602

Emperor Phocas in consular robe (602–610)

Year 602 (DCII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 602 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.

Events

Emperor Maurice succeeds in winning over the Avars to Byzantine rule, but his campaigns against the Avars, Lombards, Persians and Slavs drain the imperial treasury, requiring an increase in taxes. He orders the troops to stay for winter beyond the Danube, but a mutiny breaks out under Phocas. He brings the Byzantine forces back over the Danube and marches on to Constantinople.<ref>Template:The Early Medieval Balkans</ref>
November 27 – A civil war breaks out and Phocas enters Constantinople. Maurice is captured trying to escape; he is forced to witness the slaughter of his five sons and all his supporters, and is then executed (beheaded) after a 20-year reign. His wife, Constantina, and his three daughters are spared, and sent to a monastery. Phocas is proclaimed the new emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
Byzantine–Persian War: King Khosrau II launches an offensive against Constantinople, to avenge Maurice's death, his "friend and father", and tries to reconquer Byzantine territory. Narses, governor of Upper Mesopotamia, rebels against Phocas at the city of Edessa and requests aid from the Persians. Khosrau sends an expeditionary force to Armenia and crosses the Euphrates.

Spring – Witteric is appointed commander-in-chief of the Visigoth army, and receives orders from King Liuva II to expel the Byzantines from Hispania.

Khosrau II annexes the Lakhmid Kingdom (Southern Iraq), and puts king Nu'man III to death.

Third Chinese domination of Vietnam: The Early Lý dynasty ends; Hậu Lý Nam Đế, last ruler of Vąn Xuân (North Vietnam), abdicates the throne and becomes a vassal of the Sui dynasty.
602 Surb Karapet Monastery earthquake. It affected the Surb Karapet Monastery, located in the district of Taron.<ref name="Guidoboni">Guidoboni, Traina, 1995, p. 118</ref>

Augustine of Canterbury meets with the Welsh bishops at Aust near Chepstow. He accuses them of not adopting the Roman Christian way of dating Easter, and persuades them to accept the teaching of baptism (according to the Roman Rite).<ref>The "Latin Library". Ad Fontes Academy, (2008)</ref>