NICEPHORUS I., emperor of Constantinople from 802 to 811, born at Seleucia in Pisidia, is alleged on very doubtful authority to have been a descendant of Jaballah, who had been monarch of the small Arabian kingdom of Ghassân in the time of Heraclius, and for a time had professed the Mohammedan religion. In the reign of Irene he rose to the office of logothetes, or lord high treasurer, and in 802 he was joined by her favourite eunuchs in a plot by which she was dethroned and exiled, while he himself assumed the crown (October 31). Soon after his accession, Bardanes, one of his ablest generals, rose in revolt against him and received much powerful support, including that of Leo the Armenian and Michael the Armorian (names which reappear in history), but the skilful diplomacy of Nicephorus soon brought the rebel to the position of a suppliant, willing to accept the seclusion of a monastery. The conspiracy headed by the patrician Arsaber in 808 had a similar issue. In 803 Nicephorus had entered into a treaty with Charlemagne by which the limits of the tλvo empires were amicably fixed,— Venice, Istria, the maritime parts of Dalmatia, and South Italy being assigned to the East, while Rome, Ravenna, and the Pentapolis were recognized as belonging to the West; this treaty was renewed in 810. Shortly after the retirement of Bardanes, who had been appointed to march against the Saracens, Nicephorus in person took the field against Haroun al·-Rashid, but sustained a great defeat at Crasus in Phrygia; and subsequent inroads of his conqueror compelled him to sue for peace, which was granted only on condition of an annual tribute of 30,000 pieces of gold, besides three additional pieces (perhaps, as Finlay suggests, medallions of superior size) for himself, and three for his son ...

NICEPHORUS II. (Phocas), emperor of Constantinople from 963 to 969, was member of a brave Cappadocian family which had previously furnished more than one distinguished general to the empire. He was born about 912, joined the army at an early age, and under Constantine VII., Porphyrogenitus, attained the high rank of magnus domesticus, or general of the East (954). In the almost continual struggle with the Saracens which this post implied he sustained severe defeat in 956, but retrieved his fame in 958 and again in 959 in Syria; and in July 960 he led the expedition against Crete which compelled Candia to surrender after a siege of ten months, and again brought the whole island under Byzantine rule. The long extinct honours of a triumph were revived to reward him on his return to Constantinople. In 962 he again set out with a large army against Syria; after forcing his way through the narrow passes of Mount Amanus, and compelling the principal cities to open their gates, he was pushing on towards the Euphrates when intelligence reached him in 963 that the emperor Romanus II. had died, leaving the empress Theophano regent for her infant sons. Justly fearing the intrigues of the able minister Joseph Bringas, he returned to Constantinople, after having previously obtained from Theophano and the patriarch Polyeuctes a guarantee for his personal safety; he then, with the help of the patriarch, procured for himself the supreme command of the army during the minority of the princes, and, after gaining over the officers and soldiers to his interest, consented to allow himself to be proclaimed emperor. He was crowned on August 16, and soon afterwards married Theophano, though the union was discountenanced by the patriarch on the alleged ground of a spiritual affinity. In 964 he ...

NICEPHORUS III. (Botaniates), emperor of Constantinople from 1078 to 1081, belonged to a family which claimed descent from the Roman Fabii. He served in the army, and rose to be commander of the forces in Asia. In 1078 he assumed the purple at Nicaea, almost simultaneously with Nicephorus Bryennius (father or uncle of the historian of that name), who had revolted against Michael VII. at Adrianople; the aristocracy and clergy of the capital supported the claims of Botaniates, who was crowned on March 25, 1078. With the able help of Alexius Comnenus, the recalcitrant generals Ursel, Bryennius, and Basilacius were successively driven from the field, but soon afterwards the wakeful jealousy of the emperor was turned upon their conqueror, who was compelled to flee the court. Alexius, however, had hold of the army, and on April 1, 1081, ascended the throne, Nicephorus being forced to abdicate and become a monk of St Basil. He died in obscurity.