Basil Skleros () was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

aristocrat and provincial governor in the early 11th century. Basil was the son of the '' magistros'' Romanos Skleros, a son of the rebel general

Bardas Skleros Bardas Skleros (Greek: Βάρδας Σκληρός) or Sclerus was a Byzantine general who led a wide-scale Asian rebellion against Emperor Basil II during the years 976 to 979. Background Bardas' father Niketas Skleros belonged to the great f ...

who became a close advisor to Emperor

Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus (; 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar Slayer (, ), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 976 to 1025. He and his brother Constantine VIII were crowned before their father Romanos II died in 963, but t ...

().. He married with Pulcheria, a sister of the future emperor

Romanos III Argyros Romanos III Argyros (; Latinized Romanus III Argyrus; 968 – 11 April 1034), or Argyropoulos, was Byzantine Emperor from 1028 until his death in 1034. He was a Byzantine noble and senior official in Constantinople when the dying Constantine ...

(). The couple had a daughter, who already during the reign of Basil II married another future emperor,

Constantine IX Monomachos Constantine IX Monomachos (; 980/ 1000 – 11 January 1055) reigned as Byzantine emperor from June 1042 to January 1055. Empress Zoë Porphyrogenita chose him as a husband and co-emperor in 1042, although he had been exiled for conspiring agai ...

().. Basil himself is first mentioned during the reign of

Constantine VIII Constantine VIII (;Also called Porphyrogenitus (), although the epithet is almost exclusively used for Constantine VII. 960 – 11/12 November 1028) was ''de jure'' Byzantine emperor from 962 until his death. He was the younger son of Empe ...

(), when he held the rank of ''

patrikios The patricians (from ) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after the Conflict of the Orders (494 BC to 287 B ...

''.. During this time, he came into conflict with Presian, the governor of the Bucellarian Theme, that escalated to the point that they exchanged blows. Emperor Constantine banished both men to the

Princes' Islands The Princes' Islands (; the word "princes" is plural, because the name means "Islands of the Princes", , ''Pringiponisia''), officially just Adalar (); alternatively the Princes' Archipelago; is an archipelago off the coast of Istanbul, Turkey, ...

: one of them to the island of Plate, the other to

Oxeia Oxeia () is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. , it had no resident population. It is the chief island in the southern group (the Ouniades) of the Echinades, part of the Ionian Islands. Oxeia possesses the highest point in the Echinades, . It ...

. Skleros was accused of planning to flee, and was blinded as a result; according to

John Skylitzes John Skylitzes, commonly Latinized as Ioannes Scylitzes (, ; , ; early 1040s – after 1101), was a Byzantine historian of the late 11th century. Life Very little is known about his life. The title of his work records him as a '' kouropalat ...

, Presian narrowly escaped the same fate himself, but was released instead. When Romanos III came to the throne, however, Basil was rehabilitated and promoted to ''magistros''. According to one view, he was further promoted to '' vestes'' and given the post of ''

strategos ''Strategos'' (), also known by its Linguistic Latinisation, Latinized form ''strategus'', is a Greek language, Greek term to mean 'military General officer, general'. In the Hellenistic world and in the Byzantine Empire, the term was also use ...

'' of the

Anatolic Theme The Anatolic Theme (, ''Anatolikon hema'), more properly known as the Theme of the Anatolics (Greek: , ''thema Anatolikōn''), was a Byzantine theme (a military-civilian province) in central Asia Minor (modern Turkey). From its establishment, it ...

. At some point, he also appears to have conspired against his brother-in-law, as both he and his wife were banished from

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

by Romanos. The arrogance of Basil Skleros and his relatives, who ruled their estates almost as independent lords, is severely criticized in the '' Peira'' of the contemporary legal scholar

Eustathios Rhomaios Eustathios Rhomaios (; ) was a senior judge and writer on law of the Byzantine Empire. Rhomaios followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, becoming a judge at the imperial court. Over the course of his career, which began in the reign of Emperor ...

References

Sources

* * *{{cite encyclopedia , last=Stouraitis , first=Ioannis , script-title=el:Σκληροί , date=10 October 2003 , encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor , location=Athens , publisher=Foundation of the Hellenic World , language=Greek , url=http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=6151 , accessdate=13 June 2019 10th-century births 11th-century deaths 10th-century Byzantine people 11th-century Byzantine people Byzantine prisoners and detainees

Basil Basil (, ; , ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' (, )), also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a hardiness (plants), tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" r ...

Magistroi Patricii Prisoners and detainees of the Byzantine Empire