__NOTOC__ John Phokas (, ''Iōánnēs Phōkâs'') or Phocas () was a 12th-century

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

pilgrim to the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

. He wrote an account of his travels, the so-called ''Ekphrasis'' or ''Concise Description of the Holy Places'', which has been called "the most elegant of Palestinian pilgrimage accounts". 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. Doubt has recently arisen over whether Phokas was in fact the author of the ''Ekphrasis'', which has been re-attributed instead to the John Doukas who went on an imperial mission to the Holy Land in 1177. 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 Patmos (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It is famous as the location where, according to Christian belief, John of Patmos received the vision found in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, and where the book was written. ...

. 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 ManuelI (reigned 1143–80) on an expedition to the sea off Attaleia (now

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

). 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 Conrad III (; ; 1093 or 1094 – 15 February 1152) of the Hohenstaufen dynasty was from 1116 to 1120 Duke of Franconia, from 1127 to 1135 anti-king of his predecessor Lothair III, and from 1138 until his death in 1152 King of the Romans in t ...

from

Nicaea Nicaea (also spelled Nicæa or Nicea, ; ), also known as Nikaia (, Attic: , Koine: ), was an ancient Greek city in the north-western Anatolian region of Bithynia. It was the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and seve ...

Iconium Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...

. Phokas's ''Ekphrasis'' is both concise and precise. He had a rather positive attitude towards the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

. In some cases he provides unique information. He describes a fanatical

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Rom ...

sect called the ''Chasisioi'' (perhaps the

Assassins An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder. The origin of the term is the medieval Order of Assassins, a sect of Shia Islam 1090–1275 CE. Assassin, or variants, may also refer to: Fictional characters * Assassin, in the Japanese adult ...

). He calls the

river Jordan The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic basin, endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and d ...

"the holiest among rivers" and names three monasteries in the vicinity of site of the

baptism of Jesus The baptism of Jesus, the ritual purification of Jesus with water by John the Baptist, was a major event described in the three synoptic Gospels of the New Testament ( Matthew, Mark and Luke). It is considered to have taken place at Al-Maghta ...

dedicated to Our Lady of Kalamon,

John Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; ; – 14 September 407) was an important Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and p ...

and

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

. The latter was rebuilt, he says, by ManuelI. He also reports that

Cana Cana of Galilee (; ) is the location of the Wedding at Cana, at which the miracle of turning water into wine took place in the Gospel of John. The location is disputed, with the four primary locations being Kafr Kanna, Khirbet Qana and Rei ...

was nothing more than a ''kastellion'' (a small fortified settlement), that there were two monasteries (one Greek, one Latin) atop

Mount Tabor Mount Tabor ( ; ; ), sometimes spelled Mount Thabor, is a large hill of biblical significance in Lower Galilee, Northern District (Israel), northern Israel, at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, west of the Sea of Galilee. In the Hebrew Bi ...

, and that the site of ancient

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

was covered in gardens and vineyards. Besides the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

, Phokas also quotes from such ancient authors as

Josephus Flavius Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

and

Achilles Tatius Achilles Tatius (Greek: Ἀχιλλεὺς Τάτιος, ''Achilleus Tatios'') of Alexandria was a Roman-era Greek writer of the 2nd century AD whose fame is attached to his only surviving work, the ancient Greek novel, or ''romance'', '' The Ad ...

. 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.

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External links

* {{Authority control 12th-century Byzantine writers Byzantine geographers 12th-century Byzantine scientists Officials of Manuel I Komnenos Christians of the Second Crusade Holy Land travellers Christian pilgrimages Pilgrimage accounts 12th-century Eastern Orthodox priests

See also

Notes

References

External links