The Legend of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer

by Paul Stephenson

• ISBN13: 9780521158831
• ISBN10: 0521158834
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-11-25
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The reign of Basil II (9761025), the longest of any Byzantine emperor, has long been considered as a 'golden age', in which his greatest achievement was the annexation of Bulgaria. This, we have been told, was achieved through a long and bloody war of attrition which won Basil the grisly epithet Voulgartoktonos, 'the Bulgar-slayer'. In this 2003 study Paul Stephenson argues that neither of these beliefs is true. Instead, Basil fought far more sporadically in the Balkans and his reputation as 'Bulgar-slayer' was created only a century and a half later. Thereafter the 'Bulgar-slayer' was periodically to play a galvanizing role for the Byzantines, returning to centre-stage as Greeks struggled to establish a modern nation state. As Byzantium was embraced as the Greek past by scholars and politicians, the 'Bulgar-slayer' became an icon in the struggle for Macedonia (19041908) and the Balkan Wars (19121913).

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. viii
Preface	p. xi
Annotation and transliteration	p. xiv
List of abbreviations	p. xvi
Basil the Bulgar-slayer: an introduction	p. 1
Basil and Samuel	p. 11
Basil annexes Bulgaria	p. 32
Victory and its representations	p. 49
Basil the younger, prophyrogennetos	p. 66
The origins of a legend	p. 81
Basile après Byzance	p. 97
Basil and the ôMacedonian Questionö	p. 113
Conclusion	p. 135
Bibliography	p. 138
Index	p. 159
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