628



Year 628 (DCXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 628 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Byzantine Empire

 * Spring – Byzantine–Sassanid War: Emperor Heraclius issues an ultimatum for peace to King Khosrow II, but he refuses his generous terms. The war-weary Persians revolt against Khosrow's regime at Ctesiphon, and install his son Kavadh II on the throne on February 25. He puts his father to death and begins negotiations with Heraclius. Kavadh is forced to return all the territories conquered during the war. The Persians must give up all of the trophies they have captured, including the relic of the True Cross. Evidently there is also a large financial indemnity. Having accepted a peace agreement on his own terms, Heraclius returns in triumph to Constantinople.
 * Third Perso-Turkic War: The Western Göktürks, under their leader Tong Yabghu Qaghan, plunder Tbilisi (modern Georgia). The Persian defenders are executed or mutilated; Tong Yabghu appoints governors (tuduns) to manage various tribes under his overlordship.

Britain

 * Battle of Cirencester: King Penda of Mercia defeats the West Saxons at Cirencester (southwest England), in what later will be Gloucestershire. After reaching an agreement, he takes control of the Severn Valley and the minor kingdom of the Hwicce.

Central America

 * February 5 – K'ak' Chan Yopaat, who had been the ruler of the Mayan city state of Copán in Honduras, dies after a 49 year reign that began in 578.


 * February 21 – Chan Imix K'awiil, becomes the new ruler of the Mayan city state of Copán in Honduras, and rules until his death 67 years later in 695.

Persia

 * February 25 – Khosrow II, the last great shah of the Sasanian Empire, is overthrown by his son Kavad II.
 * September 6 – Ardashir III, age 7, succeeds his father Kavad II as the twenty-fourth shah of the Sasanian Empire on the latter's death from the plague that is devastating western Persia.

Arabia

 * Muhammad leads about 1,400 men on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where their passage is blocked. The Quraysh tribe and the Muslim community in Medina sign a 10-year truce.

Arts and sciences

 * Indian astronomer Brahmagupta writes the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta, an early, yet very advanced, mathematics book, including rules for computing with zero.

Education

 * The Sharia enjoins women as well as men to obtain secular and religious educations. It forbids eating pork, domesticated donkey, and other flesh denied to Jews by Mosaic law (approximate date).

Religion

 * Muhammad's letters to world leaders explain the principles of the new monotheistic Muslim faith, as they will be contained in  the Quran.
 * Marutha of Tikrit is consecrated Maphrian of the East in the Syriac Orthodox Church.

Births

 * July 21 – Gao Zong, emperor of the Tang dynasty (d. 683)
 * John Maron, Syriac monk and patriarch (d. 707)
 * Approximate date
 * Benedict Biscop, Anglo-Saxon abbot (d. 690)
 * Gertrude of Nivelles, Austrasian abbess (d. 659)

Deaths

 * January 22 – Anastasius of Persia, monk
 * February 28 – Khosrow II, king of the Persian Empire
 * April 15 – Empress Suiko of Japan
 * June 3 – Liang Shidu, rebel leader
 * Babai the Great, church father and theologian
 * Du Yan, chancellor of the Tang dynasty
 * Kavadh II, king of the Sasanian Empire
 * Li Dashi, Chinese official and historian (b. 570)
 * Shirin, wife of Khosrow II (approximate date)
 * Suibne Menn, High King of Ireland
 * Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards
 * Tong Yabghu Qaghan, ruler of the Göktürks