The Heraclian Dynasty (610-711) presided over the Byzantine Empire and saw period of cataclysmic events, a watershed in the history of the Empire and the world in general. At the beginning of the dynasty, the Empire was still recognizable as the Eastern Roman Empire, dominating the Mediterranean and harboring a prosperous Late Antiquity urban civilization. This world was shattered by successive invasions, which resulted in extensive territorial losses and financial collapse, plagues that depopulated the cities, while religious controversies and rebellions further weakened the Empire. By the dynasty's end, a very different state had emerged: medieval Byzantium, a chiefly agrarian, military-dominated society which was engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the Muslim Caliphate. However, t