born in Constantinople of wealthy and noble iconodule parents: Isaac,...
. John of Antioch
John of Antioch (chronicler)
John of Antioch was chronicler in the 7th century. He was a monk, apparently contemporary with Emperor Heraclius . Gelzer identifies the author with the Monophysite Patriarch John of Antioch, who ruled from 630 to 648.John of Antioch's chronicle, Historia chronike, is a universal history...
and Theophanes both identify him as a son of Florus.
Before 468, Heraclius was probably the Comes rei militaris of the Eastern court. He was sent with troops to support the Lazi
Laz people
The Laz are an ethnic group native to the Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia...
against the Sassanids
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
and the Iberians
Caucasian Iberians
Caucasian Iberians was a Greco-Roman designation for ancient Georgians, Ibero-Caucasian people who inhabited the east and southeast of the Transcaucasus region in prehistoric and historic times...
, but his allies failed to adequately supply his troops, forcing him to withdraw.
In 468, he was sent from Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
to Egypt, where he gathered troops for a massive campaign against the Vandals
Vandals
The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
in Africa. The overall plan called for a three-pronged attack led by commander in chief Basiliscus
Basiliscus
Basiliscus was Eastern Roman Emperor from 475 to 476. A member of the House of Leo, he came to power when Emperor Zeno had been forced out of Constantinople by a revolt....
, Marcellinus
Marcellinus (magister militum)
Marcellinus was a Roman general and patrician who ruled over the region of Dalmatia in the Western Roman Empire and held sway with the army there from 454 until his death.-Origins:...
, and Heraclius. Basiliscus, the brother-in-law of Leo I the Thracian, was to land at a distance from Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
with the main army, transported by an armada of over 1,000 ships, and link up with Heraclius, advancing from Tripolitania
Tripolitania
Tripolitania or Tripolitana is a historic region and former province of Libya.Tripolitania was a separate Italian colony from 1927 to 1934...
. Marcellinus was to secure Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
and Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
.
Accompanied by Marsus, Heraclius landed in Tripolitania and defeated the Vandal forces. He occupied the local cities and continued overland to Carthage. However, the rest of the plan failed. Geiseric, King of the Vandals, called for negotiations with Basiliscus. Basiliscus agreed, unaware that Geiseric was actually preparing a surprise attack. The Vandal monarch sent fire ship
Fire ship
A fire ship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, deliberately set on fire and steered into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy ships, or to create panic and make the enemy break formation. Ships used as fire ships were usually old and worn out or...
s against Basiliscus' fleet, destroying most of his ships. The rest retreated. Marcellinus achieved his main goal of securing the two islands for the Western Roman Empire
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
, but was assassinated in Sicily, probably at the instigation of his political rival, Ricimer
Ricimer
Flavius Ricimer was a Germanic general who achieved effective control of the remaining parts of the Western Roman Empire, during the middle of the 5th century...
. Heraclius, left to stand alone against the Vandals, returned to Constantinople.
In 471, Heraclius helped Emperor Leo I
Leo I (emperor)
Leo I was Byzantine Emperor from 457 to 474. A native of Dacia Aureliana near historic Thrace, he was known as Leo the Thracian ....
to get rid of the influential barbarian Magister militum
Magister militum
Magister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer of the Empire...
Aspar
Aspar
Flavius Ardabur Aspar was an Alan patrician and magister militum of the Eastern Roman Empire. Aspar's family exerted a great influence on the Eastern Roman Emperors for half a century, from the 420s to his death in 471, over Theodosius II, Marcian and Leo I, who, in the end, had him killed.Alans...
. In 474, during the reign of Zeno
Zeno (emperor)
Zeno , originally named Tarasis, was Byzantine Emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which nevertheless succeeded to some extent in foreign issues...
, Heraclius had reached the rank of Magister militum per Thracias. In that capacity, he faced the Goths
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
of Theodoric Strabo
Theodoric Strabo
Theodoric Strabo was an Ostrogoth chieftain who was involved in the politics of the Byzantine Empire during the reigns of Byzantine Emperors Leo I, Zeno and Basiliscus...
, but was captured in Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
. He was later freed when the emperor paid a ransom.
According to Malchus
Malchus (historian)
Malchus was a Byzantine historian. According to Suda Malchus was a Byzantine; but Photius states that he was a native of Philadelphia; and his Syriac name makes it probable that Philadelphia was the ancient Rabbah in the country of Ammonitis, east of the River Jordan.Malchus probably followed his...
, Zeno sent him home, but along the way, at Arcadiopolis, he was murdered by some soldiers for the cruelties he had committed during his tenure. John of Antioch, however, mentions him being killed by Strabo in the Chersonese
Chersonese
Chersonese is a name that was given to several different places in ancient times. The word is Latin; it derives from the Greek term for "peninsula", chersonēsos, from chersos + nēsos ....
.
Malchus criticizes Heraclius as hasty and impetuous, lacking foresight and prudence. Theophanes praises him as an energetic general. There are surviving fragments of a panegyric
Panegyric
A panegyric is a formal public speech, or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical. It is derived from the Greek πανηγυρικός meaning "a speech fit for a general assembly"...
honouring a military commander called Heraclius, more likely than not, Heraclius of Edessa.
Possible descendants
Cyril MangoCyril Mango
Cyril Alexander Mango is a British scholar in the history, art, and architecture of the Byzantine Empire. He is a former King's College London and Oxford professor of Byzantine and Modern Greek Language and Literature. He is the brother of Andrew Mango.One of his major works The Mosaics of St...
has supported a theory which suggests that Heraclius of Edessa was a namesake ancestor of Heraclius the Elder
Heraclius the Elder
Heraclius the Elder was an East Roman general and the father of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius . Of Armenian origin, the elder Heraclius distinguished himself in the wars against the Sassanid Persians in the 580s. Ca. 600, he was appointed as the Exarch of Africa. In 608, he rebelled with his son...
and through him of the Heraclian Dynasty. There seems to be no primary source confirming the connection.
Primary sources
- PriscusPriscusPriscus of Panium was a late Roman diplomat, sophist and historian from Rumelifeneri living in the Roman Empire during the 5th century. He accompanied Maximinus, the ambassador of Theodosius II, to the court of Attila in 448...
, History, fragment 41 - ProcopiusProcopiusProcopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine scholar from Palestine. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History...
, Vandal War, xvi.9, xvi.25. - Theophanes the ConfessorTheophanes the ConfessorSaint Theophanes Confessor was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy, who became a monk and chronicler. He is venerated on March 12 in the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Church .-Biography:Theophanes was born in Constantinople of wealthy and noble iconodule parents: Isaac,...
, Chronicle, AM 5963 - MalchusMalchus (historian)Malchus was a Byzantine historian. According to Suda Malchus was a Byzantine; but Photius states that he was a native of Philadelphia; and his Syriac name makes it probable that Philadelphia was the ancient Rabbah in the country of Ammonitis, east of the River Jordan.Malchus probably followed his...
, History, fragments 4 e 5 - John of AntiochJohn of Antioch (chronicler)John of Antioch was chronicler in the 7th century. He was a monk, apparently contemporary with Emperor Heraclius . Gelzer identifies the author with the Monophysite Patriarch John of Antioch, who ruled from 630 to 648.John of Antioch's chronicle, Historia chronike, is a universal history...
, Historia chronike, fragment 210
Secondary sources
- Gerard Friell; Stephen Williams, The Rome That Did Not Fall, Routledge, 1998. ISBN 0-415-15403-0, p. 179
- Jones, Arnold Hugh MartinArnold Hugh Martin JonesArnold Hugh Martin Jones — known as A.H.M. Jones — was a prominent 20th century British historian of classical antiquity, particularly of the later Roman Empire.-Biography:...
, John Robert Martindale, John MorrisJohn Morris (historian)John Robert Morris was an English historian who specialised in the study of the institutions of the Roman Empire and the history of Sub-Roman Britain...
, "Heraclius 4", The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, volume 1, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN 0521072336, pp. 541–542.