Nikephoros Phokas the Elder (c. 830 - c. 896) was one of the great general

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

s in the service of the Eastern Roman Emperor Basil I

Basil I

Basil I, called the Macedonian was a Byzantine emperor of probable Armenian descent who reigned from 867 to 886. Born a simple peasant in the Byzantine theme of Macedonia, he rose in the imperial court, and usurped the imperial throne from Emperor Michael III...

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Descended from the Phokas family

Phokas (Byzantine family)

Phokas or Phocas , feminine form Phokaina , was the name of a Byzantine aristocratic clan from Cappadocia, which in the 9th and 10th centuries provided a series of high-ranking generals and an emperor, Nikephoros II Phokas...

, one of the large land-holding families of Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

, Nikephoros Phokas rose to the positions of patrikios and domestikos ton scholon. He succeeded in taking Taranto

Taranto

Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....

 and much of Calabria

Calabria

Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....

 in 885

885

Year 885 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* The Vikings besiege Paris.* Godfrith, the Sea King is killed in Lobith...

-886

886

Year 886 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :...

. The successes in the Italian Peninsula

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 opened a new period of Byzantine domination there.

Nikephoros Phokas the Elder was the father of Bardas Phokas the Elder

Bardas Phokas the Elder

Bardas Phokas was a notable Byzantine general in the first half of the 10th century, and father of Byzantine emperor Nikephoros II Phokas and the kouropalates Leo Phokas the Younger....

 and Leo Phokas the Elder, the grandfather of Nikephoros II Phokas, emperor of the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

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