Basil II Bulgaroctonos (AD 976-1025), and Constantine VIII. AV histamenon nomisma (22mm, 6h). ANACS AU 50. Constantinople, AD 977-989. + IhS XIS RЄX REϚNANTIhm, bust of Christ facing, wearing nimbus cruciger ornamented with two pellets in each arm, pallium, and colobium, raising right hand in benediction, book of Gospels cradled in left arm / + bASIL C COhSTAh TIbN, facing busts of Basil II, wearing loros of lozenge pattern, and Constantine VIII, wearing plain chlamys pinned at right shoulder, jointly holding patriarchal cross between them. Sear 1796. The son of Romanus II, Basil II inherited the purple at the age of five in when his father died in AD 963; however 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 AD 1014, he acquired his nickname "Bulgar-slayer" (Bulgaroctonos) when he captured and blinded 15,000 Bulgarians; the Bulgarian Tsar Samuel died of despair when he beheld the fate of 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, the backbone of the army. By the time of Basil's death in AD 1025, the medieval Byzantine Empire had reached its greatest size, power and prestige. HID09801242017 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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