Abstract
A couple of Homeric verbatim quotations in two texts of the 10th century shed light on the authors’ views about the emperor Nicephorus Phokas’ murder. Leo the Deacon, a historian, and John Geometres, a poet, point out the analogies between some epic characters and the murderers of the emperor: far from being a mere stylistic embellishment, Homeric mimesis takes on the importance of a precise judgement.