ANCIENT BYZANTINE BRONZE COIN BASIL II BULGAROKTONOS (,,THE BULGAR SLAYER")
Obverse: Bust of Christ facing holding book of Gospels
Reverse: Jesus Christ in Ancient Greek letters, Basile inscripted
Dimensions:
10.27 Grams
2.6 cm
Struck 1020-1028 AD.
Constantinople mint
Basil II, byname Basil Bulgaroctonus (Greek: Basil, Slayer of the Bulgars), (born 957/958—died Dec. 15, 1025)
Outstanding Byzantine emperor (976–1025), who extended imperial rule in the Balkans (notably Bulgaria), Mesopotamia, Georgia, and Armenia and increased his domestic authority by attacking the powerful landed interests of the military aristocracy and of the church.
He had one great ambition as an emperor and that was to conquer all Bulgarian lands south of Danube, thus winning in the 3-century long Bulgarian/Byzantine rivalry, in which the Bulgarians prevailed in the majority of the time. His reign between 986 and 1014 AD was a series of victories and losses against the mighty Bulgarian Empire led by Tsar Samuel ,,The Brave". Year by year Basil slowly penetrated into Samuel’s territory, campaigning in winter as well as summer. After the successful Byzantine victory in the famous Battle of Kleidion , Theophylact Botaneiates, the governor of Thessalonika at the time, carried a successful campaign against the Bulgarians in Strumitza, but was killed on his way back by arrows or stones after an ambush from another Bulgarian army.
That angered Basil II tremendously as Theophylact was very close to Basil. Finally, holding northern and central Bulgaria, he advanced toward Samuel’s capital, Ochrida, and won the crushing victory that gave him his byname, “Slayer of the Bulgars.” It was then that he blinded the whole Bulgarian army, leaving one eye to each 100th man, so that the soldiers might be led back to their tsar (who died of shock after witnessing this horrible sig