Nikephoros II Phokas
Nikephoros II Phokas was one of the supreme military commanders in Byzantine history, a soldier-emperor who personally led the empire's greatest territorial expansion in centuries and yet was murdered in his own bed by his wife's lover. He came from the powerful Phokas military dynasty and built his reputation through brilliant campaigns: he conquered Cilicia, recaptured Tarsus, and most spectacularly retook Crete from the Arabs in 961, ending a century and a half of Arab pirate domination of the Aegean. When the Emperor Romanos II died young in 963 leaving two minor sons, the army acclaimed Nikephoros emperor. He legitimized his position by marrying the empress dowager Theophano. He continued his military career from the throne with extraordinary energy, personally campaigning in Syria and recapturing Aleppo and Antioch. This extraordinary expansion came at a cost: he was a hard ruler, raising taxes to fund his armies. His wife Theophano had grown estranged and took John Tzimiskes as her lover. On the night of December 10-11, 969, Tzimiskes and conspirators entered the palace and murdered Nikephoros in his bedroom as he slept.
- Lived: 912 CE – 969 CE
- Nationality: byzantine
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state, military_leader, general
