Editing Phocas (section)

===Italian policy===
When Phocas was emperor, Byzantine Italy was under continual attack from [[Lombards]], but the Byzantine government spent few resources to aid Italy due to troubles elsewhere. In the entirety of Phocas' reign, the only public structure built with taxes in the city of Rome was a statue of Phocas completed in 608.<ref name="Ekonomou" />{{page needed|date=February 2025}}

When Phocas usurped Maurice, [[Gregory the Great]] was bishop of Rome and he praised Phocas as a restorer of liberty.{{sfn|Crow|2002}} Gregory referred to him as a pious and clement lord, and compared his wife (the new Empress) Leontia to Marcian's consort Pulcheria (whom the Council of Chalcedon called the new Helena). In May 603, portraits of the imperial couple arrived in Rome and were ordered by the pope to be placed in the oratory of St. Caesarius in the imperial palace on the Palatine.<ref name="Ekonomou" />

Imperial approval was needed at that time to appoint a new pope, but the approval was delayed by a year upon the death of [[Pope Sabinian]] in 606, as Phocas was occupied with killing internal enemies that threatened his rule.<ref name="Ekonomou" /> He finally gave approval in 607 and [[Boniface III]] became pope. Phocas declared Rome "the head of all churches".<ref name="Ekonomou" /> Shortly afterwards, Phocas had a gilded statue of himself erected on a [[Roman triumphal column|monumental column]] in the [[Roman Forum]], known as the [[Column of Phocas]].