| |
| 944 |
| |
| Emperor Romanus was seized and imprisoned (d. 948) by the very sons whose interests he had attempted to serve. Emperor Constantine became officially the sole ruler, but governed with the aid of the great general Bardas Phocas, and under the influence of Empress Helena and her favorite, Basil. | 1 |
| |
| 957 |
| |
| Visit to Constantinople and baptism of Princess Olga of Russia. | 2 |
| |
| 961 |
| |
| Reconquest of Crete from the Muslim pirates. A great armada was sent out under Nicephorus Phocas. Candia was stormed, the Muslims expelled from the island or converted to Christianity. | 3 |
| |
| 962 |
| |
| Otto I, Roman emperor in the west, claimed suzerainty over the Lombards in southern Italy, initiating a period of friction with Constantinople, which was only temporarily broken by the marriage of Otto II and the Byzantine princess Theophano (972). | 4 |
| |
| 963–1025 |
| |
| Basil II, an infant at the death of his father. The principle of legitimacy was carefully respected, but before Basil II really assumed power, the empire was governed by two great generals associated with him. | 5 |
| |
| 963–69 |
| |
| Nicephorus II Phocas, who had carried on a successful campaign in the east. He seized control and married the widowed Empress Theophano. Never popular, especially with the clergy, Nicephorus, by his victories in the field, helped to raise the empire to its greatest glory. | 6 |
| |
| 964–68 |
| |
| Victorious campaign in the east. Adana was taken (964) and then Tarsus (965). Cyprus was reconquered, and in 968 northern Syria was invaded. Aleppo and even Antioch fell into the hands of the Greeks. | 7 |
| |
| 966–69 |
| |
| The Bulgarian campaign, carried through with the aid of Sviatoslav and the Russians. The latter, with their fleets, were so successful on the Danube that the Greeks made peace with the Bulgars. | 8 |
| |
| 969 |
| |
| Nicephorus Phocas was overthrown by a conspiracy of officers led by his own nephew, John Tzimisces. | 9 |
| Sviatoslav, the Russian, crossed the Balkan Mountains and took Philippopolis. John Tzimisces marched against him, defeated him near Adrianople, and, with the aid of the Byzantine fleet on the Danube, forced him to evacuate Bulgaria (972). John thereupon annexed eastern Bulgaria as far as the Danube to the empire. The patriarchate of Preslav was abolished. | 10 |
| |
| 969–76 |
| |
| John I Tzimisces, an Armenian by birth and one of the greatest of Byzantine generals. | 11 |
| |
| 971 |
| |
| A great insurrection, led by Bardas Phocas, was put down only with difficulty. | 12 |
| |
| 972–76 |
| |
| Continuation of the campaigns in the east. John took Edessa and Nezib (974), Damascus and Beirut (976), and advanced to the very gates of Jerusalem, where he was halted by the Muslim forces from Egypt. | 13 |
| |
| |
