n); Genesius (ed. Bonn); _Vita
Euthymii_, ed. De Boor (Berlin, 1888). Of the Arabic sources Tabari is the
most important.

MODERN WORKS.--Finlay, _History of Greece_, vol. ii. (Oxford, 1877);
Gibbon, _Decline and Fall_, vols. v. and vi. (ed. Bury, London, 1898);
Hergenroether, _Photius, Patriarch von Constantinopel_, vol. ii.
(Regensburg, 1867).

(J. B. B.)

BASIL II. (_c._ 958-1025), known as BULGAROKTONOS (slayer of Bulgarians),
Roman emperor in the East, son of Romanus II. and Theophano,
great-great-grandson of Basil I., was born about 958 and crowned on the
22nd of April 960. After their father's death (963) he and his younger
brother Constantine were nominal emperors during the actual reigns of
Nicephorus Phocas, their stepfather, and John Tzimisces. On the death of
the latter (10th of January 976) they assumed the sovereignty without a
colleague, but throughout their joint reign Constantine exercised no power
and devoted himself chiefly to pleasure. This was in accordance with the
Byzantine principle that in the case of two or more co-regnant _basileis_
only one governed. Basil was a brave soldier and a superb horseman; he was
to approve himself a strong ruler and an able general. He did not at first
display the full extent of his energy. The administration remained in the
hands of the eunuch Basileios (an illegitimate son of Romanus I.),
president of the senate, a wily and gifted man, who hoped that the young
emperors would be his puppets. Basil waited and watched without
interfering, and devoted himself to learning the details of administrative
business and instructing himself in military science. During this time the
throne was seriously endangered by the rebellion of an ambitious general
who aspired to play the part of Nicephorus Phocas or Tzimisces. This was
Bardas [v.03 p.0468] Sclerus, whom the eunuch deposed from his post of
general in the East. He belonged to the powerful landed aristocracy of Asia
Minor, whose pretensions were a perpetual menace to the throne. He made
himself master of the Asiatic provinces and threatened Constantinople. To
oppose him, Bardas Phocas, another general who had revolted in the previous
reign and been interned in a monastery, was recalled. Defeated in two
battles, he was victorious in a third and the revolt was suppressed (979).
Phocas remained general in the East till 987, when he rebelled and was
proclaimed emperor by his troops. It seems that the minister Basileios was