BASIL II and CONSTANTINE VIII. 976-1025 AD. AV Histamenon Nomisma (4.28 gm). Constantinople mint. Struck 977-989 AD. +IhS XIS REX REGNANTInM, nimbate bust of Christ facing, holding Gospels / +bASIL' C COnSTAnTI b R', crowned busts of Basil II and Constantine VIII, holding patriarchal cross between them. DOC III 2a; BN 4; SB 1796. VF, light scratches. $325.
Probably the most militant of the Byzantine emperors, Basil never married, devoting his entire reign to conducting campaigns against Bulgarians, Fatimids, Georgians and the western principalites. At the battle of Kleidon in 1014 he acquired his nickname Bulgar-Slayer (Bulgaroktonos) when he captured and blinded 14,000 Bulgarians. The Bulgarian tsar Samuel died of despair when he saw what had been done to his men.
