Phokas (Byzantine family)
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Phokas or Phocas, feminine form Phokaina or Phocaena, was the name of a Byzantine aristocratic clan from Cappadocia, which in the 9th and 10th centuries provided a series of high-ranking generals and
The blinding of Leo Phokas
Entry of Nikephoros Phokas (r. 963–969) into Constantinople as emperor, from the Madrid Skylitzes
Battle between the armies of Bardas Skleros and Bardas Phokas, from the Madrid Skylitzes
John I Tzimiskes
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John I Tzimiskes was the senior Byzantine emperor from 969 to 976. An intuitive and successful general who married into the influential Skleros family, he strengthened and expanded the Byzantine Empir
Phokas (Byzantine family)
…955, Bardas was replaced by his son Nikephoros. With the aid of Leo, who had already established himself through victories of his own, and his nephew John Tzimiskes, Nikephoros achieved a series of successes, recovering Crete and Cyprus and repeatedly defeating Sayf al-Dawla's forces. With the sudden death of Romanos…
Detail of the Gunthertuch, a Byzantine silk tapestry depicting John Tzimiskes being greeted by the Blues and Greens at a triumph
Tentative reproduction of the lost portrait of John I. He is depicted beardless, although literary sources describe him as having a reddish/blonde facial hair.
The coronation of John Tzimiskes, from the Madrid Skylitzes
The Byzantine army under John I lays siege to the Bulgarian capital at Preslav.