Nikephoros (Greek:Νικηφόρος,romanized: Nikēphóros), alsoLatinized asNicephorus, was the second son ofByzantine emperorConstantine V (reigned 741–775) andCaesar of theByzantine Empire. He was engaged in a plot against his half-brother,Leo IV (r. 775–780), which cost Nikephoros his title, and was the focal point of numerous usurpation plots during the subsequent reigns of his nephew,Constantine VI (r. 780–797), and of Constantine's mother,Irene of Athens (r. 797–802). He was thereforeblinded and exiled to amonastery for most of his life, probably dying in the island ofAphousia sometime after 812.
Nikephoros was born in the late 750s (c. 756/758) to EmperorConstantine V and his third wifeEudokia. Nikephoros was Constantine's third son overall, following the futureLeo IV, who was born 750 to Constantine's first wifeIrene of Khazaria, and Christopher, who was born in circa 755 to Eudokia. Either Christopher or Nikephoros were possibly twin brothers to Eudokia's and Constantine's only daughter, Anthousa.[1][2] On April 1, 769, Eudokia was crowned asAugusta, and on the same occasion Christopher and Nikephoros were crowned and raised to the rank ofCaesar, while their younger brother Niketas was madeNobilissimus.[3][4] Nikephoros had two other younger brothers, Anthimos and Eudokimos, who were also namedNobilissimi at later dates.[3]
When Constantine V died in 775, his eldest son Leo IV ascended the Byzantine throne. Soon, Leo caused a rift with his half-brothers, when he confiscated a large amount of gold reserved for their use and distributed it to the army and the citizens ofConstantinople as adonative.[1] Then, in spring 776, a conspiracy headed by Nikephoros and involving a number of middle-ranking courtiers was discovered. Nikephoros himself was stripped of his rank, but otherwise not harmed, while the other plotters weretonsured as monks and exiled toCherson in theCrimea.[5]
When Leo IV died in October 780, his sole heir was the youngConstantine VI, his son by the EmpressIrene of Athens. Due to Constantine's being underage, a regency was instituted under Irene, but this was not well received among leading officials. Not only was rule by a woman alien to the military-dominated establishment of the time, but Irene was also a confirmediconophile, an adherent of the veneration ofholy images. This was regarded asheresy by the state-sponsored doctrine ofIconoclasm, which was especially popular with the army and the officials loyal to Constantine V's memory.[6][7] A number of them, including thePostal Logothete (foreign minister) Gregory, the formerstrategos (governor) of theAnatolic Theme Bardas and Constantine, the commander of theExcubitors guard regiment, consequently favoured the rise of Nikephoros to the imperial throne. Barely a month and a half after Leo's death, the plot was discovered. Irene had the conspirators exiled, and Nikephoros and his younger brothers were ordained as priests, removing them from the line of succession. To confirm this before the people, on Christmas Day 780, Nikephoros and his brothers were forced to perform thecommunion service in theHagia Sophia.[4][6][8]
Nikephoros and his brothers disappear from the sources until 792, when the return of Irene to power (after having been ousted in a military revolt in 790), coupled with the disastrous defeat of Constantine VI atMarcellae against theBulgars, caused widespread discontent among the troops. Some of the imperial guard regiments, thetagmata, proclaimed Nikephoros as emperor, but Constantine reacted swiftly: at the urging of Irene, he arrested his uncles, and while Nikephoros was blinded, the others had their tongues slit. They were then imprisoned at a monastery inTherapia.[4][9]
Nikephoros is no longer mentioned by name after 792; instead, the brothers are mentioned collectively. It is therefore questionable whether he is to be included in subsequent events, although traditionally (including in reference works like theOxford Dictionary of Byzantium) it is held that he did share in his brothers' fate and died after 812.[10]
After Empress Irene deposed her son in 797, the brothers were visited at the monastery by some of their supporters and persuaded to seek refuge in the Hagia Sophia. If it had been hoped that Constantinople's populace would be moved to proclaim one of them emperor, their hopes were dashed. No uprising in their support materialized, and Irene's trusted eunuch advisorAetios managed to extricate the brothers and send them to exile inAthens.[4][11] There, they were again the subject of a conspiracy: in March 799, a certainAkameros, "archon of the Slavs in Belzetia" in southernThessaly, together with local troops from thetheme ofHellas (to which Athens belonged), planned to proclaim one of them emperor. The plot was foiled, but the brothers were again moved toPanormos in theMarmara Sea, and Nikephoros's brothers were blinded as well.[4][12]
The brothers are mentioned for the last time in 812, when a group of disgruntled soldiers tried to proclaim the brothers emperors in the aftermath of the fall ofDebeltum to the Bulgars. EmperorMichael I Rangabe (r. 811–813), however, promptly dismissed the soldiers involved and moved the brothers to the island ofAphousia, where they died sometime later.[4][13]