The victory at Antioch ensured the Persians would maintain control of its recently overrun Byzantine territory. It was a major psychological blow to the Byzantines, and blocked the land routes from Anatolia to Palestine, Syria, and Egypt. Furthermore, the defeated army of Heraclius and Nicetas were also split in two: Heraclius and Theodore retreated north, and Nicetas retreated south. The former part unsuccessfully attempted to hold a defense line at the Cilician Gates in the Taurus Mountains, and Nicetas was not able to stop Shahrbaraz's advance into Palestine and Syria either. In the coming decade, Sassanid forces penetrated deeper into Byzantine territory. Jerusalem and all of Palestine fell to Shahrbaraz in 614, while Shahin made further inroads into central and western Anatolia, and the Persian expansion reached its pinnacle with the successful siege of Alexandria in the spring of 619, which led to the annexation of Egypt.