Theophanes the Confessor

And the fog meant that when he turned to flank them, they didn't see it coming.

And Theophanes tells us what came next.

The emperor sprang out ahead of everyone to meet a Persian officer.

By the power of God and his mother, he overthrew him.

rode out in front of his own army.

He fought three men in single combat, killed all three, took a spear in the mouth while doing it.

And Theophanes goes on to tell

us.

So the thing is, Heraclius had taken out the only nearby river crossing.

So Shaheen found his army pinned up against the water with nowhere left to go when the sky opened up and God spoke, as Theophanes

tells us.

When the battle was joined, God worked with the Romans at the intercession of his all-exalted mother.

When the fighting stopped, the golden spears were no more.

And Shaheen, well, he survived the battle, but not for very

long, as Theophanes tells us.

When Khosrow learned about the defeat of Shaheen, he became furious at Shaheen.

All right, moving along.

Now here's Theophanes.

This is an important chronicler who I first came across in college many, many moons ago, and I actually translated this little bit, which I'm gonna read to you.

So he was born in 758, and, uh, after [laughs] encountering and studying and loo- Islam and looking at the Quran, he concluded that, quote, "He," Muhammad, "taught those who gave ear to him that the one slaying the enemy or being slain by the enemy entered into paradise." That, of course, is Quran 9111, which I just read to you.