John Phokas

John Phokas (or Phocas) was a 12th-century Byzantine pilgrim to the Holy Land. He wrote an account of his travels, the so-called Ekphrasis (or Concise Description) of the Holy Places,[1] "the most elegant of Palestinian pilgrimage accounts".[2] Doubt has recently arisen over whether Phokas was in fact the author of the Ekphrasis, which has been re-attributed instead to John Doukas.[3]

Little biographical information about Phokas is available. One manuscript of the Ekphrasis contains a note stating that he was a priest and that his father, a certain Matthew, became a monk on Patmos. According to this marginal note, his trip to the Holy Land took place in either 1177 or 1195. He is known to have accompanied Emperor Manuel I (reigned 1143–80) on an expedition to the sea off Attaleia (now Antalya). He may be the same person as the Focas who, according to the Annales Herbipolenses, was sent by Manuel in 1147 to guide the crusading army of King Conrad III of Germany from Nicaea to Iconium.[4]

Phokas's Ekphrasis is both concise and precise. He had a rather positive attitude towards the Crusaders. In some cases he provides unique information. He describes a fanatical Saracen sect called the Chasisioi (perhaps the Assassins).[4] He calls the river Jordan "the holiest among rivers" and names three monasteries in the vicinity of site of the baptism of Jesus dedicated to Our Lady of Kalamon, John Chrysostom and John the Baptist. The latter was rebuilt, he says, by Manuel I.[5] He also reports that Cana was nothing more than a kastellion (a small fortified settlement),[6] that there were two monasteries (one Greek, one Latin) atop Mount Tabor,[7] and that the site of ancient Jericho was covered in gardens and vineyards.[8]

Besides the Bible, Phokas also quotes from such ancient authors as Josephus Flavius and Achilles Tatius.[4] The Ekphrasis may have been written against the pilgrimage account of Constantine Manasses, who returned from the Holy Land disillusioned and wondering why Christ lived there. In the Ekphrasis, the beauty of the places is stressed repeatedly.[2]

References
  1. Full title: Ἔκφρασις ἐν συνόψει τῶν ἀπ’ Ἀντιοχείας μέχρις Ἱεροσολύμων κάστρων καὶ χωρῶν Συρίας, Φοινίκης καί τῶν κατὰ Παλαιστίνην ἁγίων τόπων συγγραφεῖσα παρὰ Ἰωάννου ἱερέως τοῦ εὐσεβεστάτου Φωκᾶ, υἱοῦ Ματθαίου, μοναχοῦ τοῦ ἐνασκοῦντος ἐν Πάτμῳ τῇ νήσῳ, ὅσπερ εἶδεν τοὺς ἁγίους τόπους ἐν ἔτει τῷ ͵ϛχπε΄ τῷ τότε καιρῷ
  2. Michael Angold (2016), "The Fall of Jerusalem (1187) as Viewed from Byzantium," in Adrian J. Boas (ed.), The Crusader World (London & New York: Routledge) pp. 289–308, at 294.
  3. According to Charis Messis (2011), "Littérature, voyage et politique au XIIe siècle: L'Ekphrasis des lieux saints de Jean 'Phokas'," Byzantinoslavica 69 (3), pp. 146–66, this work has been misattributed to Phokas. Its real author was John Doukas, who went on an imperial mission to the Holy Land in 1177. See Shay Eshel, The Concept of the Elect Nation in Byzantium (Leiden: Brill, 2018), p. 155.
  4. Kazhdan, Alexander (1991). "Phokas, John". In Kazhdan, Alexander (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
  5. Vikan, Gary; Cutler, Anthony (1991). "Jordan". In Kazhdan, Alexander (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
  6. Vikan, Gary; Ma'oz, Zvi 'Uri (1991). "Cana". In Kazhdan, Alexander (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
  7. Vikan, Gary; Kazhdan, Alexander (1991). "Tabor, Mount". In Kazhdan, Alexander (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
  8. Vikan, Gary; Ma'oz, Zvi 'Uri (1991). "Jericho". In Kazhdan, Alexander (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
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