The Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 was the final and most devastating of the series of wars fought

between the Byzantine / Roman Empire and the Sasanian Empire of Iran. The previous war between the
two powers had ended in 591 after Emperor Maurice helped the Sasanian king Khosrow II regain his
throne. In 602 Maurice was murdered by his political rival Phocas. Khosrow declared war, ostensibly to
avenge the death of the deposed emperor Maurice. This became a decades-long conflict, the longest
war in the series, and was fought throughout the Middle East: in Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, the
Caucasus, Anatolia, Armenia, the Aegean Sea and before the walls of Constantinople itself.

Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628

Part of the Byzantine–Sasanian wars, Avar–Byzantine wars and Göktürk–Persian wars

Idealized painting of the Battle of Nineveh (627) between Heraclius’ army and Sasanians under Khosrow
II c. 1452

Anachronistic painting of the Battle of Nineveh (627) between Heraclius’ army and the Persians under
Khosrow II. Fresco by Piero della Francesca, c. 1452

Date c. 602 – c. 628[a]

Location

The Caucasus, Anatolia, Egypt, Levant, Balkans, Aegean Sea, Mesopotamia

Result

Iranian invasion of the Byzantine Empire repelled after initial successes in conquering the Levant, Egypt,
and much of Anatolia.[1][2]

Status quo ante bellum as the Sasanians agree to withdraw from all occupied territories, return the
“True Cross”and pay war reparation to Byzantines.[3][4][5]

Beginning of the Sasanian civil war of 628–632.[6]

Exhaustion of both empires, leaving them vulnerable to the early Muslim conquests of the Rashidun
Caliphate.[7]

Territorial

Changes No territorial changes

Belligerents

Byzantine Empire

Western Turkic Khaganate

Ghassanids

Sasanian Empire
Avars (and Slavic allies)

Sasanian Iberia

Jewish and Samaritan rebels (c. 614)

Lakhmids

Lombards

Visigoths

Commanders and leaders

Heraclius

Phocas Executed

Philippicus

Germanus (DOW)

Leontius

Domentziolus

Priscus

Nicetas

Theodore

Bonus

Ziebel

Shahrbaraz (after 626)[8]

Kardarigan (after 626)

Khosrow II Executed

Shahrbaraz (until 626)

Shahin

Kardarigan (until 626)

Shahraplakan

(pseudo)-Theodosius

Stephen I of Iberia †

Rhahzadh †

Narses Executed
Unnamed Avar khagan

Datoyean

Dzuan Veh †

Ashtat Yeztayar

Senitam Khusro

Vahram-Arshusha V (POW)

Benjamin of Tiberias

Suintila

While the Persians proved largely successful during the first stage of the war from 602 to 622,
conquering much of the Levant, Egypt, several islands in the Aegean Sea and parts of Anatolia, the
ascendancy of the emperor Heraclius in 610 led, despite initial setbacks, to a status quo ante bellum.
Heraclius’ campaigns in Iranian lands from 622 to 626 forced the Persians onto the defensive, allowing
his forces to regain momentum. Allied with the Avars and Slavs, the Persians made a final attempt to
take Constantinople in 626, but were defeated there. In 627, allied with Turks, Heraclius invaded the
heartland of Persia. A civil war broke out in Persia, during which the Persians killed their king, and sued
for peace.

By the end of the conflict, both sides had exhausted their human and material resources and achieved
very little. Consequently, they were vulnerable to the sudden emergence of the Islamic Rashidun
Caliphate, whose forces invaded both empires only a few years after the war. The Muslim armies swiftly
conquered the entire Sasanian Empire as well as the Byzantine territories in the Levant, the Caucasus,
Egypt, and North Africa. In the following centuries, the Byzantine and Arab forces would fight a series of
wars for control of the Near East.