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Heraclius (Latin: Flavius Heraclius Augustus, Greek: ??????? ?????????, c. 575 – February 11, 641) was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.[A 1]
He was responsible for introducing Greek as the Eastern Empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.
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Heraclius aka Emperor of the Byzantine Empire is said to have been in Cappadocia located at present-day Turkey. He is said to have reigned from October 5, 610 – February 11, 641. One interesting thing about Heraclius is that he is known for making "first contact" with the progenitors of Islam and according to for the Eastern Roman Empire's embracing Islam. The following is allegedly from a letter written to Heraclius.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...-Heraclius.jpg
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In the name of Allah, Most Gracious and Most Merciful
From Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, to Hiraql, the Emperor of the Romans.
Peace be on him, who follows the right path.
After this, I invite you to the fold of Islam. Therefore, if you desire security, accept Islam. If you accept Islam, Allah shall reward you double and if you refuse to do so, the responsibility for the transgression of the entire nation, shall be yours.
O people of the Book, come to the word that is common between us, that we should worship none other than Allah, should not ascribe any partner to Him, and that none of us should take their fellows as Lords other than Allah.
If you deny this, you must know that we believe in Oneness of Allah, in all circumstances.
Seal: Allah's Prophet Muhammad
It might be worth noting that Mohammed wrote letters to several "Heads of State" then (after the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah). It is suggested that Heraclius embraced Islam.
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The practice of inviting non-Muslim nations to join Islam or pay the Jizyah prior to engaging in offensive Jihad was first initiated by the Prophet Muhammad. His example was then followed by the Rightly-Guided Caliphs and the leaders of Islamic empires, codified within the Islamic Shari'ah[1] and is continued today by various Islamic leaders and terrorist organizations.
It is most interesting there are those who suggest that Mohammed to have been secretly "cooked up" in Rome as a part of a scheme to put the Arabs under a unified control mechanism. Interestingly, the practice of inviting non-Muslims to join Islam has a parallel in that which was known as "the Requirmento" associated with Spain (of the Holy Roman Empire). I'm not the only one who has seen the similarities.
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The Requerimiento was a speech read aloud in Spanish or Latin when Spaniards encountered a group of native peoples. The document presented an ultimatum for natives to submit to the superiority of Christianity and the political authority of Spain, or be warred upon. The wording of the document resembles the demands for submission characteristic of the Islamic jihad or holy war.
Its important that it is widely held that "Islam" (which some hold to be a political system rather than a religion) means "submission".
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The above image from a Roman Catholic website which mentions the idea of Mary being the Ark of the Covenant
A few centuries before Heraclius was Elagabalus:
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Elagabalus (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, c. 203 – 11 March 222), also known as Heliogabalus, was Roman Emperor from 218 to 222. A member of the Severan Dynasty, he was Syrian being the second son of Julia Soaemias and Sextus Varius Marcellus. In his early youth he served as a priest of the god Elagabal (in Latin, Elagabalus) in the hometown of his mother's family, Emesa. As a private citizen, he was probably named Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus.[1] Upon becoming emperor he took the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus. He was called Elagabalus only after his death.
During the rein of Elagabalus "Elagabalus saw this as an opportunity to install Elagabal as the chief deity of the Roman pantheon. The god was renamed Deus Sol Invictus, meaning God the Undefeated Sun, and honored above Jupiter". Allegedly, since the reign of Septimius Severus, sun worship had increased throughout the Roman Empire.
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Before constructing a temple in dedication to Elagabal, Elagabalus placed the meteorite of Elagabal next to the throne of Jupiter at the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.
He caused further discontent when he himself married the Vestal Virgin Aquilia Severa, claiming the marriage would produce "godlike children".[37] This was a flagrant breach of Roman law and tradition, which held that any Vestal found to have engaged in sexual intercourse was to be buried alive.[38]
A lavish temple called the Elagabalium was built on the east face of the Palatine Hill to house Elagabal, who was represented by a black conical meteorite from Emesa.[21] Herodian wrote "this stone is worshipped as though it were sent from heaven; on it there are some small projecting pieces and markings that are pointed out, which the people would like to believe are a rough picture of the sun, because this is how they see them".
In modern day Mecca, there is said to be a stone attached to a building called the Kaaba.
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Shrine of the sacred stone in Mecca, formerly dedicated to the pre-Islamic Triple Goddess Manat, Al-Lat (Allah), and Al-Uzza, the 'Old Woman' worshipped by Mohammed's tribesmen the Koreshites. The stone was also called Kubaba, Kuba or Kube, and has been linked with the name of Cybele (Kybela), the Great Mother of the Gods. The stone bore the emblem of theyoni, like the Black Stone worshipped by votaries of Artemis. Now it is regarded as the holy center of patriarchal Islam, and its feminine symbolism has been lost, though priests of the Kaaba are still known as Sons of the Old Woman.
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In order to become the high priest of his new religion, Elagabalus had himself circumcised.[35] He forced senators to watch while he danced around the altar of Deus Sol Invictus to the accompaniment of drums and cymbals.[21] Each summer solstice he held a festival dedicated to the god, which became popular with the masses because of the free food distributed on such occasions.[36] During this festival, Elagabalus placed the Emesa stone on a chariot adorned with gold and jewels, which he paraded through the city:
Its most coincidental that we find "stone" or "black stone" in Rome some four hundred years before Mohammed and one today at Mecca.
