A Brief History
On October 4, 610 A.D., Heraclius arrived by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrew Byzantine Emperor Phocas in one of the most badass coups in history, and became Emperor.
Digging Deeper
Future emperor Phocas, seen on the coin above, did not have an easy life. When he and others in the Byzantine army attempted to express their grievances to then Emperor Maurice’s government, not only were their requests rejected, but Phocas was himself humiliated by court officials by being slapped. Subsequently, Phocas led a rebellion of Byzantium’s Balkan army that forced Maurice to abdicate, but that was not good enough for Phocas. In 602 A.D., the newly crowned emperor dealt with his predecessor viciously. Phocas first had Maurice’s six sons executed before their father’s eyes after having dragged Maurice from a monastic sanctuary. After Maurice was also executed, he and his sons’ bodies were thrown in the sea, while their heads were exhibited in Constantinople. Meet the new boss, WORSE than the old boss!
Phocas is often (if not just about always) labeled in books as a “tyrant”. Not only did he violently dispose of his predecessor’s family, he undertook other policies that brought about the suffering of his people. Of course, some of the problems were not entirely his own doing. In any case, during Phocas’s reign, he faced numerous threats from neighboring powers and even rivals to the throne.
As the situation deteriorated, a substantial rebellion began in North Africa in 608 A.D. A brutal civil war ensued for the next two years as the Byzantines’ Persian neighbors seized the opportunity to strike at Byzantine territory. As the crises dragged on, a prominent leader of this rebellion, Heraclius, finally made his way to Constantinople in 610 A.D. The political and military elites in the city switched sides and eventually a captured Phocas was brought before Heraclius. The triumphant rebel allegedly asked the usurper of Maurice, “Is this how you have ruled, wretch?” Phocas reportedly replied, “And will you rule better?” Heraclius, rather than simply say, “Yes, I’ll do a much better job. Thanks for asking,” instead personally killed and even beheaded Phocas right on the spot. The victorious rebels paraded Phocas’s mutilated body through the capital before burning what was left of it. Well, as they say, “Thus always to tyrants!”
Yet, what makes the confrontation particularly remarkable is that it actually ended with the successful usurper personally slaying the “evil emperor”. We usually only see such things in fiction (ahem, Star Wars or Mortal Kombat). More often than not, only in books, movies, and video games do we have the protagonist and antagonist meet in a scenario in which only one walks away still alive. We did not, after all, have FDR personally fight and kill Hitler. Even in cases where an opponent did not commit suicide a la Hitler, the historic villain may have been dealt with by agents of the victor. In 610 A.D., however, the people’s champion indeed did not delegate to subordinates, but instead confronted and killed his adversary in person in one of only a handful of such instances in all of human history.
Question for students (and subscribers): Was Heraclius right to execute Phocas? Could you ever imagine such a scenario occurring in modern times? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more on Maurice, Phocas, Heraclius, and a bevy of other Byzantine emperors, I strongly encourage you to check out Timothy E. Gregory’s excellent A History of Byzantium (Blackwell Publishing, 2005). Gregory is a notable historian of ancient Greece and Byzantium who teaches at The Ohio State University. His book provides a concise overview of Byzantine history from 306 A.D. to 1453 and includes many fascinating comments on Byzantine emperors’ beguiling personalities.
The featured image in this article, Miniature 41 from the Constantine Manasses Chronicle, 14 century (Usurper Phocas and the assault against him from the armies of Heraclius), is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 100 years or less.
You can also watch a video version of this article on YouTube:
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="30 http://crackedhistory.com/?p=30">71 Comments
Great story man. I love Heraclius since he was the first Emperor of the great Byzantine empire who introduced to the citizens the Greek language and spirit. After his reign the Byzantine Empire became Greek in culture, language, influence and religion too. Also the vast majority of the Emperors after him would be of Greek origin too. Good job Matthew!
Thanks! 🙂
It’s very interesting to see how some of these people came into power.
I love the story of Heraclius, probably one of my favorite emperors. It’s cool too see how they gained power & came into throne.
Well when most people get into dispute the argue, but this guy just cuts your head off. This guy is bad-to-the-bone…. Awesome story, Dr. Zarzeczny.
Phocas definitely got what he deserved! — DAVID
WARDLE
Yikes! I believe that chopping off a persons head in older times is not nearly the horrible crime it is now. People are freaking out about the terrorist activities of beheading in modern day, yet throughout history you would be hard pressed to find a decade pass without a beheading.
It sounds like Phocas got what he deserved. It’s kind of like Obama killing Osama Bin Laden with his bare hands. Not exactly like that but that would have been cool to see.
Good article. It’s not really surprising about what had happened to him because it was kind of expected since nobody really liked him as a ruler to begin with.
I love Heraclius because he was so ruthless and not afraid to do something no matter the damage. he was a true emperor and showed no mercy
I love the story of Heraclius, he is one of my favorite emperors. It is interesting to see how they came to power and how they ruled.
Heraclius seems like one of the toughest emperors. I find it very brave of him to go into battle and personally deal with his enemy. It certainly put to rest any doubts of toughness.
Interseting instances of emperor brutality. It is clear though that Phoncas was more brutal than Heraculis. After all, Heraculis did not kill Phoncas’s family right in front of him before then killing him.
I found it interesting and odd that Heraclius beheaded Phocus. If this was done today by a major leader, it would be seen as barbaric.
I suppose Heraclius was more of a man to let his actions speak for themselves and simply by looking at what he accomplished , it is obvious that Heraclius was the better emperor (expanding the empire and expanding Greek influence in the Eastern Empire).
This is certainly an example of reality being stranger than fiction at times!
Heraclius in my opinion when he be headed phocas established himself as a hero in some sense. As stated in the article he beheaded the “evil emperor” and this helped him win the vote of the people.
I liked how the ending mentioned that this was a rare moment where the protagonist and antagonist faced off to the death. The counterexample to this of FDR and Hitler reminded me of the Obama and Osama Bin Laden situation where everyone was screaming “Obama killed Bin Laden” and really it was not actually Obama in the midst of the fight. I understand that Obama played a huge role in finding and killing him, but nonetheless he was still safe and tucked away in the States.
Thank you for not falling for the illusion. Live well my friend
When one leader overthrows another, it is in their best interest to rule better than their predecessor. Phocas was a terrible leader so he needed to be dealt with and Heraclius was just the man for the. Like in Rome, the tyrant always falls, someone would have killed Phocas eventually.
This is a great article! Too bad Heracilus’s reign was cut short. I would have been interested to see how the world would have been with him ruling.
I liked the part about Heraclius. Heraclius for president! Of Byzantine empire!
Heraclius is was brutal and fearless in his actions but he stuck to them. I like the connection to FDR and Hitler it really brought things into perspective.
It was interesting how this was probably one of the only times where the protagonist and antagonist met face to face. It is usually in movies and video games and even books where that happens; normally not in real life. Powers often get other people to do their dirty work, but in this case, Heraclius did not send soldiers to do his dirty work, but he did it himself. He thought Phocas was doing a horrible job and thought he needed to get rid of him. Interesting parallels to facing off to the death.
I feel like Heraclius was a strong and fearless emperor. Fighting your own battle was not done very often in those times.
The personalities of some of these emperors are unfathomable. They flexed their power whenever an opportunity presented itself. They killed very creatively.
You would think that with the massive amount of Roman history that has occurred up to this point that the emperors would have figured out how to run the empire? I know that it is not exactly the easiest task, but this is like the sixth time that one ruler has been assassinated and then another (and inevitably worse) rule comes along to send Rome further into despair. I don’t know, it just seems odd that these emperors were not able to learn from the trials and mistakes of others.
ya i guess the story of the confrontation of two emperors is pretty cool. has Hollywood gotten their hands on this yet?
Interesting article to read. Its a little disturbing to read that Heraclius beheaded Phocus. That’s not something a leader should do.
It’s almost movie-esq with how the evil emperor is defeated. Even though Herclius may have made a drastic move by killing the previous emperor, he did based on judgement of what was right for the empire as a whole.
I really liked that Heraclius fought his own battle in the end because, like mentioned in previous comments, our president and many other leaders do not fight there own fights.
I can’t believe Phocas actually murdered each of Maurice’s sons right in front of his eyes! Of course, he wouldn’t be the first emperor that turned out to be a tyrant. Definitely the highlight of this article is the movie-ending death Phocas experienced.
You have to admire the man who starts a revolution and is there to ensure it’s successful end
This story reminds me of all the recent cases of bullying, and how they lead some kids to become mentally unstable and the committing violent acts because of it.
Seems like Phocas kind of had his beheading coming to him since he was such a gruesome emperor himself.
Good article. Its interesting to see how rulers got their power.
What a cruel man! Killing the previous emperor’s sons right infront of him.
It’s interesting how there is in fact a historic tale similar to how stories are told nowadays where the two opposing sides meet and the good guy gets to say some awesome catch phrase and kill the bad guy.
I guess that is one way to gain power.
The story of Heraclius is truly one of my favorite stories and it is amazing how people come to power!
well I suppose that one way to gain power and become the ruler. I really liked the article
It’s hard to believe so few instances of predecessor killing the evil ruler; I never considered it before.
Enjoyed the video game references
Have to respect Heraclius for dealing with the matter with his own hands. Leaders like this would be an impossibility in this day and age, though it makes me think of Thomas Jefferson winning a few duels before becoming President of our nation.
I find interesting to see how people got tier power and their name so famous. I have to give it to Heraclius for handling things on his own, many are just given the power and did nothing to rightly deserve it.
Well, this was sure an inventive way of gaining power. It is sad that all 6 sons were killed….i guess it goes with the times.
I really enjoy hearing how some came to power
There are so many examples of leaders killing the rulers that came before them in history especially in this time period.
Beheading always seems like one of the most gruesome ways to be killed, but this tyrant more likely than not deserved to die by this method. Cruelness can only be treated with cruelness.
Really shows how rulers got into power!
Never thought about the usurper and the ruler actually fighting for power. Nowadays, struggles for power are fought behind the scenes so it is interesting to see it fought one on one.
Beheading someone is a very cruel form of death. I do feel, however, that they deserved this type of punishment being that they were also very cruel in nature.
Crazy how beheadings are big today as well as long ago. Makes the acts today more terrifying.
The historical evidence was very insightful!
I love the Mortal Kombat reference (love that game!). It is said though that a person is not dead right away when their head is severed off. That is cruel to put someone through an experience like that. I can only imagine what that would be like.
i love finding out about all this stuff because it is interesting but i always wonder if this is truly what really happned and how do we really know
That is how you show true power, behead your enemy’s and have a parade with their body through the center of town, you’ll get your point across.
Quite the rise to power.
Just like alexander the great would actually go out and help his army
Interesting rise to power.
He had an interesting rise to power.
What a rise to power
what comes around goes around. Maybe he shouldn’t of been so savage to the prior king and then maybe he wouldn’t of succumbed to a similar fate
“Phocas first had Maurice’s six sons executed before their father’s eyes after having dragged Maurice from a monastic sanctuary. ”
It’s crazy how they did this. I mean i guess back then they did stuff like that all the time. By then after he killed the sons he executed Maurice. For me not knowing much about history it just blows my mind.
-angel cutcher
Even today, tyrannical leaders pull some pretty evil stuff on their perceived enemies. Look as Kim Jong Un in North Korea, he fed enemies to guard dogs and made others watch as a lesson to them!