The greatest emperor of the Middle Byzantine period is Basileios II, the Bulgar slayer. Basileios I (867-886) “the Macedonian” was born in Thrace or Macedonia. As wrestler and strongman, he was noticed by Emperor Michael III and married Eudokia Ingerina, Michael’s former mistress, he was crowned co-emperor  in 865, after killing his rival Bardas, and eventually killed Emperor Michael in his sleep. In this violent way the dynasty of the “Makedonians” came to power, which would give Byzantium a true renaissance. It was the Makedonians who would recapture Greece from the Slavs and Bulgars and who, in a war of attrition, would eventually destroy and incorporate the Bulgarian Empire of Symeon / Samuel. Basileios II, for example, would destroy the Bulgarians in a battle near the river Strymon near the city of Kleidon. He  took 14,000 prisoners of war. He had them divided into groups of 100, after which he had 99 men stick out both eyes from each group and only one eye of the last one. He then sent the entire group back to Ochrid, with each one-eye to guide his 99 blind comrades. When this mighty Bulgarian army entered Ochrid, Samuel suffered a heart attack, which he would not survive. Byzantium had (for the time being) proved the strongest in the battle with Bulgars and Slavs, and Basileios II, who entered Ochrid as victor in 1018, had gathered so many treasures that his relatives and descendants remained in luxury for decades but without any responsebility.

Right: Basileios II and his father Nikephoros II. Despite his proverbial cruelty, Basileios did his best to assimilate the Bulgars as much as possible into the Byzantine Empire. Apart from campaigns against the Bulgars, he fought against the Khazars, recaptured southern Italy and subdued the Serbs. At his death in 1025, an expedition against Sicily was just planned. See also R. Sutcliff, Blood Feud, 1976

Byzantine churches in Greece from the 10th century onwards are usually based on a Greek cross with a central dome. The dome or dome drum (usually with windows) rests directly on the walls of the Greek cross, either on free-standing pilasters or columns (or a combination of these). In most cases the weight of the dome was transferred to the load-bearing elements by means of pendentives, hollow triangles that collect the compressive forces of a quarter circle at one point. The arms of the Greek cross were covered with barrel vaults and the eastern vault has a semi-domed apse. Usually the cross shape was incorporated into a square, creating a square cruciform church (in English: cross-in-square). On the west side, an extension was usually added (narthex) and sometimes a second next to it (exonarthex). In most cases the aisles on the east side were also provided with (much lower) apsides with semi-domed. To underline the importance of the church, the architect could choose to add extra domes, but especially by including elaborate brick decoration (moldings, niches) on the outside. One of the earliest examples is the Theotokos Church in Hosios Loukas. Particularly striking is the decoration of the outer walls, executed in cloisonné technique, in which the rows of natural stones are all horizontally and vertically surrounded with bricks. In between the rows we see a kind of tooth list. Some horizontal bands are decorated (look carefully!) With stylized pseudo-Arabic letters (Kufic script). The “letters” on the church are purely decorative and cannot be read. We see such decorations on many 10th century churches in Greece and are reminiscent of the great Arab mosques in Spain and Portugal. The same Arab influence (possibly from stonemasons who fled Crete) can also be seen in the beautiful marble slabs on the outside of the dome, again with pseudo-Kufic letters. It is clear that Byzantine architecture in that period was strongly influenced by the Arab-Islamic culture.

A very complete program of decoration can be seen in the mosaics of the Katholikon, which are typical of a Middle Byzantine church. The highest positions represent the heavenly spheres. They are reserved for the most sacred of figures or events. In the central dome we find Jesus as Pantokrator (“All-Controller”), who embraces and protects the believers from his high position. The apse is reserved for Mary with the infant Jesus (Platytera) on her lap, while the dome above the apse is decorated with an image of the Easter miracle. The pendentives under the dome depict scenes from the life and death of Christ. The lowest decoration in a Byzantine church is dedicated to several saints, who, as it were, receive the faithful in their midst. The style is generally deliberately anti-classical. The saints are facing the visitor, with wide eyes that invite contact. There is also no background; As a result, we do not have a glimpse into the (daily) life of the saints, they step through the wall into the church and have a glimpse into our life. Together with the icons, these saints are an incentive not to forsake. Finally, in the narthex, the front hall of the church, where the monks gathered at night to pray, and where the death services were also held, we find saints again, but also scenes with the apostles (the washing of the feet, which the monks their duty of service must indicate) and the resurrection from the dead (which is to provide comfort in the death services).