Basil II is one of the greatest emperors in Roman history. He managed to rule for over 50 years, longer than that of any other emperor. I generally believe that he is the one that represents the apogee of the Byzantine state in the middle ages. In comparison with his successors, none of them were able to match his military successes and his ability to keep the peasantry happy. Yes, I have heard the arguments that he overextended the empire. It is true that he is similar in a sense to Justinian, who also represents the apogee of the Eastern Roman state before the great changes in the 7th century that made the empire more emphasis on Greek culture than Roman culture. However, the empire in 11th century was more culturally unified than that of Justinian’s empire, mainly because of the empire had to consolidate its position after the Arab conquests of the 7th century.
Basil II was a great ruler and my video explains that in a concise manner. Some will say that he started the decline of the empire. My view is that it is more an issue of his successors not being able to consolidate his conquests and the expansion of the theme system.
Byzantine-Empire.com 