Nikephoros Phokas the Elder

As a youth he was taken into the personal retinue of Emperor Basil I the Macedonian, rising quickly to the posts of protostrator and then governor of Charsianon, whence he fought with success against the Arabs.

After his return, he was raised to the post of Domestic of the Schools, in effect commander-in-chief of the army, which he led with success against the Arabs in the east and the Bulgarians of Tsar Simeon in the Balkans.

[4][5] It is likely, however, that Nikephoros was originally sent to Italy already before that, at the head of a picked detachment of troops from Charsianon, which Theophanes Continuatus records as part of Maxentios' expeditionary force.

[3] During his time in Italy he also took steps to strengthen the Byzantine position by settling many Armenians in the region, as well as 1,000 manumitted slaves donated by Emperor Basil's old benefactor, the widow Danielis.

[3][4] In the meantime, he was raised to the rank of patrikios and named to the post of Domestic of the Schools, in effect commander-in-chief of the Byzantine army, after the death of his predecessor, Andrew the Scythian.

[3][11][12] The later chronicle of Theophanes Continuatus, however, reports a different story, according to which Nikephoros was disgraced and dismissed from his post after refusing proposals for a marriage alliance with Leo's powerful chief minister, Stylianos Zaoutzes.

After a period out of office, Nikephoros was then appointed strategos either of Charsianon or of the Thracesian Theme, spending his remaining years, until his death around 900, fighting against the Arabs.

[3][13] No definite conclusion as to the date of Nikephoros' death can be reached today, but most modern scholars, such as Jean-Claude Cheynet, are doubtful of the version of Theophanes Continuatus.

It would have been very unusual for a former Domestic to be appointed to the subordinate position of a thematic strategos, and there is reason to doubt the authenticity of the tale of Zaoutzes' seeing in Nikephoros a potential future emperor and offering the hand of an—otherwise unknown—daughter in marriage.

Leo VI lauds his military talents in his Tactica,[5] and he is credited with the invention of a weapon to counter cavalry during his campaign against the Bulgarians, consisting of a sharpened stake driven into the ground.