Nikephoros II Phokas
912 – 969 · Generation XXIV · Emperor (r. 963–969)
Nikephoros (AD 912 – 969). Emperor (r. 963–969). Married Theophano around AD 963. Son of Bardas Phokas the Elder; usurped throne and married Theophano; assassinated by John Tzimiskes. The great soldier of his age, Nikephoros recovered Crete for the empire, storming the fortress town of Chandax in March 961 after a nine-month siege endured through a hungry winter — a feat the capital rewarded with a mere ovation rather than a triumph. He then finished the subjugation of Cilicia, brought Cyprus back under imperial control, and cleared the way for Byzantine advances deep toward Upper Mesopotamia and Syria; in December 962 he entered Aleppo itself, a blow from which Hamdanid power and prestige never recovered. The campaigns won him the grim nickname “pale death of the Saracens,” and his career, whatever its failures of statecraft, made him one of the chief architects of Byzantium’s tenth-century revival. After the death of his first wife Stephano he had sworn an oath of chastity.
Parents
- Bardas Phokas (878 – 968)
Partners
- Married Theophano (941 – 976) in 963
Life
- 912 — Born
- 963 — Married Theophano
- 969 — Died