Basil II - Later Years

Later Years

Basil II returned in triumph to Constantinople, then promptly went east and attacked the Georgian Kingdom of Tao-Klarjeti, and later secured the annexation of the sub-kingdoms of Armenia (and a promise to have its capital and surrounding regions to be willed to Byzantium following the death of its king Hovhannes-Smbat). In 1021, he also secured the cession of the Kingdom of Vaspurakan by its king, Seneqerim-John, in exchange for estates in Sebasteia. Basil created in those highlands a strongly fortified frontier, which, if his successors had been capable, should have proved an effective barrier against the invasions of the Seljuk Turks.

In the meantime, other Byzantine forces restored much of Southern Italy, lost over the previous 150 years, to the Empire's control. When Basil finally died on 15 December 1025, he was planning a military expedition to recover the island of Sicily.

Basil was to be buried in the last sarcophagus available in the rotunda of Constantine I in the Church of the Holy Apostles. However, he later asked his brother and successor Constantine VIII to be buried in the Church of St. John the Theologian (i.e. the Evangelist), at the Hebdomon Palace complex, outside the walls of Constantinople. The epitaph on the tomb celebrated Basil's campaigns and victories. During the pillage of 1204, Basil's grave was desecrated by the invading Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade.