04-12-2008, 09:34 PM
Greetings all,
I recently posted a similar thread at another history forum, but did not receive too much feedback. So here I am hoping for a bit more discussion from my RAT homies (prove me right!) :wink:
Last week, I had a conversation with a respected scholar, who will remain anonymous, in the field of Byzantine studies. While digressing from our primary discussion, I mentioned favorite emperors of mine, Basil II among them. Immediately, he stated how Basil was an absolutely horrible leader who completely undermined the economy and more or less destroyed the empire through over expanding the borders.
The question is: Who of you Byzantine guys out there agrees with the above statement? Disagree?
Now in my opinion, the most irresponsible thing Basil did as an emperor was neglecting to leave an heir. Here I do not count his brother Constantine or his nieces Zoe and Theodora. But that has nothing to do with the economy, as far as this thread is concerned.
Basil certainly did expand the borders to a size not known in the empire for centuries, but with what result? There seems to be no correlation between his territorial expansion and bankruptcy; not to mention the armies he used were often rather small considering the army during this period; there are other things I could say here, but for the sake of brevity I will leave it at that for now.
I look forward to your posts.
I recently posted a similar thread at another history forum, but did not receive too much feedback. So here I am hoping for a bit more discussion from my RAT homies (prove me right!) :wink:
Last week, I had a conversation with a respected scholar, who will remain anonymous, in the field of Byzantine studies. While digressing from our primary discussion, I mentioned favorite emperors of mine, Basil II among them. Immediately, he stated how Basil was an absolutely horrible leader who completely undermined the economy and more or less destroyed the empire through over expanding the borders.
The question is: Who of you Byzantine guys out there agrees with the above statement? Disagree?
Now in my opinion, the most irresponsible thing Basil did as an emperor was neglecting to leave an heir. Here I do not count his brother Constantine or his nieces Zoe and Theodora. But that has nothing to do with the economy, as far as this thread is concerned.
Basil certainly did expand the borders to a size not known in the empire for centuries, but with what result? There seems to be no correlation between his territorial expansion and bankruptcy; not to mention the armies he used were often rather small considering the army during this period; there are other things I could say here, but for the sake of brevity I will leave it at that for now.
I look forward to your posts.
John Baker
Justice is the constant and perpetual wish to render to every one his due.
- Institutes, bk. I, ch. I, para. I
Justice is the constant and perpetual wish to render to every one his due.
- Institutes, bk. I, ch. I, para. I
wink:
