HEEACLIUS. 790 equipping an army for the invasion of Persia, and in G22 be took the field. In the plain of Issus he routed a Persian army and forced his way through the passes of the Taurus and Anti- Taurus, into the ancient Pontus, where his sol- diers wintered. In 024 he crossed Armenia, con- quered several of the Perso-Caucasian countries, and reached the Caspian Sea. There he formed an alliance with the Khazars, and with their assistance attacked Media, and carried liis arms as far south as Ispahan. Before going into win- ter quarters, he defeated the main body of the Persians, commanded by Khosru himself. In 625 Heraclius descended from the Caucasus into Meso- potamia, and thence proceeded into Cilieia, where be routed the Persians once more with immense slaughter. During the next two years (626-628) Heraclius carried the war into the heart of the Persian Empire, and in December, 627, cut to pieces the forces of Rhazates, the Persian general, near the junction of the Little Zab and the Tigris. An immense boot}' fell into the hands of the victors. Khosru lied into the interior of Persia, and was soon afterwards put to death by his son Siroes, who concluded a peace with Heraclius, by which the Persians gave up all their former conquests ( 628 ) . Not the least of the trophies Heraclius brought back to Constan- tinople was the alleged wood of the true cross, which the Persians had carried off from Jeru- salem in 015. The fame of Heraclius was now at its height, but the rise of the Mohammedan power in Arabia brought a new and terrible enemy against the old Empire, where religious dissensions still created bitter factions, whose strife weakened the State. Heraclius seems to have exhausted his splendid energies and ambition in the remai'kable Persian campaigns, and now spent his time in his palace at Constantinople, partly in sensual pleasures, and partly in the- ological disputations. In his efforts to mediate between the ortliodox party and the monophysites (q.v. ) Heraclius sought to impose the mono- thelite doctrine on the Empire, arousing thereby great disturbances in the capital. (See MoNO- TiiELiTiSM.) Before the close of his life, Sj'ria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, and Egjpt were in the hands of the caliphs. He died February 11, 641. Consult: Bury, A Histori/ of the Later Itoman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, vol. ii. (Lon- don, 1889) ; Finlay, History of Greece (London, 1877) ; Gibbon, Decline avd Fall of the Roman Empire, ed. Bury (London, 1800-1900) ; Drapey- ron, L'empereur Heraclius et Vempire byzantin au Vlleme sidcle (Paris, 1809), with biblio- graphical notes. There is also a contemporary account by Sepeos, an Armenian bishop, that was published in Constantinople in 1850. See Byzan- tine Empire. HI^RACLIUS, a'ra'kle-ns'. A minor tragedy by Corneille (1047). The play is exceedingly com- plicated in plot, and contains few passages of great excellence. HEE^'UM (Lat., from Gk. SpaTov, Herai- oii). The Aroive. The oldest and most noted sanctuary of Argolis. and the chief seat in Greece of the worship of Hera, situated on a spur of IMount Eubcca, between Argos and Mycenae. The original temple was burned in B.C. 423, and a new- one built with great magnificence by the architect Eupolemos of Argos. Of the second building, Pausanias gives a detailed description. It con- EDERALDRY. tained two images of the goddess — one of wood, brouglit from Tiryns, and a statue of gold and ivory by Polyclitus. A few remains of the sculp- tures are preserved at Athens. The site of the Hera^um lias been excavated by the American School of Classical Studies (1891-95). HERALD (from OF. heralt, heraui, Fr. h6- rant, from ML. heraldus, Imraldus, herald, from OHG. hari, heri, Ger. Beer, AS. here, army -|- OHG. -walto, AS. -wealda, power, from OHG. waltan, Ger. walten, AS. icealdan, Eng. ivield) . In England, an officer whose duty consists in the regulation of armorial bearings, the marshaling of processions, and the superintendence of cer- tain puolic ceremonies. In the Middle Ages heralds were highly honored, and enjoyed im- portant privileges; their functions included, in addition to those mentioned, the bearing of messages, whether of courtesy or defiance, be- tween royal or knightly personages; the super- intending and registering of trials by battle, tournaments, jousts, and all chivalric exercises; the computation of the slain after battle; and the recording of the valiant acts of the fallen or surviving combatants. The person of a herald, wliile in the exercise of his duties, was inviolable. The word heraldus was used in Germany as early as 1152; the fir.st use in an English document occurs in 1337. The heralds became very influen- tial in the latter half of the fourteenth century. The Heralds' College (q.v.) was incorporated in 1483. Three orders of officials, kings-at-arms, heralds, and pursuivants, are still appointed. There are now in England four kings-at-arms, named by their offices Garter, Clarencieux, Nor- roy, and Bath; six heralds — Somerset, Chester, Windsor, Richmond, Lancaster, and York; and four pursuivants — Rouge Dragon, Portcullis, Blue JIantle, and Rouge Croix. In Scotland there are at present three heralds and three pursuivants, the principal heraldic officer being Lyon King-at- Arms. Ireland has one king-at-arms, Ulster; two heralds, Cork and Dublin ; and two pursuivants, of whom the senior bears the title of Athlone, and the other is called the pursuivant of Saint Pat- rick. The official costume Of a herald consists of a satin taliard or surcoat embroidered with the royal arms, and a collar of SS. See Heralds' College; Iving-at-Arms; Pursitivant. HERALDRY. Properly, the knowledge of the multifarious duties devolving on a herald (see Herald) ; in the more restricted sense, in ^^■hicll it will be considered here, it is the science of armorial bearings. History. Though there are many instances in remote times of nations and individuals dis- tinguishing themselves by particular emblems or ensigns, nothing that can properly be called armorial bearings existed before the middle of the twelfth century. The shield of the French knights in the First Crusade presented a plain face of polished metal, and there were only a very few heraldic devices in use in the Second Crusade in 1147. The Anglo-Norman poet Vace, who wrote in the latter half of the twelfth century, mentions devices or cognizances as being in use among the Normans, at the conquest of Enghmd, and Wace is corroborated by the Bay- cux tapestry of the twelfth century, where there are figures of animals on the shields of the in- vaders, while the Saxon shields have only bor- ders or crosses. The rude devices on these shields
