NICEPHORUS III  . (Botaniates),

emperor Io78-1081, belonged to a family which claimed descent from the Roman Fabii and rose to be commander of the troops in Asia . He revolted in Io78 from Michael VII., and with the connivance of the Turks marched upon Nicaea, where he assumed the purple . In face of another rebellious general, Nicephorus Bryennius, his election was ratified by the aristocracy and clergy . With the help of Alexius Cornnenus he drove out of the field Bryennius and other rivals, but failed to clear the invading Turks out of Asia Minor . Nicephorus ultimately quarrelled with Alexius, who used his influence with the.army to depose the emperor and banish him to a monastery . In the years of his reign he had entirely given himself over to debauchery . See Gibbon, Decline and Fall (ed . Bury, 1896) ; Finlay, Hist. of Greece; G.' Schlumberger, Nicephore Phocas (Paris, 189o); K . Leonardt, Kaiser Nicephorus H . (Halle, 1887) .