Nikephoros Phokas Barytrachelos

Nikephoros Phokas , nickname Barytrachelos ("with the heavy neck"; Middle Greek Νικηφόρος Φωκάς Βαρυτράχηλος ; * before 970; † August 15, 1022 ), was a Byzantine Patricios and usurper against Emperor Basil II.

Life

Nikephoros was the younger son of the commander Bardas Phocas and great-nephew of Emperor Nikephoros II. After his father in late summer 987 in Charsianon against Basil II. Was proclaimed emperor, Nikiforos went as an envoy to King David II. Of Tao-Klarjeti to this ask for gun help; his older brother Leon was installed as governor of Antioch . After the defeat and death of his father on April 13, 989, Nikephoros joined the usurper Bardas Scleros , who made peace with the emperor after six months. Nikephorus was also pardoned.

Politically, Nikephoros Phocas did not reappear on the scene until 1022, when he rose again against Basil II with the support of General Nikephoros Xiphias in Cappadocia , the power base of the Phocades . With their troops they threatened the emperor, who is from Trebizond on a campaign against the Georgian king I. Giorgi had gone to fall in the back. Basil withdrew to the Mastaton fortress . From there he sent messengers to the rebels with the task of inciting them against one another - with success, because at a meeting on August 15, 1022, Nikephorus Phocas was killed at the instigation of Xiphias. His head was sent to the Emperor Basil.

swell

• Leon Diakonos , Historia 8, 8
• Matthias von Edessa 1, 51
• Johannes Skylitzes , Basil 45
• Johannes Zonaras 17, 9

literature

• Jean-Claude Cheynet: Pouvoir et contestations à Byzance (963-1210) (= Publications de la Sorbonne. Series Byzantina Sorbonensia. Vol. 9). Reimpression. Publications de la Sorbonne Center de Recherches d'Histoire et de Civilization Byzantines, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-85944-168-5 , pp. 36–37, No. 21.
• Franz Dölger : Regest of the imperial documents of the Eastern Roman Empire from 565-1453. Part 1, half volume 2: Regesten from 867-1025 (= corpus of Greek documents from the Middle Ages and modern times. Row A: Regesten. Dept. 1, Part 1, half volume 2). 2nd edition revised by Andreas E. Müller . CH Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-51351-4 , No. 772a, 777b, 783, 813b-c, 814b.
• Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , pp. 1665-1666.
• Ralph-Johannes Lilie , Claudia Ludwig, Thomas Pratsch, Beate Zielke, Harald Bichlmeier, Bettina Krönung, Daniel Föller, Alexander Beihammer , Günter Prinzing : Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period . 2nd department: (867-1025). Volume 4: Landenolfus (# 24269) - Niketas (# 25701). Created after preliminary work by F. Winkelmann . Published by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. De Gruyter, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-016669-9 , pp. 758–759 No. 25675 (with further information on Armenian, Georgian and Arabic sources).

Web links

• Nikephoros Phokas in the Prosopography of the Byzantine World