Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
Theodosius (Greek: ; 4 August 583/585 after 27 November 602) was the eldest son of Byzantine Emperor Maurice (r. 582602) and was co-emperor from 590 until his deposition and execution during a military revolt. Along with his father-in-law Germanus, he was briefly proposed as successor to Maurice by the troops, but the army eventually favoured Phocas instead. Sent in an abortive mission to secure aid from Sassanid Persia by his father, Theodosius was captured and executed by Phocas's supporters a few days after Maurice. Nevertheless, rumours spread that he had survived the execution, and became popular to the extent that a man who purported to be Theodosius was entertained by the Persians as a pretext for launching a war against Byzantium.
Maurice (Latin: Flavius Mauricius Tiberius; Greek: Μαυρίκιος Maurikios; 539 – 27 November 602) was Byzantine emperor from 582 to 602 and the last member of the Justinian dynasty. A successful general, Maurice was chosen as heir and son-in-law by his predecessor Tiberius II.
Maurice's reign was troubled by almost constant warfare. After he became Emperor, he brought the war with Sasanian Persia to a victorious conclusion. The Empire's eastern border in the South Caucasus was vastly expanded and, for the first time in nearly two centuries, the Romans were no longer obliged to pay the Persians thousands of pounds of gold annually for peace. Afterwards Maurice campaigned extensively in the Balkans against the Avars – pushing them back across the Danube by 599. He also conducted campaigns across the Danube, the first Roman Emperor to do so in over two centuries. In the west, he established two large semi-autonomous provinces called exarchates, ruled by exarchs, or viceroys of the emperor. In Italy Maurice established the Exarchate of Italy in 584, the first real effort by the Empire to halt the advance of the Lombards. With the creation of the Exarchate of Africa in 591 he further solidified the power of Constantinople in the western Mediterranean.
Maurice's successes on battlefields and in foreign policy were counterbalanced by mounting financial difficulties of the Empire. Maurice responded in several unpopular measures which alienated both the army and the general populace. In 602 a dissatisfied officer named Phocas usurped the throne, having Maurice and his six sons executed. This event would prove a disaster for the Empire, sparking a twenty-six-year war with Sassanid Persia which would leave both empires devastated prior to the Muslim conquests.
Maurice's reign is a relatively well documented era of late antiquity, in particular by the historian Theophylact Simocatta. The Strategikon, a manual of war which influenced European and Middle Eastern military traditions for well over a millennium, is traditionally attributed to Maurice.