{"slug": "basil-ii", "label": "Basil II", "wikipedia": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_II", "wikidata": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q41833", "qid": "Q41833", "description": "Byzantine Emperor from the Macedonian dynasty", "entries": 20, "years": 20, "span": [958, 1025], "span_label": ["958 CE", "1025 CE"], "topics": [{"title": "Conflict & Security", "count": 13}, {"title": "Deaths", "count": 4}, {"title": "Births", "count": 1}, {"title": "Exploration & Expansion", "count": 1}, {"title": "Crime & Justice", "count": 1}], "related": [{"slug": "byzantine-empire", "label": "Byzantine Empire", "shared": 11}, {"slug": "constantinople", "label": "Constantinople", "shared": 7}, {"slug": "syria", "label": "Syria", "shared": 3}, {"slug": "varangians", "label": "Varangians", "shared": 3}, {"slug": "varangian-guard", "label": "Varangian Guard", "shared": 3}, {"slug": "first-bulgarian-empire", "label": "First Bulgarian Empire", "shared": 3}, {"slug": "abydos-hellespont", "label": "Abydos, Hellespont", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "fatimid-caliphate", "label": "Fatimid Caliphate", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "hamdanid-dynasty", "label": "Hamdanid dynasty", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "turkey", "label": "Turkey", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "abbasid-caliphate", "label": "Abbasid Caliphate", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "romanos-i-lekapenos", "label": "Romanos I Lekapenos", "shared": 1}], "items": [{"year": 958, "year_label": "958 CE", "section": "Births", "date": null, "text": "Basil II (Bulgar Slayer), Byzantine emperor (d. 1025)", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1364468198#Births", "title": "958", "revid": 1364468198, "section": "Births"}}, {"year": 963, "year_label": "963 CE", "section": "Deaths", "date": "March 15", "text": "March 15 – Emperor Romanos II dies at age 39, probably of poison administered by his wife, Empress Theophano. He is succeeded by his infant son Basil II. Theophano becomes regent and de facto ruler, naming her other son Constantine VIII (only 3 years old) as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1365272224#Byzantine_Empire", "title": "963", "revid": 1365272224, "section": "Events › By place › Byzantine Empire"}}, {"year": 976, "year_label": "976 CE", "section": "Deaths", "date": "January 10", "text": "January 10 – Emperor John I Tzimiskes dies at Constantinople, after returning from a second campaign against the Abbasids in Syria. He is buried in the Church of Christ Chalkites, and succeeded by his 18-year-old nephew Basil II, who becomes sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire. The administration remains in the hands of Basil Lekapenos (an illegitimate son of the late Emperor Romanos I).", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1364468275#Byzantine_Empire", "title": "976", "revid": 1364468275, "section": "Events › By place › Byzantine Empire"}}, {"year": 978, "year_label": "978 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Battle of Pankaleia: Rebel forces under General Bardas Skleros are defeated by the Byzantine army loyal to Emperor Basil II, commanded by General Bardas Phokas (the Younger), near Pankaleia (modern-day Hisarköy). Phokas regroups his forces and continues his march to the East, drawing Skleros away from Constantinople.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1365272344#Byzantine_Empire", "title": "978", "revid": 1365272344, "section": "Events › By place › Byzantine Empire"}}, {"year": 986, "year_label": "986 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "August 17", "text": "August 17 – Battle of the Gates of Trajan: Emperor Basil II leads a Byzantine expeditionary force (30,000 men) against the Bulgarians to capture the fortress city of Sredets. After a siege of 20 days, Basil is forced to retreat from the Sofia Valley towards the town of Ihtiman (through a passage known as the Gate of Trajan). The Bulgarians under Tsar Samuel ambush and defeat the Byzantine forces. Only the elite Varangian Guard escapes with heavy casualties and leads Basil to safety through secondary routes.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1365272436#Byzantine_Empire", "title": "986", "revid": 1365272436, "section": "Events › By place › Byzantine Empire"}}, {"year": 987, "year_label": "987 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "February 7", "text": "February 7 – Bardas Phokas (the Younger) and Bardas Skleros, two members of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II. They overrun Anatolia, and Phokas declares himself Emperor. Basil applies for military assistance from Prince Vladimir the Great, ruler of Kievan Rus', who agrees to help him and sends a Varangian army (6,000 men).", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1364468366#Byzantine_Empire", "title": "987", "revid": 1364468366, "section": "Events › By place › Byzantine Empire"}}, {"year": 988, "year_label": "988 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Fall – Emperor Basil II, supported by a contingent of 6,000 Varangians (the future Varangian Guard), organizes the defences of Constantinople to meet a threat from the insurgents, Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros. Basil crosses the Bosphorus, and leads a surprise attack on the rebel camp of Kalokyros Delphinas, at Chrysopolis. Delphinas is captured and executed, either by crucifixion or by impalement (approximate date).", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1364920019#Byzantine_Empire", "title": "988", "revid": 1364920019, "section": "Events › By place › Byzantine Empire"}}, {"year": 989, "year_label": "989 CE", "section": "Deaths", "date": null, "text": "Emperor Basil II uses his contingent of 6,000 Varangians to help him defeat Bardas Phokas (the Younger), who suffers a seizure during the siege of Abydos (threatening to blockade the Dardanelles). Phokas dies, ending the revolt and threat to Constantinople. Upon Phokas' death, the other rebel leader Bardas Skleros (who is captured and blinded) yields to Basil's superior forces.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1357624689#Byzantine_Empire", "title": "989", "revid": 1357624689, "section": "Events › By place › Byzantine Empire"}}, {"year": 991, "year_label": "991 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Spring: Byzantine Emperor Basil II begins a campaign against the Bulgarians.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1365261005#Events", "title": "991", "revid": 1365261005, "section": "Events"}}, {"year": 992, "year_label": "992 CE", "section": "Exploration & Expansion", "date": null, "text": "Spring – Pietro II Orseolo, doge of Venice, concludes a treaty with Emperor Basil II to transport Byzantine troops, in exchange for commercial privileges in Constantinople. Venetian ships are exempted from customs duties at Abydos (mostly foreign goods are carried on Venetian ships). Venetian merchants in Constantinople are placed directly under the Grand Logothetes (Minister of Finance).", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1364919750#Europe", "title": "992", "revid": 1364919750, "section": "Events › By place › Europe"}}, {"year": 994, "year_label": "994 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "September 15", "text": "September 15 – Battle of the Orontes: Fatimid forces, under Turkish general Manjutakin (also the governor of Damascus), besiege Apamea (modern Syria). Emperor Basil II sends a Byzantine expeditionary army, led by Dux Michael Bourtzes, to relieve the city in alliance with the Hamdanid Dynasty. Manjutakin defeats the Hamdanids with his forces and attacks the Byzantine force in the rear. The Byzantine army panics and flees, losing some 5,000 men in the process.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1350027284#Byzantine_Empire", "title": "994", "revid": 1350027284, "section": "Events › By place › Byzantine Empire"}}, {"year": 995, "year_label": "995 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Basil II launches a counter-campaign against the Fatimid Caliphate. He leads a Byzantine expeditionary army (13,000 men) to aid the Hamdanid emir Sa'id al-Dawla, and crosses Asia Minor in only sixteen days. Basil lifts the siege of Aleppo, and takes over the Orontes Valley. He incorporates Syria into the Byzantine Empire (including the larger city of Antioch) which is the seat of its eponymous Patriarch.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1360634539#Byzantine_Empire", "title": "995", "revid": 1360634539, "section": "Events › Asia › Byzantine Empire"}}, {"year": 1001, "year_label": "1001 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Byzantine Emperor Basil II attempts to reconquer Bulgaria.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1341910152#Europe", "title": "1001", "revid": 1341910152, "section": "Events › By place › Europe"}}, {"year": 1004, "year_label": "1004 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Battle of Skopje: Emperor Basil II defeats the Bulgarian forces near Skopje (modern North Macedonia). Leaving his army behind, Samuel of Bulgaria manages to escape. Basil continues his campaign and besieges the fortress of Pernik. By the end of the year Basil has reconquered about half of the Bulgarian Empire.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1369529611#Byzantine_Empire", "title": "1004", "revid": 1369529611, "section": "Events › By place › Byzantine Empire"}}, {"year": 1014, "year_label": "1014 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Summer – Battle of Thessalonica: Emperor Basil II launches a raiding expedition against Bulgaria. From Western Thrace via Serres he reaches the valley of the Strymon River, near Thessaloniki (modern Greece); the local Byzantine governor Theophylact Botaneiates defeats the Bulgarians.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1342212610#Byzantine_Empire", "title": "1014", "revid": 1342212610, "section": "Events › By place › Byzantine Empire"}}, {"year": 1017, "year_label": "1017 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Winter – Emperor Basil II (\"the Bulgar Slayer\") replaces Leo Tornikios with the new catapan Basil Boioannes and sends him reinforcements (including a detachment of the elite Varangian Guard) from Constantinople.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1342212758#Europe", "title": "1017", "revid": 1342212758, "section": "Events › Europe"}}, {"year": 1018, "year_label": "1018 CE", "section": "Crime & Justice", "date": "August 15", "text": "August 15 – Ivats, Bulgarian nobleman and rebel leader, is treacherously blinded and captured by strategos Eustathios Daphnomeles, ending the last resistance to the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria by Basil II.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1367470608#Europe", "title": "1018", "revid": 1367470608, "section": "Events › By place › Europe"}}, {"year": 1021, "year_label": "1021 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Battle of Shirimni, the Byzantine Empire under Basil II defeats the Kingdom of Georgia under Giorgi I at Shirimni, at the Lake Palakazio, modern Lake Çıldır, Turkey", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1342212958#Asia", "title": "1021", "revid": 1342212958, "section": "Events › By place › Asia"}}, {"year": 1022, "year_label": "1022 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Spring – Battle of Svindax: The Byzantine army under Emperor Basil II defeats the Georgians at Svindax (modern Turkey). King George I is forced to negotiate a peace treaty, ending the Byzantine–Georgian wars.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1342213197#Byzantine_Empire", "title": "1022", "revid": 1342213197, "section": "Events › By place › Byzantine Empire"}}, {"year": 1025, "year_label": "1025 CE", "section": "Deaths", "date": "December 15", "text": "December 15 – Byzantine Emperor Basil II (\"Bulgar Slayer\") dies in Constantinople after a 50-year reign. Never married, he is succeeded by his brother and co-emperor Constantine VIII, who becomes sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire. Constantine calls the Sicilian invasion off. Catapan Basil Boioannes diverts the Byzantine expeditionary force already assembled on Calabria, to join the siege of Capua.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1367042525#Events", "title": "1025", "revid": 1367042525, "section": "Events"}}]}