Winners and Losers

Abstract

This chapter describes the final moments of the Avar siege leading up to the Avars’ departure from the city along with their allies. There is some contemplation about the causes of the Avars’ failure in taking Constantinople with a primary focus on motifs derived from contemporary sources. The largest part of this chapter is dedicated to the fates of the Persian army led by Shahrbaraz and the motif of the falsified letter. Above all, there is a careful discussion of the story by the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes, who used pieces of information from two independent sources when writing his report on the siege. This version is then compared in detail with other reports of Eastern provenience that carry this motif. In the conclusion, there is some comment on the further development of the last Roman–Persian war and the significance of the Avar siege in the context of that broader conflict.