{"product_id":"the-legend-of-basil-the-bulgar-slayer","title":"The Legend of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe reign of Basil II (976–1025), the longest of any Byzantine emperor, has long been considered as a 'golden age', in which his greatest achievement was the annexation of Bulgaria. This, we have been told, was achieved through a long and bloody war of attrition which won Basil the grisly epithet Voulgartoktonos, 'the Bulgar-slayer'. In this 2003 study Paul Stephenson argues that neither of these beliefs is true. Instead, Basil fought far more sporadically in the Balkans and his reputation as 'Bulgar-slayer' was created only a century and a half later. Thereafter the 'Bulgar-slayer' was periodically to play a galvanizing role for the Byzantines, returning to centre-stage as Greeks struggled to establish a modern nation state. As Byzantium was embraced as the Greek past by scholars and politicians, the 'Bulgar-slayer' became an icon in the struggle for Macedonia (1904–1908) and the Balkan Wars (1912–1913).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cambridge University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46647021437166,"sku":"9780521158831","price":34.01,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/9612\/7726\/files\/9780521158831.jpg?v=1750163904","url":"https:\/\/bookland.com.au\/products\/the-legend-of-basil-the-bulgar-slayer","provider":"Book Land AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}