ABSTRACT
The historiography of the conquests tells about meetings that take place at the courts of the two empires, the Byzantine and the Iranian, in which Heraclius and Yazdegard negotiated with Muslim delegates. The "meeting" with the Byzantine emperor is unlike the showdown with Yazdegard that is terminated in rupture. While the Persian king challenges the Muslims and is resilient to meet them on the battleground, the behaviour of the Byzantine is profoundly different. Meetings between Muslim commanders and local governors before or immediately after the fighting are also reported. Attending in some detail to the available reports, it will be argued that it is in the service of the discourse on Islamic superiority that the trope of meetings between Muslims and "infidels" is employed. This chapter concludes by, author's own speculation about this question. Accordingly, one has to roll history forward, so to speak and consider the different fate of the two empires as a possible clue.
