Emperor Phocas: An Exaggerated Evil?

Emperor Phocas was the most infamous ruler of Byzantium. Of his reign terrible tales are told: to the writers of the time, he was little better than the Devil – monstrous and savage, tyrannical and despotic. Yet is his reputation deserved? Phocas ruled in interesting times and was an interesting figure himself, but the truth about this poorly understood and even more poorly evaluated emperor is clouded by later propaganda – a fuzzy haze of half-remembered truths and malicious lies.

So, what was Emperor Phocas, a wretched villain or an exaggerated evil?

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