ABSTRACT
The seventh century was a period of crisis for the Byzantine Empire. At its dawn, Byzantines found their cities burning at the hands of the Sassanid Persians who conquered Jerusalem, and with it, the relic of the True Cross. The emperor Heraclius’s eventual victory and restoration of the Cross was soon eclipsed by the rise of Muslim Arab forces. Christian Byzantines, particularly the imperial court, blamed these crises on domestic enemies, such as the Jews and theological opponents, and responded with persecution. On the other hand, Byzantines faced hardship at the hands of non-Christian conquerors, namely Zoroastrian Persians and Muslim Arabs, a circumstance itself that could be considered a form of persecution. Literature from the period blames wide-scale apostasy, which suggests that at some level, the crises of the period resulted in a threat to Christian identity.
This chapter asks whether the seventh century can be considered an age of persecution and considers the role of persecution narratives in promoting community identity. To this end, we will consider the treatment of religious minorities by the three major forces operating in the Eastern Mediterranean in the seventh century: the Sassanid Persian Empire, the early Muslim Arab invaders, and the Heraclian dynasty of the Roman Empire, as shown through literary and archaeological evidence.
