Heraklios 2

Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire
SexM
FloruitL VII/E VIII
Dates698 (taq) / 705 (ob.)
LocationsThrace;
Sision (Cilicia);
Cilicia;
Cappadocia;
Anatolikoi;
Anatolikoi (officeplace)
TitlesPatrikios (dignity);
Strategos, Anatolikoi [monostrategos] (office)
Textual SourcesNicephorus, Breviarium Historiae, ed. C. Mango, Nikephoros, Patriarch of Constantinople: Short History; prev. ed. C. de Boor Nicephori ArchiepiscopiConstantinopolitani Opuscula Historica Leipzig 1880 (history);
Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1883-85, repr. Hildesheim/NewYork, 1980); tr. and comm. C. Mango and R. Scott, The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Oxford 1997 (chronicle);
Zonaras = Ioannis Zonarae Epitome Historiarum, libri XIII-XVIII, ed. Th. Büttner-Wobst, (Bonn, 1897) (history)
Seal SourcesMordtmann, A, Sur les sceaux et les plombs byzantins, Conférence tenue dans la Société Littéraire Grecque (Hellenikos Philologikos Syllogos) (Constantinople, 1873);
Schlumberger, G. Sigillographie de l'empire byzantin (Paris, 1884)

Heraklios 2 was brother of Apsimar (the emperor Tiberios III, Tiberios 2): Nic. Brev. de Boor 42, Mango 42, Theoph. AM 6190 (αὐτοῦ ἀδελφόν), Theoph. AM 6195 (Ἡράκλειος, ὁ ἀδελφὸς τοῦ βασιλέως), Theoph. AM 6196 (ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀδελφὸς Ἡράκλειος), Zon. XIV 24. 1 (ὁ μὲν Ἀψίμαρος ἢ Τιβέριος οὕτω τῆς βασιλείας ἐκράτησεν, αὐτίκα δὲ τὸν ἴδιον ἀδελφὸν Ἡράκλειον), 24. 6 (ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως ὁμαίμων Ἡράκλειος), 25. 2 (τοῦ δὲ Ἀψιμάρου καὶ Ἡρακλείου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ). A very capable man, he was appointed by his brother Tiberios 2 in 698 as sole strategos of the so-called cavalry themes in Asia Minor (Ἡράκλειόν τε, τὸν γνήσιον αὐτοῦ ἀδελφόν, ὡς λίαν ἱκανώτατον, μονοστράτηγον πάντων τῶν ἔξω καβαλλαρικῶν θεμάτων προβαλόμενος) and was sent to the region of Cappadocia and the kleisourai (ἐπὶ τὰ μέρη Καππαδοκίας καὶ τῶν κλεισουρῶν) to organise resistance to the Arabs: Theoph. AM 6190; cf. Nic. Brev. de Boor 42, Mango 42 (under his brother he became strategos of the Anatolikoi - στρατηγὸν τοῦ ἀνατολικοῦ στρατοῦ γενόμενον), Zon. XIV 24. 1-2 (αὐτίκα δὲ τὸν ἴδιον ἀδελφὸν Ἡράκλειον πάντων τῶν ἱππικῶν καὶ πεζῶν στρατευμάτων στρατηγὸν μονώτατον προβαλόμενος; he advanced as far as Samosata). In 703 he defeated the Arab general Azar 1 in Cilicia, killing most of his troops and taking the remainder captive: Theoph. AM 6195, Zon. XIV 24. 6. In 704 he defeated the Arab general Azidos 1 at Sision in Cilicia: Theoph. AM 6196. In 705 he was captured in Thrace and brought back in fetters after the overthrow of his brother by Justinian II (Ioustinianos 1): Theoph. AM 6198. He was crucified together with other officers and bodyguards of Tiberios 2 by Justinian II (Ioustinianos 1): Nic. Brev. de Boor 42, Mango 42:51 (καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἄρχοντας καὶ ὑπασπιστὰς αὐτοῦ), Theoph. AM 6198 (σὺν πᾶσι τοῖς συνασπιζομένοις αὐτοῖς ἄρχουσιν), Zon. XIV 25. 2. He is probably identical with Heraklios patrikios and monostrategos, the owner of a seal dateable to the seventh or eighth century: Schlumberger, Sig., p. 333, no. 1 (= Mordtmann, Conférence, p. 36). The text given by Schlumberger reads: Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Ἡρακλίῳ πατρικίῳ καὶ μονοστρατήγῳ. This seal is perhaps identical with Zacos and Veglery 1982 (the name and titles read: Ἡρακλείῳ πατρικίῳ καὶ μονοστρατήγῳ), dateable to the first half of the eighth century.

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