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| 610 |
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| Conspiracy against Phocas, led by Priscus and supported by the exarch of Africa. The latter sent an army by land that conquered Egypt, while a fleet from Carthage arrived at Constantinople. The mob thereupon rose, slew Phocas, and proclaimed Heraclius, the son of the exarch, as emperor. | 1 |
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| 610–41 |
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| Heraclius I, founder of a new dynasty in whose reign Greek definitively replaced Latin as the empire's official language. Heraclius found the empire in a perilous state, threatened from the north by the Avars and from the east by the Persians. But he showed himself to be an able organizer, general, and statesman, and found in the patriarch Sergius a courageous supporter. | 2 |
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| 611–22 |
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| The Persian advance. The Persians took Antioch, Apameia, Emesa, Kaisareia, Damascus (613), and Jerusalem (614), which was sacked, the inhabitants and the Holy Cross being transferred to Ctesiphon. In 615 the Persians were at Chalcedon. In 619 they conquered Egypt. | 3 |
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| 616 |
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| The imperial possessions in Spain were lost to the Visigoths. | 4 |
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| 619 |
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| The Avars appeared at Constantinople, which was threatened on the Asiatic side by the Persians. Heraclius was deterred from flight to Africa only by the influence of the patriarch. | 5 |
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| 622–30 |
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| Defeat of the Persians. Heraclius, with a newly organized army and supported by a tremendous outburst of religious enthusiasm, took the offensive against the Persians and carried on three brilliant campaigns in the Transcaucasian region, refusing to allow himself to be distracted by the constant attacks of the Avars in the Balkans. The death of Khusru (628) and dynastic disorders in Persia made possible the conclusion of a victorious peace. All the Persian conquests were returned, and the Holy Cross was restored to Jerusalem, but the war also fatally weakened the Byzantine Empire, and facilitated the expansion of both the Slavs from the north and the Arabs from the southeast. | 6 |
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| 626 |
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| The Avars and Slavs attacked Constantinople by land and sea, but were unable to storm the walls. This marked the height of the Avar power. | 7 |
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| 632–41 |
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| Beginning of Arab expansion (See 632–750). They took Bostra (634) and Damascus (635); by the Battle of Yarmuk (636) gained all Syria; forced the surrender of Jerusalem (637); overran Mesopotamia (639); and conquered Egypt (640–42) (See 639–42). | 8 |
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| 635 |
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| Alliance between the emperor and Kubrat, or Kurt, king of the Bulgars, intended to break the power of the Avars. | 9 |
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| 641–68 |
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| CONSTANS II (Constantinus), grandson of Heraclius, emperor. He was an energetic and able ruler, who did his utmost to check the Arab advance. With this object in view, he reorganized the provincial administration by establishing themes (themata) under strategoi, military governors with wide powers and authority over civil officials. This system greatly strengthened administrative control and was the basis of the imperial organization for centuries. | 10 |
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| 643 |
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| The Arabs took Alexandria, last outpost of the Greeks in Egypt. | 11 |
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| 647–48 |
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| Arab invasion of North Africa. | 12 |
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