Considered to be the first true successful Byzantine usurper to take the purple. However, he was to oversee one of the worst periods of Byzantine history, full of internal revolts and external threats. A centurion who was chosen by the army to be emperor, Phocas was raised on a shield in 602 and crowned by the patriarch Cyriacus at the church of St John the Baptist at the Hebdomon retreat near Constantinople. Interestingly, he was the first emperor of the period to wear a beard as evidenced by his coinage.

A poor administrator, Phocas’s legacy of cruelty stems from his insecure position and mistrust of the elite. Eventually, things came to a head, and he was deposed and executed by the combined forces of his son-in-law Priscus, the exarch of Carthage Heraclius the Elder, and his son Heraclius.

This coin, with a provenance stretching back to a 1981 Auctiones AG sale, was struck in 603 by an unpublished and unlisted officina. This interesting factor allows this example to stand out from the other coins issued by Phocas. Despite his short 8 year reign, Phocas’s regime struck a large number of coins, and today his coins are relatively common.