Khosrow II

Khosrow II was shah of the Sasanian Empire from 590 to 628, apart from a brief interruption early in his reign. Restored to the throne with Byzantine assistance, he later launched a vast war against the empire after the overthrow of his former ally Emperor Maurice.

Sasanian armies captured Syria, Jerusalem and Egypt and advanced deep into Anatolia, bringing the empire to its greatest territorial extent in centuries. Emperor Heraclius eventually reversed the war, and military defeat helped trigger a palace coup in which Khosrow was deposed and killed.

Nick Holmes’ The End of Antiquity follows Khosrow II’s conquests, Heraclius’s counter-offensive and the destruction caused by a war that moved repeatedly across Anatolia, the Levant, Egypt and Mesopotamia.