Episode 12 - Basil I

Basil I was hardly a promising candidate to usher in a new golden age to the Byzantine Empire. A poor, illiterate Armenian peasant, he was kidnapped by raiding Bulgarians as a boy, and only managed to escape in his mid twenties. Renowned for his great strength and skill with horses, he found work as a stable hand and grew into a violent, ambitious man, whose thirst for power led him to commit two of the foulest murders that even Byzantine history has to offer. And yet, against the odds, his reign was the most successful of the century, and the Macedonian dynasty that he would found, would bring the empire to the height of its power and prestige. Join Lars Brownworth as he looks at the reign of the emperor Basil the Macedonian.

You can listen to Episode 12 - Basil I online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Episode 12 - Basil I is an episode from 12 Byzantine Rulers: The History of The Byzantine Empire by Anders Brownworth.

This episode is 23:02 long.

This episode was published on Dec 2, 2006.

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