(Νικηφόρος ὁ Φωκᾶς), emperor of Constantinople A. D. 963-969, was the son of the celebrated Bardas Phocas, and was born in or about 912. He owed his elevation to those great military capacities which were hereditary in his family, and through which he obtained a fame that places him by the side of Narses, Belisarius, and the emperors Heraclius, Mauricius, and Tiberius. In 954 Constantine VII. Porphyrogenitus appointed him magnus domesticus, and his brothers Leo and Constantine, next to him the best generals, were also entrusted with great military commands. The Greeks were then at war with the khalif Modhi, against whom Nicephorus and his brothers marched in 956. The first campaign was rather disastrous to the Greeks, who were defeated in a pitched battle in which Constantine Phocas was taken prisoner by the Arabs, who afterwards put him to death. In 958 Nicephorus and Leo took a terrible revenge. Chabgan, the Arab emir of Aleppo, the terror of the Christians, had conquered Cilicia: Nicephorus defeated him several times, took Mopsuestia and. Tarsus, and forced him to fly into Syria, while Leo conquered the important fortress of Samosata. In an ensuing campaign in Svria the Greeks were likewise victorious, and, Romanus II. having succeeded his father Constantine in 959, Nicephorus proposed to the young emperor to drive the Arabs out of Crete, where they had established their power 136 years previously, to the great grief and annoyance of the Greeks. The expedition took place in 960, and the capital Candia, a fortress which was believed to be impregnable, having surrendered in 961, after a memorable siege of ten months, the island once more recognised the Greek rule. All Greece was in joy, and the conquest was thought to be so important, and, above all, was so unexpected, that the victor was allowed the honour of a public triumph in Constantinople. In 962 Nicephorus set out for another campaign in Syria, at the head of a splendid army of 200,000 men, according to the probably exaggerated statements of the Arabs, and of 80,000 men according to Liutprand. The passes across Mount Anianus were forced, Aleppo, Antioch, and the other principal towns of Syria surrendered, or were taken by assault, and Nicephorus pushed on towards the hEuphrates. The victor was checked in his military career by the death of the emperor Ronanus in 963, whose prime minister Brindas, jealous of the unparalleled success of Nicephorus, endeavoured to ruin him by intrigues. Brindas made tempting propositions to John Zimisces and his brother Romanus Curcuas, through whose instrumentality he hoped to accomplish his objects; but those two generals, having apprised their commander-in-chief of the treachery of Brindas, Nicephortus was enabled to triumph over his rival. Theophano, the widow of Romanus, rewarded him by appointing him supreme commander of all the Greek armies in Asia, with unlimited and almost sovereign authority. In consequence of a widow, the mother of two infant princes, being placed at the head of the empire, the numerous partisans of Nicephorus persuaded him to seize the supreme power, and after some hesitation he allowed himself to be proclaimed emperor. Upon this he went to Constantinople, and consolidated his power by marrying Theophano; he was crowned in the month of December, 963; and along with him reigned, though only nominally, Basil II. and Constantine IX., the two infant sons of Romanus and Theophano.
During the absence of Nicephorus the Greeks were victorious in Cilicia, under the command of John Zimisces, afterwards emperor, and Nicephorus having joined him in 964, they, in three campaigns, conquered Damascus, Tripoli, Nisibis, and mnlly other cities in Syria, compelled the emir Chabgan to pay a tribute, and overran the whole country as far as the Euphrates. In 968 the Greeks crossed the Euphrates, Baghdad trembled, and the khalif seemed lost, but the death of Nicephorus, and the ensuing troubles in 969, saved the Mohammedan empire from destruction. Inflated with success Nicephorus had made himself odious to many of his subjects, and, although he was still popular with the army, the people in general, especially in Constantinople, were tired of his severity. Unfortunately for him he neglected his wife, and the bravest man in Greece fell a victim to the spite of a woman and the ambition of a jealous friend: John Zimisces and Theophano conspired against his life. Some of their helpmates were hidden in the imperial palace, and one night, on a certain signal being given, Zimisces came in a boat from the Asiatic side of the Bosporus, where he was watching an opportunity, to the water-gate of the palace, joined his confederates, and, guided by Theophano, entered the emperor's bedchamber. They found him sleeping on a skin: he started up, but the sword of one Leo clove his skull and he was soon despatched. His murderer Zimisces married his widow and succeeded him on the throne. Nicephorus Phocas was without doubt a most energetic man and a first-rate general, but his