Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Electronic Auction 506 15 Dec 2021
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Basil II Bulgaroktonos, with Constantine VIII. 976-1025. AV Histamenon Nomisma (24mm, 4.38 g, 6h). Constantinople mint. Struck circa 1005. Facing bust of Christ Pantokrator; rosette of seven pellets in each cross arm of nimbus / Crowned facing busts of Basil, wearing loros, and Constantine, wearing chlamys, holding patriarchal cross between them; manus Dei above Basil. DOC 4; Füeg II 4.C; SB 1798. Lustrous. Near EF.
The son of Romanus II, Basil II theoretically inherited the purple at the age of five in when his father died in AD 963; however he was overshadowed by regents and co-emperors until AD 976. He had to fight off several challenges to his rule and was not fully secure until AD 989. The experience made a hard, austere man of him. Monastic in tastes and militant in manners, he never married and devoted his whole reign to administering the state and leading armies into battle. He expended enormous efforts toward destroying the Bulgarian menace once and for all. At the Battle of Kleidion in 1014, he acquired his nickname "Bulgar–slayer" (Bulgaroktonos) when he captured and blinded 15,000 Bulgarians; the Bulgarian Tsar Samuel died of despair when he beheld the fate his men. The Fatamids and Arabs also felt his wrath and he oversaw the annexation of Georgia to the Empire. He kept wealthy aristocrats on a short leash and favored peasants and small farmers, backbone of the army. By Basil's death in 1025, the medieval Byzantine Empire had reached its greatest size, power and prestige. Maintaining it would require rulers with his devotion to duty, which none of his successors possessed, and they proceeded to fritter away his legacy with astonishing speed.
The son of Romanus II, Basil II theoretically inherited the purple at the age of five in when his father died in AD 963; however he was overshadowed by regents and co-emperors until AD 976. He had to fight off several challenges to his rule and was not fully secure until AD 989. The experience made a hard, austere man of him. Monastic in tastes and militant in manners, he never married and devoted his whole reign to administering the state and leading armies into battle. He expended enormous efforts toward destroying the Bulgarian menace once and for all. At the Battle of Kleidion in 1014, he acquired his nickname "Bulgar–slayer" (Bulgaroktonos) when he captured and blinded 15,000 Bulgarians; the Bulgarian Tsar Samuel died of despair when he beheld the fate his men. The Fatamids and Arabs also felt his wrath and he oversaw the annexation of Georgia to the Empire. He kept wealthy aristocrats on a short leash and favored peasants and small farmers, backbone of the army. By Basil's death in 1025, the medieval Byzantine Empire had reached its greatest size, power and prestige. Maintaining it would require rulers with his devotion to duty, which none of his successors possessed, and they proceeded to fritter away his legacy with astonishing speed.