Rebellion of Bardas Phokas the Younger

rdf:langString Rebellion of Bardas Phokas the Younger

rdf:langString Rebellion of Bardas Phokas

rdf:langString The Coronation of Basil II as co-emperor by Patriarch Polyeuctus, from the Madrid Skylitzes

rdf:langString Support from:

rdf:langString Buyid Dynasty *2,000 Georgians, Armenians until 988

rdf:langString Bardas Skleros *Arabs until mid-987

rdf:langString Bardas Phokas the Younger

rdf:langString Kalokyros Delphinas

rdf:langString Rebellion of Bardas Phokas

rdf:langString February 987 – October 989

rdf:langString Loyalist victory

rdf:langString loyalist forces plus 6,000 Varangians

rdf:langString Byzantine army of Asia Minor, plus 2,000 Caucasians

rdf:langString online

rdf:langString The Rebellion of Bardas Phokas the Younger was a major Byzantine civil war fought mostly in Asia Minor. During the second half of the tenth century the Byzantine Empire was characterized by emperors either devoted to or forced into long periods of campaigning mostly in the Middle East, Crete, Cyprus, Antioch; many other territories were also conquered during this period. The success Byzantium experienced during this period was largely thanks to the Phokas clan, an aristocratic family who consistently produced competent generals, and their relatives. Indeed, during the reigns of Nikephoros II Phokas and his nephew John I Tzimiskes, these aristocratic generals supplanted the legitimate heirs of the Macedonian dynasty, the adolescent brothers Basil II and Constantine VIII, as the true rulers of the empire. When Tzimiskes died in 976 Basil II ascended to power. Quickly, however, tensions began to flare up within the royal court itself as the purple-born emperor attempted to reign fully out of the influence of the established court eunuchs. The figureheads behind the simmering tensions in the capital would come to blows in a major rebellion lead by Bardas Phokas the Younger, the most powerful man left of the old Phokas regime.