Heraclius the Elder

545 – 610 · Generation XI

Heraclius. General, Exarch of Africa; father of Emperor Heraclius. Claims of Armenian descent rest on a disputed reading of the sources; his wife was Epiphania and his brother Gregoras. He first appears in 586, commanding the centre at Solachon in the Persian war as second-in-command to Philippicus, who later left him in charge of the eastern army over the winter of 587, when he restored discipline. Around 595, as commander in Armenia, he was sent by Maurice against Armenian rebels. Appointed exarch of Africa, according to one source by Maurice himself, he governed from Carthage one of the empire’s wealthier provinces. In 608 he rose against the usurper Phocas, and he and his son were proclaimed joint consuls — a title no private citizen had held since Justinian’s day. The younger Heraclius sailed on Constantinople and took it in October 610; the news delighted his father, who did not long survive it.

Place in the family

• The archive records 10 of his descendants, across 6 generations.

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Children

• Heraclius (575 – 641)