The War That Ended the Ancient World

the wind pushes and the step moves before it clouds sweep overhead the short grass bends and the only fixed points in the rolling landscape are a snow-capped mountain and the distant silhouette of moran cathedral as you walk alone the hour from the nearest village and wind whirls dust through the whispering grass details of the cathedral become visible the conical tower the lichen-spotted roof empty windows at last clamoring over the ruins that surround the church you step inside light spills through a collapsed wall illuminating a floor torn apart by treasure hunters faded figures of christ and the prophets gaze down on the naked abs over one of the side doors is a sculpted panel although the stone is weathered two figures are still visible standing on either side of a crucifix it's far from obvious now but 14 centuries ago when the church was new few would have mistaken its meaning this relief almost certainly commemorates march 21 630 the day the roman emperor heraclius formally returned the true cross the most sacred of all christian relics to the church of the holy sepulchre in jerusalem the restoration of the true cross put a symbolic close to a war that had lasted a generation and come very close to destroying the roman empire heraclius had won that war with a series of daring campaigns launched from the high steps of armenia not far from the place where just after the war's end an armenian prince built marin cathedral to celebrate his part in the victory bran cathedral was built near the ancient world's most contested boundary the frontier between the roman and persian empires for seven centuries beginning with the great conquests of pompey the eastern edge of the roman world ran from the armenian plateau to the arabian desert the most hotly contested part of this frontier was always the center where it bisected the fertile plains of northern mesopotamia but in times of war any section of the thousand-mile border might become the center of a major conflict many of the wars between the persians and romans devolved in the sieges of the fortress cities guarding the mesopotamian frontier otherwise conflicts tended to consist of raids and counter-raids back and forth century after century none really changing or really expected to change a balance of power that seemed settled in the natural order of things then at the end of the 6th century the balance was shattered forever before we begin the story of the cataclysmic final war between rome and persia a word about this video's sponsor babel is a language learning app that uses short interactive lessons based in real world conversations i've spent quite a bit of time in turkey and i used to be fairly conversant in turkish but since i've gotten more than a little rusty in the years since my last visit i decided to use babel to refresh my conversational skills babel offers a variety of turkish courses tailored for different interests and needs i decided to focus on the turkish for your vacation course where i reviewed such useful phrases as musee chukma is the museum open and urabus the bus is full if you'd like to start speaking a new language in only three weeks sign up for babel today click on the link in the description for 65 off your subscription if you aren't completely satisfied there's a 20-day money-back guarantee back to the roman frontier one september morning in the year 590 the roman centuries at sarcassium a border fort in northern mesopotamia were startled to see a group of persians in court dress galloping from the east the riders drew up beneath the gates and their leader a man of about 20 called up in passable greek asking for an audience with the commanding officer when the gates were opened the young person revealed that he was castro the newly crowned king of persia and that he was fleeing a palace coup the commander at sarkesiam sent the refugee king and his retainers to general headquarters at nearby hierapolis from there castro dispatched a delegation to emperor maurice promising generous territorial concessions in exchange for roman aid maurice agreed and the following spring roman forces flooded into persia seizing the capital and decisively defeating the rebels castro was reinstalled as king then in 602 maurice was deposed in a mutiny the usurper focus executed the emperor and his six sons displaying their heads in constant noble's main forum there were rumors however that theodosius maurice's oldest son and heir had escaped by bribing the executioner and a few weeks later a man claiming to be theodosius appeared at the persian court though almost certainly aware that the real theodosius was dead castro launched a massive attack on the roman frontier ostensibly to restore the rightful emperor in a series of grueling seizures the persians seized one after another of the mesopotamian fortress cities breaking through the inmost line of defenses just as the romans plunged into a civil war the roman governor of africa had raised the standard of rebellion against focus and sent a fleet under his son heraclius to constantinople after gaining the allegiance of egypt iraqis sailed to the capital and personally beheaded focus he was crowned emperor shortly afterward taking advantage of the chaos at constantinople castro occupied territory far inside the old frontier antioch fell followed by damascus heraclius who had been trying to shore up the collapsing danube frontier marched to syria at the head of the largest army he could scrape together his ill-trained troops however were defeated and he was forced to retreat in 614 after a brief siege the persians took jerusalem burned most of the city's churches and captured the true cross the loss of this relic revered throughout the empire as the instrument of christ's passion was a serious blow to roman morale especially after the cross was carried back to the persian capital and installed in the private chapel of castro's christian wife sheeran as one person army began to conquer egypt another marched across anatolia to the asian suburbs of constantinople desperate to end the war heracles attempted to negotiate with castro promising dramatic territorial concessions if the persian forces would withdraw by this point however castro had achieved too much to return to the old status quo syria palestine and egypt were annexed to the persian empire and a persian camp was established across the bosphorus from constantinople in the meantime the avarson slavs swept over the danube and occupied most of the balkans and greece little remained of the roman empire heraclius however continued to fight melting down the gold and silver plate of constantinople's churches to pay his soldiers he reorganized rome's last army supplementing the usual heavy infantry with brigades of archers and light cavalry for fast-moving skirmishes with this force he began to attack the persian armies in anatolia and scored a series of minor victories after outlasting a persian counterattack on constantinople he made the bold decision to base his army in and around armenia where he could disrupt enemy troop movements and launch raids into the persian heartland this strategy proved remarkably successful from bases in armenia and the caucasus heraclius attacked cities throughout northern mesopotamia forcing the persians to withdraw troops from the conquered territories and engage with him after heraclius inflicted serious defeats on purchase two best generals kasparov ordered a massive assault on constantinople knowing that the roman empire would collapse if the city was taken heraclius managed to crush one of the persian armies marching on the capital the other however eluded him and joined a colossal force of avars and slavs in a coordinated attack on the roman capital the roman navy managed to keep the persians on the asian side of the bosphorus sinking the fleet of dugout canoes that the avar sent to bring their allies across on the european side 80 000 men hurled themselves against the fortifications but the city's towering triple walls held and every assault was repulsed after six weeks the slavs and avars were treated in disorder and the persians withdrew to their camp enraged castro ordered the execution of shah sharperaz the persian general responsible for coordinating the siege heraclius however managed to intercept the messenger and forwarded the death warrant to sharbraz with his compliments suggesting that the persian general might find it expedient to switch sides charbras did so and withdrew his entire army to syria having neutralized castro's best general heraclius resumed his offensive allying himself with the nomadic khazars to ravage persian territory on a foggy morning in december 627 near the ruins of nineveh he encountered the largest remaining persian army the ensuing battle was savage supposedly heraclius killed the enemy general in single combat but the romans were victorious the next day her equalists marched on the now undefended persian capital when castro refused to negotiate a peace he was deposed and executed by his nobles who immediately began talks to end the war the frontier was restored to its original place all persian troops were recalled home antarctis began a triumphal march back to constantinople along the way he stopped in armenia where he spent a few weeks receiving the submission of local nobles as he marched homeward heracles passed within a few miles of the newly dug foundations of mren cathedral which one of the greatest armenian princes had just begun to construct although the design of the new church borrowed from both persian and roman architectural styles its dome was likely inspired by hagia sophia it was at that church in september 629 that reckless celebrated his victory against the persians the true cross suspended on gilded chains over the high altar the following year during a tour of the territories recovered from the persians heraclius restored the relic to the church of the holy sepulchre in jerusalem back in armenia heraclius's restoration of the true cross was chosen as the subject of the relief over the north door of mren cathedral as a sign of his humility before god the emperor was shown without crown or scepter the warhorse standing a short distance from him however reminds the viewer of heracles campaign to save the empire concluded only a few years before as the cathedral rose the roman empire was at peace but before construction was completed and before rome or persia could rebuild their militaries a new threat emerged fast-moving armies of arab horsemen unified and fired by the new religion of islam tore through the eastern frontier and swiftly conquered syria palestine and egypt by the time ren cathedral was completed around 640 the world heracles had fought so hard to restore was vanishing the persian empire would disintegrate within a decade and although the roman empire would survive it would emerge from the ordeal much smaller and profoundly changed in this sense the years in which moran cathedral was constructed marked the end of the antique world and the beginning of a new and very different era through the ensuing centuries as arab and byzantine raiding parties passed back and forth to the south a town grew up around marin cathedral but then borders shifted and trade routes moved and the town sank back into the steps 600 years of abandonment have drawn the cathedral brick by a brick down to the whispering grass birds call in the dome and the sun shines through the collapsing walls as the wind pushes and the step moves before it if you enjoyed this video please consider supporting told and stone on patreon you might also enjoy my book naked statues fast gladiators and war elephants thanks for watching you

Channel: toldinstone

Views: 1,952,696

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Id: qMNx9-AjrXM

Length: 14min 14sec (854 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 10 2022