The New International Encyclopædia/Basil II.

BASIL II. (957–1025). Byzantine Emperor from 976 to 1025. He was the son of Romanus II., and at his fathers death was only two years old. He and his brother Constantine became emperors in 976, but Constantine left the government to Basil, who was obliged to carry on almost incessant wars. He suppressed a formidable revolt in Asia Minor in 979, recovered Calabria and Apulia in Italy, and had several conflicts with the Saracens in Sicily. For many years he waged war against the Bulgarians, whom he finally subdued in 1018. Basil, for this victory, won the surname of Bulgaroctonus, ‘Slayer of Bulgarians.’ His reign of almost half a century was a period of victory and expansion for the Byzantine Empire.