UC Irvine

Between 602 and 628, the Byzantine Empire was at war with the Sasanian Empire. Following the defeat of Chosroes II, Emperor Herakleios commissioned George Pisides to write an account of his triumph. A court poet, Pisides wrote numerous works chronicling Herakleios' victory over the Persian enemy. In this paper, I focus primarily on the Herakleias, Pisides' last major poem on the Persian campaigns, to examine the depiction of Chosroes II, Persia, and Zoroastrianism. I begin by providing a brief context for the poem, then follow with a background on the author, and finally conclude by providing the original text with English translation of the passages that concern Chosroes II, with my accompanying analysis. As I argue, Pisides' poetry by focusing on the figure of Chosroes and a certain representation of the Persian Empire refracted through the Sasanian king engages at a deeper level with Zoroastrianism. His literary style is informed by several Zoroastrian themes and tropes, as I show in my thesis, and presents a refreshed approach towards the `foreign' which, in its turn, enriches the linguistic threads of Pisides' poetic style.