NINEVEH -v1.0
December 12, 627

by Chris Jackson
symbol set required: master 1

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Heraclius judged it would be a better idea to command the siege of Contantinople
from outside its walls than inside. Meanwhile, Sahr Bahaz' Persians crossed the 
coast over to the opposite side of the capital to link up with the Avars, and 
Sahin's army was defeated by a Byzantine force under Theodore somewhere around
Armenia in June 626.

Thessaloniki withstood a 33-day Avar siege around this time, and Constantinople was
well-enough prepared to survive a siege from July 29 to August 8, in one of the most
heroic episodes in the city's history. These Byzantine victories were attributed to
miracles, as the Byzantine army arrived and chased the Avars to the Danube. Heraclius
spent the next year and a half in the Caucasus region finding Khazar (West Turkish) 
Christians to ally with him, while Chosroes II desperately enrolled servants and 
foreigners to form a new Persian army. In mid-September 627, Heraclius was ready to
set out for his final campaign against Persia. He now had a strong army of 70-80,000
Byzantines plus 40,000 Khazar cavalry. 

Heraclius raced to cross the Kurdish mountains and reach the open plain of Assyria 
before the onset of winter. The Persians, led here by a local governor Razitis (Sahr
Baraz seemed to have been far away) unsuccessfully tried to delay this march while 
reinforcements were coming. On December 1, the Byzantines crossed the Great Zab and
reached Ninveh by the 5th, with Razitis following them on the other side of the 
Tigris. Razitis'  reinforcements seemed to have been trickling in piecemeal, but 
when he finally believed he had enough to fight and could wait no longer, he prepared
to give battle.

With the attrition of marching and leaving garrisons behind them, Heraclius' army
was now down to around 50,000 men. The Persians were probably of about equal 
strength or slightly lower. Heraclius had manouvred so the Persians had to fight with
their eyes facing the sun. Casualties are hard to verify, but the Persians were 
defeated in a 9 or 10 hour fight that was fierce, and all their leaders were lost.
Razitis had already died at Heraclius' hand in the one-on-one duel that customarily
preceded battle, but the Persians still fought hard. Heraclius and his horse Dorkon 
were wounded. The Persians fled to the hills but the Byzantines were too tired to 
give pursuit.

This victory opened up the road to the Persian capital of Ctesiphon. Heraclius 
arrived in  Dastagerd on January 4 or 5, 628. Even partly pillaged by the retreating
Chosroes, the wealth was incredible. The Byzantines burned whatever they could not 
take, yet Chosroes still would not make peace. The Byzantines were in a comfortable
position and could afford to wait, and did not attack thickly populated Ctesiphon.

Persia was now exhausted by the 24-year war, in both economics and military. Chosroes'
tolerance of Christianity had also angered an element of Persian society, and his 
rejection of Heraclius' peace proposals was the final straw. Suffering from dystentary,
he was persuaded to crown his son Kavadh as the new Persian emperor, which happened
on February 25. It was not enough to save Chosroes' life, as he was murdered.

Heraclius and Kavadh immediately made peace and the war was finally over. The Byzantines
regained their lost territory, including Syria and Egypt, as well as the True Cross
that was taken from Jerusalem. The Byzantines had won what would turn out to be the last
of the seemingly endless string of wars with Sassanid Persia. Both empires were totally
exhausted by these wars and were too weak to stop the Arabs when they invaded a few years
later.



SOURCES

Stratos, A.N. "Byzantium in the Seventh Century" Volume I: 602-634. Amsterdam:
     Adolf M. Hakkert, 1968.


BATTLE NOTES

The exact battlefield is unknown and I'm not even sure what side of the Tigris the armies
ended up fighting on. Razitis is indeed dead in the preceding duel, as the hex of blood
indicates! I have Heraclius a little back from the center so he won't get totally chewed
up by archery, but the Persians can get a few on him. The armies are pretty much identical
except for the Persians lacking a leader (having the sun in their eyes could kind of be
modeled by factoring this in). The Byzantines are favoured to win and this battle is nothing
special but I just wanted a little something to close out this era before both empires get
crushed.


- Chris Jackson
April 18, 2000
chrisbjackson@hotmail.com 