Phocas

Emperor of the Romans

* Bust
* Solidus

* Life
* Names
* Reign

**Phocas** (Latin: *Flavius Focas*; Greek: Φλάβιος Φωκάς, *translit.* *Phlábios Phōkás*; Thrace, 547 – Constantinople, 5 October 610) was Eastern Roman emperor from 602 to 610. He was a centurion of Thracian origin (some sources trace his origin to Cappadocia instead) who had been a spokesman to the imperial court on behalf of the military. When emperor Maurice ordered his troops to winter past the Danube in 602 – again – they mutinied, and after failed negotiations with Maurice and attempts to enthrone his son and brother-in-law, they declared Phocas the new emperor with the support of the populace. Maurice and his family were promptly executed.

This sparked a war with Sassanid Persia under Khosrow II, but Phocas was able to repel them with relative success, losing only a few border fortresses in several years' time. He also managed to stabilize the Balkan frontier. The emperor lowered the taxes paid by the common people and carried out a large-scale land reform (firstly in Italy, later also in Egypt), which stamped out corruption among landowners and provided a large budget with which hospitals, orphanages and retirement homes were constructed. He also carried out a religious policy that favoured the Pope in Rome. His religious and agrarian policies (the latter of which favoured the peasants and middle class) brought Phocas into direct conflict with the elite of the eastern provinces. The distaste was mutual, and the emperor's distrust towards them, as well as his lack of connections to the imperial court, led him to fill his administration mostly with his own friends and family. This nepotism would, expectedly, create more corruption, and, combined with the elite's conspiracies against the emperor whom they deemed a provincial boor, it dragged down Phocas's rule, as he had to spend a lot of time and resources securing his own position.

In 608, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, rebelled against Phocas along with his family. The Heraclians conquered Egypt, cutting off a large supply of grain and money that normally went to Phocas's government, and then attacked Constantinople, forcing the emperor to move troops away from the east and to his capital. All this caused the eastern front to collapse by 609, allowing the Persians to conquer Mesopotamia and the Levant and advance into Anatolia. By this point, Phocas had been killed, and so, in 610, Heraclius the Younger became emperor. Heraclius quickly started a propaganda campaign against Phocas to bolster his own legitimacy and discredit his predecessor. His court poets further added to the pile, with the result that most narratives of Phocas are greatly exaggerated, and contain many outright fabrications. Many similarly biased historians continued to find in Phocas an easy scapegoat for the events of the seventh century, and the traditional view of Phocas as an evil and incompetent usurper who ruled with cruelty and ineptitude continues to remain popular in the present day. Only recently have historians began to rehabilitate his reputation by the way of more nuanced views, which assess that Phocas was nowhere as bad as he is made out to be, though still a largely ineffective ruler.

## Footnotes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 His full name is sometimes given as *Flavius Nicephorus Focas* (Greek: Φλάβιος Νικηφόρος Φωκάς, *translit.* *Phlábios Nikēphóros Phōkás*), but this is not corroborated by contemporary sources and may be out of confusion with the later Nikephoros II Phokas.
2. ↑ Alternatively given as **Phocus** (Latin: *Focus*; Greek: Φώκος, *translit.* *Phṓkos*). Much more rarely, he is enumerated as **Phocas I**, usually in reference to the later Nikephoros II Phokas (who is then referred to as "Phocas II" or as "Nikephoros Phocas II")

## Bibliography

Alcides Vargas Echegaray (20 January 2023). *Without Borders*. EBL Books. ISBN 9781524328375. https://books.google.com/books?id=IaGoEAAAQBAJ. "Flavius Nicephorus Phocas Augustus against Emperor Mauritius in 602."
William of Tyre (1893). Colvin, Mary Noyes. ed. *Godeffroy of Boloyne; or, The siege and conqueste of Jerusalem*. Early English Text Society (originally from the University of Michigan). p. 335. "Nicephorus Phocas, Emperor of the East from 602–610."
Barbara H. Rosenwein (2002). *A Short History of the Middle Ages*. Broadview Press. p. 41. ISBN 9781551112909. https://books.google.com/books?id=W9UWAQAAIAAJ.
J.B. Bury (1889). *A History of the Later Roman Empire: From Arcadius to Irene (395 A.D. to 800 A.D.)*. London: Macmillan and Co. p. 197. https://books.google.com/books?id=K1YZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA197. "The reign of Phocas the Thracian, which lasted for eight years, was the realisation of that dreaded something whose approach had long been felt."
Migne, Jacques-Paul (1863) (in Latin). *Patrologiae cursus completus, series graeca*. Harvard University. https://books.google.com/books?id=0PbQWfqUXfYC. "Post Mauricium regnavit Phocas Cappadox tyrannus annos octo, Leontina ejus uxore Augusta coronata."
A.T. Fomenko (2005). *History, Fiction Or Science?: Chronology*. Mithec. p. 379. ISBN 9782913621060. https://books.google.com/books?id=fSvlaZYbcwUC. "Emperor Phocas the Usurper is succeeded by emperor Heraklius. His reign duration equals 31 years (the alleged years 610-641 A.D.)."
Gardner, Geoffrey (14 December 2021). *The Revelation of History*. Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 9781664107137. https://books.google.com/books?id=SoFWEAAAQBAJ.
Fulton, Elaine (3 March 2016). *The Search for Authority in Reformation Europe*. Routledge. p. 157. ISBN 9781317016571. "... made the award by Emperor Phocus (602–610) to Pope Boniface III of the title "ecunemical bishop" (Jewel's 'universal bishop' in the 'Challenge' sermon) the turning point in the Church's history."
E.O. Blunsom (2013). *The Past And Future Of Law*. Xlibris Corporation. p. 155. ISBN 9781462875146. "Phocus, assisted by the Jews, had the army kill large numbers of the Nostorian heretics. In 610, the Persian king Choesroes II completed his plans to invade the empire, and in this year also, Phocus was replaced by an Armenian nobleman ..."
Summerbell, Nicholas (1873). *History of the Christian Church from Its Establishment by Christ to A.D. 1871: Including the Rise of the Roman Heresy, All the Popes, the Temporal Power, the Abominations of Popery and the Reformation*. p. 425. https://books.google.com/books?id=8O1MAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA425. "In the beginning of the sixth [mistake by the book, as this was in the seventh century, *Ed.*] century, the Emperor Maurice perished by the sword of rebellion, after seeing his five sons butchered before his eyes; and Phocus, the rebel monster, ruled in his stead till slain by Heraclius, October 5, 610."
Syvänne, Ilkka (21 September 2022). *Military History of Late Rome 565–602*. Pen and Sword. p. 331. ISBN 9781473872219. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Military\_History\_of\_Late\_Rome\_565\_602/6MSAEAAAQBAJ.
Gruber, Isaiah (15 May 2012). *Orthodox Russia in Crisis*. Cornwell University Press. p. 46. ISBN 9781501757389. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Orthodox\_Russia\_in\_Crisis/W\_\_-DwAAQBAJ.
Crawford, Peter (16 July 2013). *The War of the Three Gods: Romans, Persians and the Rise of Islam*. Pen and Sword. p. 28. ISBN 9781848846128. https://books.google.com/books?id=ZPAHBAAAQBAJ.