Basil II and the governance of Empire (976-1025) / Catherine Holmes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Holmes, Catherine, 1968-

Series:

Oxford studies in Byzantium

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Basil II, Emperor of the East, approximately 958-1025.

Basil.

Emperors--Byzantine Empire--Biography.

Emperors.

Byzantine Empire.

Byzantine Empire--History--Basil II Bulgaroctonus, 976-1025.

History.

Scylitzes, John, active 1081. Synopsis historiarum.

Scylitzes, John.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xiii, 625 pages : maps ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2005.

Summary:

This is the first book-length study in English of the Byzantine emperor Basil II, the 'Bulgar-slayer'. Basil presided over a Byzantium which was the superpower of the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East in the century before the Crusades. Catherine Holmes peels away the layers of later interpretations to reveal an empire that was governed by a potent mixture of subtle persuasion and brute force.

Contents:

Basil's reign in modern and medieval historical literature

Basil II and John Skylitzes : the historian's career and working methods

Basil II and the testimony of John Skylitzes : textual analysis

Basil II and the testimony of John Skylitzes : contexts

The revolts of Skleros and Phokas : historiography and the Skleros Manifesto

Administration and Imperial authority on the eastern frontier

Administration and Imperial authority on Byzantium's western frontiers

The reign of Basil II : a reconstruction.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [551]-587) and index.

ISBN:

0199279683

OCLC:

60559913

Publisher Number:

9780199279685 (alk. paper)