PHOCAS, emperor of the East from 602 to 610, was a Cappadocian of humble origin, and was still but a centurion when chosen by the army of the Danube to lead it against Constantinople. A revolt within the city soon afterwards resulted in the abdication of the reigning emperor Maurice (q.v.) and in the speedy elevation of Phocas to the vacant throne (23d November 602). The secret of his popularity is hard to discover, but perhaps it is to be sought in the sheer recklessness of his audacity; courage is no∖Vhere imputed to him, and he is known to have been ignorant, brutal, and deformed. “Without assuming the office of a prince he renounced the profession of a soldier; and the reign of Phocas afflicted Europe with ignominious peace, and Asia with desolating war.” By the representations of Theodosius, Maurice’s supposed son, and of Narses, the Byzantine commander-in-chief on the Persian frontier, Chosroes (Khosrau) II. was induced to take up arms against the emperor in 604 (see Persia, above, p. 614). The failures of the generals of Phocas could not but tend to weaken his always insecure tenure of the imperial crown, and the appearance of the Persian armies as far west as Chalcedon in 609-610 made his deposition by Heraclius (q.ν.) an easy task. He was beheaded by his successful rival on 4th October 610.