The Byzantine Emperor Phocas: Usurper, Murderer and Tyrant

 

The image that you see is the deposition of the Byzantine emperor Phocas in 610. Don't feel sorry for him however. Depositions, often followed by executions as was the case here, were not new in Eastern Roman History. In 602, Phocas himself had come to power in that same way. He had rebelled against the then Emperor Maurice and successfully deposed him. Phocas' actions after that are full of malice, needless cruelty and a testament of the man he was deep down and why sympathy for his own deposition 8 years later should be in short supply. Phocas, with Maurice and his sons now at his mercy, had a choice to make. He could potentially mutilate them, so they weren't fit for the imperial throne, and then pack them off to a distant monastery somewhere to live out the rest of their days. That wasn't the path he took however and he decided to execute Maurice and 6 of his sons, 5 of whom were with him at the time of his capture by Phocas. It is here that Phocas really demonstrates a malice you would find only in a particularly cruel individual. He made Maurice stand and watch as his 5 sons were murdered in front of him before his own beheading. It's often stated you shouldn't judge actions in these times with modern eyes but Phocas didn't order this through some ignorance. He did it to make Maurice suffer and it's not hard to feel particularly repulsed by Phocas even before we look at his time as emperor.
One of Phocas' main concerns when he became emperor was dealing with the remnants of Maurice's family. He had Peter, Maurice's brother, killed before shutting Constantina, Maurice's widow, and three daughters up in a convent. However, Constantina was not going to just accept exile after what Phocas had already done to her family and she plotted to have Phocas overthrown. After having Constantina tortured to find out the full details of the plot, Phocas now decided he had to rid himself of the remainder of Maurice's family and had Constantina and three girls executed as well. Once again Phocas demonstrated a distinct lack of humanity and had them executed at the precise location where the men had been killed in 602. From very early on in his reign, Phocas had problems. One of his generals rebelled against his rule and seized Edessa. This general, Narses, was regarded as one of the finest generals in the Roman Army. This seemed to matter very little to Phocas as, in 605, he had Narses burned alive. This is said to have caused serious upset among the Eastern Roman Army ranks but pleased no end the Persians whom Narses had been particularly unforgiving against. Phocas here has not only demonstrated vicious behaviour yet again but also a distinct lack of intelligence. The Imperial Army was the main kingmaker in the Byzantine empire and to eliminate one of it's best generals in such brutal fashion was clearly not the best course of action for a usurping emperor to take. In 607, around the same time he had Constantina and her daughters killed, Phocas also executed Germanos and his daughter. Germanos had been the general he used to besiege Edessa when Narses revolt had begun. The fact that Phocas was now executing with seeming impunity key generals in his army shows that his reign was fast descending into tyranny and the chroniclers refer to him as "The Tyrant".

In 608, another rebellion against Phocas was in the works and the emperor responded in much the same vein; by wiping out entire families. Around that time, there was a plague and further Persian invasions. However, according to Theophanes the chronicler, Phocas remained the biggest of all the Romans current woes, murdering and arresting without justification or cause. In 609, Theophanes tells of more chaos in Phocas' realm as the citizens turned against the emperor. A man by the name of Kosmas did the emperor's dirty work by mutilating, hanging, beheading and even sowing up in sacks and flinging into the sea people with dissenting voices. By that stage Phocas was beyond all hope as a ruler and the senate urged a general by the name of Heraclius to take power from the tyrant. Heraclius arrived at Constantinople around October of 610. Delighted by this, the citizens seized Phocas and brought to an end his dismal, bloody and generally dreadful rule.