From an old, Italian collection. A large bronze coin of the hero-emperor Heraclius. Comes with old dealer tag. 

Heraclius came to the throne by leading a revolt against the usurper Phocas. Heraclius claimed the throne amidst an ongoing war with Rome's archrival, the Sassanid Persians. By the time Phocas had been expelled the Persians had overrun several eastern provinces and had entered Anatolia. By 615 CE, they were at the gates of Constantinople. Heraclius sued for a ceasefire and in the interim (with the cooperation of church leaders) melted down church treasures to create a massive source of income to reform and restructure the army. In 622, Heraclius launched a massive counterattack through Anatolia, the Caucuses, and directly into the heartland of the Persian empire. The reinvigorated Romans took the Persians by complete surprise and within a few years the Persian war effort rapidly disintegrated. Confronted with advancing Roman armies, Turkic invasions, and internal strife, the Persians had no choice but to admit defeat. All former Roman provinces were restored to Heraclius, and in 629 CE he returned the True Cross to the city of Jerusalem. Heraclius's defeat of the Persians ended a war that had been going on intermittently for almost 400 years and led to instability in the Persian Empire. For the Romans, what should have been a glorious triumph was quickly overshadowed by the onslaught of the Arabs. The ascendant Rashidun Caliphate ultimately conquered Persia and ended the Sasanian dynasty in 651 CE. Under Heraclius, the Romans continued to fight the Arabs, but gradually lost ground. By the time Heraclius died in 641 CE, the Levant and Egypt were lost. Nevertheless, Heraclius' military reforms and imperial reorganization bolstered the Empire's strength and allowed it to survive the Arab invasions. Imperial armies stopped the Muslim conquests at Anatolia and saved a core from whence the Empire's strength could regrow. And regrow it did. But that's a story for another time.