Basil Lekapenos

[2][3] It is reported that his mother was a slave woman of "Scythian" (possibly implying Slavic) origin,[2] but according to Kathryn Ringrose "this may just be a pejorative topos".

[3][4] Following the deposition of Romanos Lekapenos in December 944, Basil supported Constantine VII when he regained power from Basil's half-brothers Stephen Lekapenos and Constantine Lekapenos in January 945, and was rewarded with senior titles and offices: in his seals and dedicatory inscriptions he is called a basilikos, patrikios, "paradynasteuon of the Senate" (likely a distortion indicating the combined titles of paradynasteuon and protos, "first", of the Senate), as well as megas baioulos (grand preceptor) of Constantine's son and heir, the future Romanos II (r. 959–963).

[2][3] In 958, he led troops to the East to reinforce the general (and future emperor) John Tzimiskes in his campaign against the Arabs: the Byzantines stormed Samosata and inflicted a heavy defeat on a relief army under the Hamdanid emir of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla.

As a result, Basil was allowed to celebrate a triumph in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, where the captives were paraded before the populace of the Byzantine capital.

[3] Upon his accession, Romanos II dismissed him and favoured another official, Joseph Bringas, who assumed Basil's positions of paradynasteuon, protos, and parakoimomenos.

Bringas sought sanctuary in the Hagia Sophia, while Basil mobilized the imperial dromon and other vessels to Chrysopolis, where Phokas awaited with his army.

He also assisted in the retirement of Romanos II's and Phokas' widow, Theophano, and advised Tzimiskes to cement his position by marrying Theodora, a daughter of Constantine VII.

[3] Basil himself took part in the great campaign against the Rus' in Bulgaria in 971, having been entrusted with the reserve forces, the baggage train and the supply arrangements, while Tzimiskes himself with his elite troops marched ahead.

[3][10] During this period, Basil amassed a huge fortune, including entire settlements in the recently conquered southeastern portions of Anatolia.

[13] According to Vitalien Laurent, these items share similar characteristics in their rich and high-quality decoration, and the relatively lengthy verse dedicatory inscriptions that accompany them.

[14] Three manuscripts commissioned by him also survive, all written in high-quality parchment: a collection of Taktika, including his own treatise on naval warfare, now in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan; the homilies of John Chrysostom, in the Dionysiou Monastery of Mount Athos, Greece; and a Gospel with the Pauline epistles preceded by a fine book epigram[permanent dead link‍] dedicated to Basil now in Saint Petersburg.