Nicephorus II

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Nicephorus II

Nicephorus II (Nicephorus Phocas) (nīsĕfˈərəs) (fōˈkəs), c.912–969, Byzantine emperor (963–69). He was a successful general under Constantine VII and Romanus II. On Romanus' death (963) he married the emperor's widow, Theophano, and was proclaimed emperor by his troops. He left the aristocracy its estates and took property from the monasteries. The heavy taxes he imposed to support his military ventures against the Arabs and the Bulgars caused much discontent. His downfall and murder, however, were the result of a palace intrigue between Theophano and her lover, John Tzimisces. Tzimisces succeeded to the throne as John I.

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The Rise and Fall of Nikephoros II Phokas: Five Contemporary Texts in Annotated Translations

Nikephoros II Phokas entered Constantinople as the new Byzantine emperor in August 963, and in December 969 was brutally assassinated, says Sullivan.

The Rise and Fall of Nikephoros II Phokas: Five Contemporary Texts in Annotated Translations

In the tenth century, after the Arab occupation of Sicily, a large number of Greek refugees also settled in southern Italy, and in about 965 C.E., Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas acted to enhance the Byzantine presence by forbidding the use of the Latin rite in the two provinces of Apulia and Calabria.

1054 revisited

The driving out of Basilio from the city by the tyrant Nicephoro presumably refers to the violent circumstances under which the army general Nikephoros II Phokas seized power following the death of Romanos in 963.

Lotti's 'Teofane' (1719) and Handel's 'Ottone' (1723): a textual and musical study