Turkey / Byzantium: Icon of Maurice (539-602), Byzantine emperor, from the book Icones imperatorvm romanorvm (Icons of Roman Emperors), Antwerp, c. 1645

Maurice (539-602) was born in Cappadocia and quickly rose to become a prominent general in his youth, with numerous successes under his belt from campaigning against the Sassanid Empire. He married Constantina, Emperor Tiberius II's daughter, and succeeded his father-in-law as emperor in 582, inheriting a tumultuous situation of numerous warring fronts and high tributes to Avar barbarians.

Maurice quickly brought the war against the Sassanids to a victorious conclusion and vastly expanded the Byzantine Empire's eastern border in the Caucasus. He pushed the Avars back across the Danube River in 599, and became the first Roman emperor to campaign across the Danube in over two centuries. In the West, Maurice established two large semi-autonomous provinces known as exarchates. One was established in Italy, in Ravenna, while the other was in Africa, solidifying Constantinople's power in the western Mediterranean.

Maurice's reign was troubled with almost constant warfare and financial difficulties however, resulting in a dissatisfied general rising up and executing Maurice and his six sons in 602. This proved cataclysmic to the Empire, leading to a twenty-six year war with the Sassanids that left both empires devastated prior to the rise of the Muslim conquests.

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Supplier: CPA Media Co. Ltd.

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