# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/phocas
# Generated: 2026-08-12T16:37:48.768Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/phocas"
name: "Phocas"
slug: "phocas"
description: "A Roman officer who talked his way to the throne by voicing soldier complaints against Emperor Maurice, then spent eight years purging enemies he couldn't defeat and watching the empire crack open under Persian invasion."
tagline: "Emperor of Byzantine Empire (547-610)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Phocas_cons.jpg"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Politicians"
  slug: "politicians"
profileType:
  name: "Politician"
  slug: "politician"
birthDate: "547"
deathDate: "610"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           57.17
  momentum:             2.816613044749927
  historical:           22.546804
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Politicians"
    slug: "politicians"
  - name: "Politician"
    slug: "politician"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "Medieval Era"
    slug: "medieval-era"
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phocas"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q31556"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Phocas"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://an.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focas_I"
    title: "Focas I"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D9%88%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B3"
    title: "فوقاس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D9%88%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B3"
    title: "فوقاس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D9%88%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%B3"
    title: "فوکاس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B0_(%D0%B2%D1%96%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%8B%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D1%96_%D1%96%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80)"
    title: "Фока (візантыйскі імператар)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B0"
    title: "Фока"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foka_(bizantski_car)"
    title: "Foka (bizantski car)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavi_Focas"
    title: "Flavi Focas"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokas"
    title: "Fokas"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phokas"
    title: "Phokas"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://diq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phokas"
    title: "Phokas"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A6%CF%89%CE%BA%CE%AC%CF%82"
    title: "Φωκάς"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokas"
    title: "Fokas"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focas_(emperador)"
    title: "Focas (emperador)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phokas"
    title: "Phokas"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokas"
    title: "Fokas"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D9%88%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%B3"
    title: "فوکاس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokas"
    title: "Fokas"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phocas"
    title: "Phocas"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focas%2C_emperador"
    title: "Focas, emperador"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hak.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phocas"
    title: "Phocas"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%A7%D7%90%D7%A1%2C_%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%A1%D7%A8_%D7%94%D7%90%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%94_%D7%94%D7%91%D7%99%D7%96%D7%A0%D7%98%D7%99%D7%AA"
    title: "פוקאס, קיסר האימפריה הביזנטית"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phokas_van_Bisantium"
    title: "Phokas van Bisantium"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://als.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phokas"
    title: "Phokas"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Phocas rose from middle-rank army service to spokesman for troops angry at Maurice's court. When the army mutinied in 602, he rode the revolt to power and had Maurice executed that November. Constantinople's elite saw him as a provincial usurper, so he packed the regime with relatives and answered dissent with escalating violence that eventually turned his own household against him. The Sasanian Empire tore into the eastern provinces while he pulled border troops inward to crush a rebellion led by Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, which only opened the heartlands to invasion. Heraclius the Elder's son sailed to Constantinople, took the city on 5 October 610, and executed Phocas the same day. Every surviving account calls him an incompetent tyrant, though the writers served the dynasty that replaced him.