July – August 626 · Constantinople Theater
July – August 626
With Heraclius and his army far away in the Caucasus, the Persians under Shahrbaraz and their allies the Avars laid siege to Constantinople itself, attacking from both sides of the Bosporus. But the great Theodosian Walls held, the Byzantine navy prevented the Persians and Avars from linking up across the strait, and the defenders — rallied by the Patriarch Sergius around an icon of the Virgin — threw back every assault until the Avars withdrew.
Commanders