Friday, February 7, 2020

Michael --> 1000AD


I was born the son of the chief of our tribe and trained as a Roman military commander alongside my younger brother. Rome preferred to exert indirect influence through client kings which were cheaper than military campaigns. Whenever indirect methods proved insufficient to control the Germanic tribes beyond the Rhine, Roman Emperors led devastating punitive campaigns deep into Germania. I lived in Rome in my youth and received a military education and obtained Roman citizenship as well as the status of petty noble before returning to Germania. I became a chieftain of a Germanic tribe that inhabited parts of the plains and forests of northwestern Germany. I also became an officer in the Roman military. I ended up defeating a Roman army after betraying the Roman general. My influence held an allied coalition of Germanic tribes together in opposition to the Romans. My victory against the Roman legions had a far-reaching effect on the subsequent history of both the ancient Germanic peoples and on the Roman Empire. 

After my victory, Rome chose no longer to rule directly in Germania east of the Rhine and north of the Danube. The Rhine was a more practical boundary than any other river in Germania. Roman armies on the Rhine could be easily supplied from Rome. The Saone flowed directly into the Rhône which flowed directly into the Mediterranean Sea. A brief portage connected to the Saone with the Moselle which flowed directly into the Rhine. 

When I was 22, I assumed command of a Roman auxiliary force while fighting in the Pannonian wars on the Balkan Peninsula. I returned home to northern Germania 4 years later where the Roman Empire had established secure control of the territories just east of the Rhine, and was then seeking to extend its hegemony eastward. I began plotting to unite various Germanic tribes to thwart Roman efforts to incorporate their lands into the empire. 

When I was 25, I reported a rebellion in northern Germany and persuaded the Roman army to put 3 legions under my command to suppress the rebellion. I had them march right into the trap I set for them. My tribe with 4 allied tribes, 5 out of the 50 Germanic tribes, ambushed and annihilated the entire Roman army, totaling over 20,000 men in a battle that lasted 3 days. All future Roman attempts to reconquer Germany failed. I married a princess but she was captured by the Romans while pregnant and our son grew up in Roman captivity. 

When I was 39, I was murdered by opponents within my own tribe who felt that I was becoming too powerful. In the accounts of my Roman enemies, I was highly regarded for my military leadership skills and as a defender of the liberty of my people. 

I was remembered for being a brutal warrior. My victory was so impressive—and so bloody—that it had an incredible long-term effect on both the ancient Germanic tribes and the Roman Empire. The Roman legions would never again attempt to permanently conquer and hold Germania beyond the Rhine River. 2000 years later, my victory has become regarded as Rome's greatest defeat and one of the most decisive battles in history and I have been hailed by German nationalists as a symbol of German unity and freedom. 

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Pedanius Dioscorides (40-90) 
I was a Greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist, the author of "Regarding Medical Materials" a 5-volume encyclopedia about herbal medicine and related medicinal substances - a pharmacopeia that was widely read for more than 1,500 years. 

I practiced in Rome at the time of Nero. I was a surgeon with the army of the emperor, so I had the opportunity to travel extensively, seeking medicinal substances in plants and minerals from all over the Roman and Greek world. 

In contrast to many classical authors, my works were not "rediscovered" in the Renaissance, because my book had never left circulation. My text eclipsed the “Hippocratic Corpus”. In the medieval period, "Regarding Medical Materials" was circulated in Latin, Greek, and Arabic. While being reproduced in manuscript form through the centuries, it was often supplemented with commentary and minor additions from Arabic and Indian sources. A number of illustrated manuscripts survived. The most famous of these is the lavishly illustrated “Vienna Dioscurides”, produced in Constantinople in 513 AD. Densely illustrated Arabic copies survived from the 12th and 13th centuries, while older Greek manuscripts survived in the monasteries of Mount Athos. 

"Regarding Medical Materials" was the prime historical source of information about the medicines used by the Greeks, Romans, and other cultures of antiquity. The work also records the Dacian and Thracian names for some plants, which otherwise would have been lost. The work presents about 600 plants in all, although the descriptions are sometimes obscurely phrased, while some of the botanical identifications of my plants remain merely guesses. "Regarding Medical Materials" formed the core of the European pharmacopeia through the 19th century, suggesting that the timelessness of my work resulted from an empirical tradition based on trial and error; that it worked for generation after generation despite social and cultural changes and changes in medical theory. 

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Galen (129-200) 
I was a prominent Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Many regarded me as the most accomplished of all medical researchers of antiquity. I influenced the development of various scientific disciplines, including anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and neurology, as well as philosophy and logic. 

I was born in Pergamon, Greece. At that time Pergamon was a major cultural and intellectual center, noted for its library second only to that in Alexandria, and attracted both Stoic and Platonic philosophers, to whom I was exposed at age 14. My studies also took in each of the principal philosophical systems of the time, including Aristotelian and Epicurean. My father was a wealthy architect and builder, with interests including philosophy, mathematics, logic, astronomy, agriculture and literature. He was highly amiable, just, good and benevolent. I received a comprehensive education that prepared me for a successful career as a physician and philosopher. I traveled extensively, exposing myself to a wide variety of medical theories and discoveries before settling in Rome, where I served prominent members of Roman society and eventually was given the position of personal physician to several emperors. 

My father had planned a traditional career for me in philosophy or politics and took care to expose me to literary and philosophical influences. However, when I was 16 years old, my father had a dream in which the god Aesculapius appeared and commanded him to send me to study medicine. No expense was spared, and following my earlier liberal education, I began studies at the prestigious local sanctuary dedicated to Asclepius, god of medicine, as an attendant for 4 years. There I came under the influence of very influential men. Asclepiea functioned as spas or sanitoria to which the sick would come to seek the ministrations of the priesthood. Romans frequented the temple at Pergamon in search of medical relief from illness and disease. It was also the haunt of notable people such as Claudius Charax the historian, Aelius Aristides the orator, Polemo, the sophist, and Cuspius Rufinus the Consul. 

When I was 19, my father died, leaving me independently wealthy. I then followed the advice I found in Hippocrates' teaching and traveled and studied widely in many places including the great medical school of Alexandria where I was exposed to the various schools of thought in medicine. At age 28, I returned to Pergamon as physician to the gladiators of the High Priest of Asia, one of the most influential and wealthy men in Asia. The High Priest chose me over other physicians after I disemboweled an ape and challenged other physicians to repair the wounds. When they refused, I performed the surgery myself and in so doing won the favor of the High Priest of Asia. Over my 4 years there I learned the importance of diet, fitness, hygiene and preventive measures, as well as the treatment of fractures and severe trauma, referring to their wounds as "windows into the body". Only 5 deaths among the gladiators occurred while I held the post, compared to 60 in my predecessor's time. I claimed this was because I paid very close and caring attention to their wounds. At the same time I pursued studies in theoretical medicine and philosophy. 

When I was 33 years old, I went to Rome and made my mark as a practicing physician. My impatience brought me into conflict with other doctors and I felt menaced by them. My demonstrations there antagonized the less skilled and more conservative physicians in the city. When my animosity with the Roman medical practitioners became serious, I feared I might be exiled or poisoned, so I left the city. My understanding of anatomy and medicine was principally influenced by the then-current theory of humorism, also known as the 4 humors – black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm. This method of medicine was advanced by ancient Greek physicians such as Hippocrates and the theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for more than 1,300 years. 

I believed in the Aristotelian doctrine that, in Nature, form follows function. If we want to understand the function of an organ, tissue or body part, we must first study its form. That's why I considered anatomy to be so important. In pharmacology, I developed a system which enabled physicians and pharmacists to gauge more precisely the effects of a medicinal substance. In the preparation of medicines, I considered increased quantity to be a poor substitute for poor quality of the ingredients. I personally visited the exotic locales where many key ingredients of my medicinal formulas were produced to better understand matters of quality. My most famous medicinal formula was Theriac, a herbal jam with some 64 different ingredients that was a virtual panacea or cure-all for many diseases, and an antidote to many poisons. Theriac's use and manufacture continued until the late 19th century. I was also an expert on the pulse; many consider me to be the originator of pulse diagnosis. I discovered that arteries are filled with blood rather than the vague life providing air inhaled into the body called pneuma. I knew that the heart pumped the blood, but I never quite figured out how the blood circulated throughout the entire body. I was a firm believer in the healing and diagnostic power of dreams. I even wrote a treatise on the medical interpretation of dreams. I considered the profit motive and the love of money to be the worst reasons for becoming a physician. 

I saw myself as both a physician and a philosopher, as I wrote in my treatise entitled “That the Best Physician is also a Philosopher”. I was very interested in the debate between the rationalist and empiricist medical sects, and my use of direct observation, dissection and vivisection represented a complex middle ground between the extremes of those 2 viewpoints. Many of my works have been preserved and translated from the original Greek, although many were destroyed and some credited to me are believed to be spurious. In Medieval Europe, my writings on anatomy became the mainstay of the medieval physician's university curriculum; but they suffered greatly from stasis and intellectual stagnation. Some of my ideas were incorrect as it was not allowed to dissect a human body. My original Greek texts gained renewed prominence during the early modern period. In the 1530s, Belgian anatomist and physician Andreas Vesalius took on a project to translate many of my Greek texts into Latin. Vesalius's most famous work was greatly influenced by my writing and form. 

My principal interest was in human anatomy, but Roman law had prohibited the dissection of human cadavers since about 150 BC. Because of this restriction, I performed anatomical dissections on living and dead animals, mostly focusing on pigs and primates. This work was useful because I believed that the anatomical structures of these animals closely mirrored those of humans. I clarified the anatomy of the trachea and was the first to demonstrate that the larynx generates the voice. In one experiment, I used bellows to inflate the lungs of a dead animal. My work on the anatomy remained largely unsurpassed and unchallenged up until the 16th century in Europe. In the middle of the 16th century, the anatomist Andreas Vesalius challenged my knowledge of anatomy by conducting dissections on human cadavers. These investigations allowed Vesalius to refute aspects of my descriptions of anatomy. 

My anatomical reports, based mainly on dissection of monkeys and pigs, remained uncontested until 1543, when printed descriptions and illustrations of human dissections were published. My theory of the physiology of the circulatory system endured until 1628, when William Harvey established that blood circulates, with the heart acting as a pump. Medical students continued to study my writings until well into the 19th century. I conducted many experiments that supported the theory that the brain controls all the motions of the muscles by means of the cranial and peripheral nervous systems. 

Rome engaged in foreign wars in 161. When Roman troops were returning 8 years later, a great plague broke out, and the emperor summoned me back to Rome. I was ordered to accompany Marcus Aurelius to Germany as the court physician. The following spring I was release from duty and became the physician to the imperial heir Commodus. It was there in court that I wrote extensively on medical subjects. I was the physician to Commodus for much of the emperor’s life and treated his common illnesses. 20 years after the first plague, there was a pestilence which at its height killed 2,000 people a day in Rome. I became physician to Septimius Severus during his reign in Rome. 

The first plague became to be known as “the Plague of Galen” and held an important place in medicinal history because of its association with me. I had first-hand knowledge of the disease, and was present in Rome when it first struck. I had experience with the epidemic, referring to it as very long lasting, and described its symptoms and my treatment of it. I was not trying to present a description of the disease so that it could be recognized in future generations; but I was more interested in the treatment and physical effects of the disease. For example, in my writings about a young man afflicted with the plague, I concentrated on the treatment of internal and external ulcerations. This pestilence raged with incredible fury and carried off innumerable victims. The ancient world never recovered from the blow inflicted by the plague. The mortality rate of the plague was 7–10% and caused approximately 3.5 to 5 million deaths. Over half the population of the empire perished. The plague probably caused more deaths than any other epidemic during the empire before the mid-3rd century. About 2000 years later, the plague was identified using my description of it as smallpox, a very infectious viral disease. 

I noted that the rash covered the victim’s entire body and was usually black, and became rough and scabby where there was no ulceration. Those that were going to survive developed a black scab. I argued that it was black because of a remnant of blood putrefied in a fever blister that was pustular. Raised blisters were present usually in the form of a blistery rash. I described symptoms of the alimentary tract via a patient’s diarrhea and stools. If the stool was very black, the patient died. I claimed that the amount of black stools varied, depending on the severity of the intestinal lesions. I observed that in cases where the stool was not black, the black rash appeared. I described the symptoms of fever, vomiting, fetid breath, catarrh, cough, and ulceration of the larynx and trachea. 

Some Roman physicians criticized me for my use of the prognosis in my treatment as this practice conflicted with the then-current standard of care, which relied upon divination and mysticism. I defended my own methods arguing that in order to diagnose, one must observe and reason. I was warned that engaging in conflict with these physicians could lead to my assassination. 

I argued my use of prognosis by stating that we have to distinguishing between the diagnostic judgment -the scientific knowledge of what a patient has- and the prognostic judgment - the conjecture about what will happen to him. To understand a clinical case technically, -to diagnose, was, among other things, to know with greater or lesser certainty the outcome for the patient to prognosticate. Prognosis, then, was one of the essential problems and most important objectives of my diagnosis. I was concerned to distinguish diagnosis or prognosis from divination or prophecy. I used prognosis both to improve diagnosis technically and to enhance my reputation as a capable physician. 

I contributed a substantial amount to the Hippocratic understanding of pathology. Under Hippocrates’ bodily humors theory, differences in human moods come as a consequence of imbalances in one of the 4 bodily fluids: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. I promoted this theory and the typology of human temperaments. An imbalance of each humor corresponded with a particular human temperament (blood—sanguine, black bile—melancholic, yellow bile—choleric, and phlegm—phlegmatic). 
  • Individuals with sanguine temperaments are extroverted and social. 
  • Melancholics are creative, kind, and considerate. 
  • Choleric people have energy, passion, and charisma. 
  • Phlegmatic temperaments are characterized by dependability, kindness, and affection. 
Among my major contributions to medicine was my work on the circulatory system. I was the first to recognize that there are distinct differences between venous (dark) and arterial (bright) blood. Although my anatomical experiments on animal models led me to a more complete understanding of the circulatory system, nervous system, respiratory system, and other structures, my work contained scientific errors. I believed the circulatory system to consist of 2 separate one-way systems of distribution, rather than a single unified system of circulation. I believed venous blood to be generated in the liver, from where it was distributed and consumed by all organs of the body. I posited that arterial blood originated in the heart, from where it was distributed and consumed by all organs of the body. The blood was then regenerated in either the liver or the heart, completing the cycle. 

I explained the difference between motor and sensory nerves, discussed the concept of muscle tone, and explained the difference between agonist muscles that cause a movement to occur through their own contraction and antagonist muscles that oppose a specific movement. 

I was a skilled surgeon, operating on human patients. Many of my procedures and techniques would not be used again for centuries, such as the procedures I performed on brains and eyes. To correct cataracts in patients, I performed an operation similar to those preformed nearly 2,000 years later. Using a needle-shaped instrument, I attempted to remove the cataract-affected lens of the eye. 

I promoted Hippocratic teaching, including bloodletting, then unknown in Rome and was sharply criticized for it. Although the main focus of my work was on medicine, anatomy, and physiology, I also wrote about logic and philosophy. My writings were influenced by earlier Greek and Roman thinkers, including Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. I was concerned to combine philosophical thought with medical practice, as in my brief work “That the Best Physician is also a Philosopher”. I took aspects from each group and combined them with my original thought. I regarded medicine as an interdisciplinary field that was best practiced by utilizing theory, observation, and experimentation in conjunction. 

Several schools of thought existed within the medical field during my lifetime, the Empiricists, the Rationalists (also called Dogmatists or Philosophers), and the Methodists. The Empiricists emphasized the importance of physical practice and experimentation, or active learning in the medical discipline. In direct opposition to the Empiricists were the Rationalists, who valued the study of established teachings in order to create new theories in the name of medical advancements. The Methodists formed somewhat of a middle ground, as they were not as experimental as the Empiricists, nor as theoretical as the Rationalists. The Methodists mainly utilized pure observation, showing greater interest in studying the natural course of ailments than making efforts to find remedies. 

Some scholars reference me as a Platonist. I didn't agree with this claim because I was primarily a scientist and all of my claims could be supported by scientific evidence, while Plato was purely a philosopher. I developed a theory which was connected to liquids in the body and I believed that there was a physiological basis for mental disorders. The Stoics, failed to give a credible answer for the localization of functions of the psyche, or the mind. They claimed it would be found in the heart. In one of my major works, “On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato”, I developed a tripartite soul, referring to the 3 parts as rational, spiritual, and appetitive – that which desires gratification. 

Each corresponded to a localized area of the body. The rational soul was in the brain, the spiritual soul was in the heart, and the appetitive soul was in the liver. I was the first scientist and philosopher to assign specific parts of the soul to locations in the body because of my extensive background in medicine. This idea is now referred to as localization of function. My assignments were revolutionary for the time period, which set the precedent for future localization theories. I believed each part of this tripartite soul controlled specific functions within the body and that the soul, as a whole, contributed to the health of the body, strengthening the natural functioning capacity of the organ or organs in question. 

The rational soul controlled higher level cognitive functioning in an organism, for example, making choices or perceiving the world and sending those signals to the brain. Imagination, memory, recollection, knowledge, thought, consideration, voluntary motion and sensation were found there. 

The spirited soul contained our passions, such as anger. These passions were considered to be even stronger than regular emotions, and, as a consequence, more dangerous. The functions of growing or being alive resided there. 

The appetitive soul controlled the living forces in our body, most importantly blood. It regulated the pleasures of the body and was moved by feelings of enjoyment. This was the animalistic, or more natural, side of the soul. It dealt with the natural urges of the body and survival instincts. 

I believed there to be no distinction between the mental and the physical. This was a controversial argument of the mind–body problem, and I fell with the Greeks in believing that the mind and body were not separate faculties. I also believed that this could be scientifically proven. I proposed organs within the body to be responsible for specific functions, rather than individual parts. 

I proposed that when the soul is moved by too much enjoyment, it reaches states of incontinence and licentiousness, the inability to willfully cease enjoyment, which was a negative consequence of too much pleasure. In order to unite my theories about the soul and how it operated within the body, I adapted the theory of the pneuma, or vital energy, which I used to explain how the soul operated within its assigned organs, and how those organs, in turn, interacted together. I distinguished the vital pneuma, in the arterial system, from the psychic pneuma, in the brain and nervous system. I placed the vital pneuma in the heart and the psychic pneuma within the brain. 

I conducted many anatomical studies on animals, most famously an ox, to study the transition from vital to psychic pneuma. Although I was highly criticized for comparing animal anatomy to human anatomy, I was convinced that my knowledge was abundant enough in both anatomies to base one off of the other. 

Another one of my major works, “On the Diagnosis and Cure of the Soul’s Passion”, contained how to approach and treat psychological problems. This was my early attempt at psychotherapy. My book contained directions on how to use what I called “talk therapy", or psychotherapy, to prompt an individual to reveal their deepest passions and secrets, and eventually cure them of their mental deficiency. The therapist, had to be a male, preferably of an older, wiser, age, as well as free from the control of the passions. I claimed that these passions caused the psychological problems that people experienced. 

I wrote more books than any author in antiquity. I employed 20 scribes to write down my words. I wrote as many as 500 treatises, amounting to some 10 million words, although less than a third of it has survived. When I was 62 years old, a fire in the Temple of Peace destroyed many of my works, including my treatises on philosophy. Because my works were not translated into Latin in the ancient period, and because of the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, my theories, along with the Greek medical tradition as a whole, went into decline in Western Europe during the Early Middle Ages, when very few Latin scholars could read Greek. However, in general, my theories and the ancient Greek medical tradition continued to be studied and followed in the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly known as the Byzantine Empire. All of my Greek manuscripts were copied by Byzantine scholars. In the Abbasid period after 750, Arab Muslims began to be interested in Greek scientific and medical texts for the first time, and had some of my texts translated into Arabic, often by Syrian Christian scholars. 

As a result, some of my texts existed only in Arabic translation, while others existed only in Medieval Latin translations of the Arabic. In some cases scholars have even attempted to translate from the Latin or Arabic back into Greek where the original was lost. For some of the ancient sources, such as Herophilius, my account of their work was all that survived. Herophilius was born in Greece about 500 years before me and was the first physician to systematically perform scientific dissections of human cadavers. He recorded his findings in over 9 works, which were all lost. 

Forgeries and unscrupulous editions of my work were a problem. Forgeries in Latin, Arabic or Greek continued until the Renaissance. Some of my treatises have appeared under many different titles over the years. No single authoritative collection of my work survived. 

My reputation as both physician and philosopher was legendary in my own lifetime. I continued to exert an important influence over the theory and practice of medicine until the mid-17th century in the Byzantine and Arabic worlds and Europe. Hippocrates and I formed important landmarks of 600 years of Greek medicine. It was said that Hippocrates sowed and I reaped. 

I summarized and synthesized the work of my predecessors, and it is in my words that Greek medicine was handed down to subsequent generations, and made known to the world. Yet the full importance of my contributions was not appreciated till long after my death. My rhetoric and prolificacy were so powerful as to convey the impression that there was little left to learn. My works so dominated subsequent thinking as to stifle further progress. 

After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, study of my works and other Greek works almost disappeared in the Latin West. In contrast, in the predominantly Greek-speaking eastern half of the Roman Empire (Byzantium), many of my works were preserved and disseminated by Oribasius, born 100 years after I died. He was a Greek medical writer and physician to the emperor Julian. He compiled a synopsis of my works. In late antiquity, medical writing veered increasingly in the direction of the theoretical at the expense of the practical, with many authors merely debating my theories. Greek medicine was part of Greek culture, and Syrian Eastern Christians came in contact with it while the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) ruled Syria and Western Mesopotamia, regions that were conquered from Byzantium in the 7th century by Arab Muslims. After 750, Muslims had Syrian Christians translate my works into Arabic. From then on, I and the Greek medical tradition in general became assimilated into the medieval and early modern Islamic Middle East. 

My approach to medicine became and for the past 1000 years has remained influential in the Islamic world. The Renaissance and fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 was accompanied by an influx of Greek scholars and manuscripts to the West, allowing direct comparison between the Arabic commentaries and my original Greek texts. By 1523, this New Learning and the Humanist movement, particularly the work of Linacre, promoted my works in the Latin scientific medicinal literature. Debates on medical science had two traditions, the more conservative Arabian and the liberal Greek. The more extreme liberal movements began to challenge the role of authority in medicine, as exemplified by Paracelsus' symbolically burning my works and the works of Avicenna at his medical school in Basel, Switzerland. 

In the 1530s, the Flemish anatomist and physician Andreas Vesalius took on a project to translate many of my Greek texts into Latin. Vesalius' most famous work was greatly influenced by my writing and form. Seeking to examine critically my methods and outlook, Vesalius turned to human cadaver dissection as a means of verification. My writings were shown by Vesalius to describe details present in monkeys but not in humans, and he demonstrated my limitations through books and hands-on demonstrations despite fierce opposition from some like Jacobus Sylvius who died in 1555. He was a French anatomist and the first to describe venous valves. 

Since human dissection was prohibited, I was using observations of monkeys to give an account of what the body looks like. Vesalius could portray himself as using my approach of description of direct observation to create a record of the exact details of the human body, since he worked in a time when human dissection was allowed. I argued that monkey anatomy was close enough to humans for physicians to learn anatomy with monkey dissections and then make observations of similar structures in the wounds of their patients, rather than trying to learn anatomy only from wounds in human patients, as would be done by students trained by the Empiricist medical sect would. 

The examinations of Vesalius also disproved medical theories of Aristotle and Mondino de Liuzzi. One of the best known examples of Vesalius' overturning of my teachings was his demonstration that the interventricular septum of the heart was not permeable, as I had taught. This had been revealed 2 years before Vesalius` claim by Michael Servetus in 1553 with only 3 copies of the book surviving which remained hidden for decades. The rest were burned shortly after its publication because of persecution of Servetus by religious authorities. Michael Servetus, using the name "Michel de Villeneuve" during his stay in France, was Vesalius' fellow student and one of my greatest followers at the University of Paris. 

Another convincing case where understanding of the body was extended beyond where I had left it came from these demonstrations of the nature of human circulation and the subsequent work of Andrea Cesalpino, Fabricio of Acquapendente and William Harvey. Some of my teachings such as my emphasis on bloodletting as a remedy for many ailments, however, remained influential until well into the 19th century. 

I died in Rome when I was 70 years old. 

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Alaric I (375-410) 
I was born on an island at the mouth of the Danube Delta in Romania to the noble family of the Goths and became the first King of the Visigoths. I became to be best known for my sacking of Rome in 410 which marked the decline of the Roman Empire. 

When I was still a child, the Goths suffered setbacks against the Huns and made a mass migration across the Danube, and fought a war with Rome. To spare the provincial populations from excessive taxation and to save money, emperors began to employ units recruited from Germanic tribes. The largest of these contingents was that of the Goths, who had been allowed to settle within the imperial boundaries, keeping a large degree of autonomy. 

I began my career as a leader of a mixed band of Goths and allied peoples who invaded Thrace in 391 and were stopped by the Romans. I marched toward Constantinople until I was diverted by Roman forces. I then moved southward into Greece, where I sacked the port of Athens and destroyed many Greek cities including Corinth and Sparta, selling many of their inhabitants into slavery. As a response, the Eastern emperor Flavius Arcadius appointed me as "master of the soldiers" in Illyricum. 

In 394, when I was 19, I led a Gothic force of 20,000 that helped the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius defeat the Franks. There I learned the weakness of Italy's natural defenses on its northeastern frontier at the head of the Adriatic Sea. Despite sacrificing around 10,000 of my men, I received little recognition from the Emperor. A year later, Theodosius died, leaving the Empire to be divided between his 2 sons Arcadius and Honorius, the former taking the eastern and the latter the western portion of the Empire. Arcadius showed little interest in ruling. Honorius was still a minor. As his guardian, Theodosius had appointed Stilicho who also claimed to be the guardian of Arcadius. This caused much rivalry between the western and eastern courts. 

During the shifting of offices that took place at the beginning of the new reigns, I apparently hoped to be promoted from a mere commander to the rank of general in one of the regular armies. I was denied the promotion, however. Among the Visigoths settled in Bulgaria and Romania, the situation was ripe for rebellion. They had suffered disproportionately great losses. According to rumor, exposing the Visigoths in battle was a convenient way of weakening the Gothic tribes. This, combined with their post-battle rewards, prompted them to raise me on a shield and proclaim me king. 

In 401, I invaded Italy. I was fascinated by the 'golden age' of Rome. My wife was reportedly taken prisoner after this battle. My troops were hampered by the presence of large numbers of women and children, which gave the invasion of Italy the character of a human migration. The Western Emperor Honorius incited the Roman population to massacre tens of thousands of wives and children of Goths who flooded into Italy and who served in the Roman military. Subsequently, around 30,000 Gothic soldiers defected to me and joined my march on Rome to avenge their murdered families. 

Moving swiftly along Roman roads, I sacked cities along the way and ravaged the lands along the Adriatic Sea. I relied on hunger as my most powerful weapon. The Senate tried to intimidate me with hints of how the despairing staving citizens would react; I just laughed and told him "The thicker the hay, the easier mowed!" I seized Rome in 408. After much bargaining, the famine-stricken citizens agreed to pay over 2,000kg of gold and 13,000kg of silver and 40,000 freed Gothic slaves. Honorius, however, refused to appoint me as the commander of the Western Roman Army. A year later I again surrounded Rome a second time and proclaimed Attalus as Western Emperor. Attalus appointed me "master of both services" but refused to allow me to send an army into Africa. 

Throughout my career, my primary goal was not to undermine the Empire, but to secure for myself a regular and recognized position within the Empire's borders. My demands were certainly grand: the concession of a block of territory 300km long by 250km wide between the Danube and the Gulf of Venice and the title of commander-in-chief of the Imperial Army. Immense as my terms were, the emperor would have been well advised to grant them. 

A year later I surrounded Rome a third time and Rome once more found itself at the mercy of its foreign conquerors. Negotiations with Honorius broke down, and I deposed Attalus. Allies within the capital opened the gates for me and for 3 days my troops sacked the city. Although I plundered Rome, I treated its inhabitants humanely and burned only a few buildings. I showed great clemency: Christian churches were saved from ravage and vast multitudes both of pagans and Christians who took refuge inside were spared. But despite my clemency, Rome was not entirely spared the horrors which usually accompany the storming of a besieged city and there were extensive destruction of many buildings because of the fires that resulted. The pagan emperors' tombs were plundered and the ashes scattered. 

Following the sack of Rome, I led my troops south. I intended to provision my army with Rome’s personal breadbasket and invade Africa, which, thanks to its grain, had become the key to holding Italy. But a storm battered my ships into pieces and many of my soldiers drowned. 

I died soon after of fever, and my body was, buried under the riverbed in accordance with the pagan practices of the Visigothic people. The stream was temporarily turned aside from its course while the grave was dug wherein my body and some of my most precious spoils were interred. When the work was finished, the river was turned back into its usual channel and the captives by whose hands the labor had been accomplished were put to death that none might learn their secret. Only Mother Nature could defeat Alaric the Barbarian. I was succeeded in the command of the Gothic army by my brother-in-law who married Honorius' sister 3 years later. 

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Benedict of Nursia (480-543) 
I was born to become a Christian saint, venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Catholic Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Communion and Old Catholic Churches. I became the patron saint of Europe and the patron saint of students. 

I founded 12 communities for monks in Italy near Rome, before moving to Monte Cassino in the mountains of southern Italy. The Order of Saint Benedict is of later origin and, moreover, not an "order" as commonly understood but merely a confederation of autonomous congregations. My main achievement was my Rules for my monks - a unique spirit of balance, moderation and reasonableness and this persuaded most religious communities founded throughout the Middle Ages to adopt it. As a result, my Rules became one of the most influential religious rules in Western Christendom. For this reason, I was called the founder of western monasticism. Pope Gregory I, who wrote about me 43 years after I died, explained that his information came from what he considered the best sources: a handful of my disciples who lived with me and witnessed my various miracles. 

I was born the son of a Roman noble. When I was 20 years old, I abandonment my studies and left home. My companions and I lived a licentious life. I fell madly in love with a promiscuous woman. I was at the beginning of my life, and had at my disposal the means to a career as a Roman noble. I did not leave Rome for the purpose of becoming a hermit, but only to get away from the life of the great city. I took my nurse with me as a servant and we settled down to live in the mountains, about 65km from Rome. 

A short distance from where we settled down was the entrance to a narrow, gloomy valley, penetrating the mountains. The path continued to ascend, and the side of the ravine, on which it ran, became steeper until a cave was reached above which the mountain rose almost perpendicularly. On the right, it rapidly descended down to where 150m below, lay the blue waters of the lake. The cave had a large triangular-shaped opening and was about 3m deep. On my way, I met a monk whose monastery was on the mountain above the cliff overhanging the cave. He discussed with me the purpose which had brought me there and gave me clothes made of rough cloth that monks wore. By his advice I became a hermit and for 3 years, I lived all alone in that cave above the lake. One day, the Devil brought before my imagination a beautiful woman I had formerly known, inflaming my heart with strong desire for her. Immediately, I stripped off my clothes and rolled into a thorn-bush until my body was lacerated. Thus, through the wounds of my body, I cured the wounds of my soul. 

The monk living above my cave served me in every way he could and visited me frequently and regularly brought me food. During these 3 years of solitude, broken only by occasional communications with the outer world and by his visits, I matured both in mind and character, in knowledge of myself and of my fellow-man. I became so much respected that when the abbot of a monastery in the neighborhood died, the community came to me and begged me to become their abbot. They eventually convinced me to accept their offer and I took on the position as their abbot. I made rules on how to lead a Christ- centric and insisted the rules to be followed. The experiment failed. The monks tried to poison me. They first tried to poison my drink. I prayed a blessing over the cup and the cup shattered. I left the group and went back to my cave. 

There lived in the neighborhood a priest who, moved by envy, tried to ruin me. He tried to poison me with poisoned bread. When he prayed a blessing over the bread, a raven swept in and took the loaf away. The attempts to kill me became more frequent, and fortunately for me, so did the miracles that kept on saving me. Many people, attracted by my sanctity and character, came under my guidance. Having failed by sending me poisonous bread, the priest tried to seduce my monks with some prostitutes. To avoid further temptations, in 530 AD when I was already 50 years old, I finally had enough and left. I founded 12 monasteries in the vicinity and eventually I founded the great Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, which lies on a hilltop between Rome and Naples. 

73 short chapters comprised my “Rules”. Its wisdom was of 2 kinds: spiritual - how to live a Christ-centric life on earth, and administrative - how to run a monastery efficiently. More than half the chapters described how to be obedient and humble, and what to do when a member of the community was not. One-tenth outlined how, and by whom, the monastery was to be managed. 

Following my golden rule of “pray and work”, the monks devoted 8 hours each day to prayer, 8 hours to sleep, and 8 hours to manual work, sacred reading, or works of charity. I contributed more than anyone else to the rise of monasticism in the West. My Rules were the foundational document for thousands of religious communities in the Middle Ages. 

I died at Monte Cassino when I was 63 years old of a high fever on the day God told me I was to die. 1400 years after my death, I was named patron protector of Europe by Pope Paul VI. Shortly after that, Pope John Paul II declared me co-patron of Europe, together with Saints Cyril and Methodius. 

400 years after I died, my order experienced a severe decline. Because of my Rules emphasizing prayer and work, Benedictine monks were often exploited by the aristocrats who established Benedictine churches, monasteries, and convents that they then considered as family property, forcing monks to work for them instead of working to care for the poor. 

The Cluny reform was an attempt to remedy these practices in the hope to restore the traditional monastic life focused on prayer, silence, and solitude and in caring for the poor. The movement began within the Benedictine order at Cluny in 910. It became one of the largest religious forces in Europe with more than 1000 monasteries promoting pilgrimages to the Holy Lands and marked with the “Cluny” brand. More than 1,400 years after its writing, my “Rules” were the most common and influential rules used by monasteries and monks. My influence produced a true spiritual ferment in Europe, and over the coming decades my followers spread across the continent to establish a new cultural unity based on Christian faith. 

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Roland (738-778) 
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I was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who was my nephew. I became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France, also known as the Carolingian cycle. It is a body of literature and legendary material associated with the history of France, in particular involving Charlemagne and his associates. I was the first official appointed to direct Frankish policy in Breton affairs, as local Franks under the Merovingian dynasty had not previously pursued any specific relationship with the Bretons. I was military governor responsible for defending France's frontier against the Bretons. I was part of the Frankish rearguard killed by rebellious Basques in Spain. The story of my death was embellished in later medieval and Renaissance literature. I became the chief of the Twelve Peers, warriors of Charlemagne's court who represented Christian valor against the Muslim hordes inside Europe. 

I accompanied Charlemagne's march into Spain. His army passed through the Pyrenees and Charlemagne received the surrender of all the towns and fortified places he encountered. He was returning to France with his army safe and intact, but high in the Pyrenees on that return trip he briefly experienced the Basques. That place was so thoroughly covered with thick forest that it was the perfect spot for an ambush. Charlemagne`s army was forced by the narrow terrain to proceed in a long line and there, high on the mountain, the Basques set their ambush. The Basques had the advantage in this skirmish because of the lightness of their weapons and the nature of the terrain, whereas we Franks were disadvantaged by the heaviness of our arms and the unevenness of the land. Many of us including me were killed in a pass in the Pyrenees when Basques cut off the rear guard of our army returning from its invasion of Spain. 

I was laid to rest in the basilica near Bordeaux, on the site of the citadel. Over the centuries, I became a symbol representing freedom. I gave my life fighting for France`s freedom – from the Britons as well as from the Muslims. 

More than 1000 years after my death, a statue of me was erected in the city of Rolandia in Brazil. The city was established by German immigrants, many of whom were refugees from Nazi Germany, who named their new home after me to represent freedom. 

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Basil I, the Macedonian (811-886) 
I was born a simple peasant in Macedonia, and became a Byzantine Emperor. I rose in the Imperial court, and usurped the Imperial throne from Emperor Michael III. Despite my humble origins, I showed great ability in running the affairs of state, leading to a revival of Imperial power and a renaissance of Byzantine art. I was perceived by the Byzantines as one of their greatest emperors, and the Macedonian dynasty, which I founded, ruled over what is regarded as the most glorious and prosperous era of the Byzantine Empire. 

I spent a part of my childhood in captivity in Bulgaria, where my family had been carried off as captives of the Khan Krum in 813. I lived there until I was 25, when I and several others escaped to Byzantine-held territory in Thrace. By luck, I entered the service of Theophilitzes, a relative of Caesar Bardas who was the uncle of Emperor Michael III. While serving Theophilitzes, I gained the favor of a wealthy woman who took me into her household and endowed me with a fortune. I also earned the notice of Michael III because of my abilities as a horse tamer and because of winning a championship wrestling match. I soon became the Byzantine Emperor's companion, confidant, and bodyguard. 

When I was 54 years old, the emperor ordered me to divorce my wife and marry his favorite mistress. During an expedition against the Arabs, I convinced him that his uncle Bardas coveted the Byzantine throne, and subsequently I murdered Bardas, with the emperor's approval of course. I then became the leading personality at court and eventually was crowned co-emperor one year later. The emperor adopted me as his son. My own son and successor, Leo VI, whom I despised, was really the blood son of Michael III. 

When Michael III started to favor another courtier and offered him the Imperial title, I decided that my position was being undermined and began to organize his assassination. One evening when both were insensibly drunk, my father, brother, cousin and I gained entry to their chamber and killed them both. As an already acclaimed co-emperor, I automatically became the emperor. I inaugurated a new age in the history of the Byzantine Empire, associated with the dynasty which I founded, the so-called "Macedonian dynasty". This dynasty oversaw a period of territorial expansion, during which Byzantium was the strongest power in Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. 

It is remarkable that I became an effective and respected monarch, ruling for 19 years, despite being a man with no formal education and little military or administrative experience. Moreover, I had been the companion of a degenerate monarch and had achieved power through a series of calculated murders. That there was little political reaction to the murder of Michael III was probably due to his unpopularity with the bureaucrats of Constantinople because of his disinterest in the administrative duties of the Imperial office. Also, Michael's public displays of impiety had alienated the Byzantine populace in general. Once in power I soon showed that I intended to rule effectively and as early as my coronation, I displayed an overt religiosity by formally dedicating my crown to Christ. I maintained a reputation for conventional piety and orthodoxy throughout my reign. To secure my family on the throne, I raised my eldest son Constantine and my second son Leo to the position of co-emperor. 

Because of the great legislative work which I undertook, I was called the "second Justinian." My laws consisted of 60 books. Leo VI was responsible for completing these legal works which remained the law of the Byzantine Empire until its conquest by the Ottomans. Ironically, this codification of laws began under the direction of Caesar Bardas who I murdered. My financial administration was prudent. Consciously desiring to emulate Emperor Justinian I, who ruled 300 years before; I initiated an extensive building program in Constantinople, crowned by the construction of the Nea Ekklesia cathedral. 

My ecclesiastical policy was marked by good relations with Rome. However, I had no intention of yielding to Rome beyond a certain point and during my reign there was a virtual, though not a formal, breach with Rome. This was a watershed event in conflicts that led to the Great Schism that ultimately produced the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church as separate ecclesiastical entities. 

I was the first Byzantine emperor since Constans II who reigned 200 years before to pursue an active policy to restore the Empire's power in the West. I allied with Holy Roman Emperor against the Arabs and sent a fleet of 139 ships to clear the Adriatic Sea of their raids. With Byzantine help, The Byzantines were beginning to establish a strong presence in the Mediterranean Sea, and especially the Adriatic. 

When I was 68 years old, my eldest and favorite son Constantine died. I then raised my youngest son, Alexander, to the rank of co-emperor. I disliked the bookish Leo, on occasion physically beating him; as I suspected Leo of being the son of Michael III. In my later years, my relationship with Leo was clouded by the suspicion that the latter might wish to avenge the murder of Michael III, his real blood father. I eventually imprisoned Leo after I detected a suspected plot, but the imprisonment resulted in public rioting. I threatened to blind the bastard, but was dissuaded by the Patriarch of the church. Leo was eventually released after 3 years. 

I died when I was 75 years old from a fever contracted after a serious hunting accident when my belt was caught in the antlers of a deer, and I was dragged 25km through the woods. Just before a man could cut me loose with his knife my attendants caught up to me and accused that poor man who was trying to save me of trying to kill me. Not wanting my attendants to think that I did not believe them, I had the poor man executed. Shortly after that I died of a very heavy heart - feeling terrible for what I had done. 

Leo became emperor and his very first act was to rebury, with great ceremony, the remains of Michael III in the Imperial Mausoleum within the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. 

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Eric Bloodaxe (895-954) 
I was born to become a Norwegian ruler. I ruled as King of Norway for 5 year when I was 34 years old and twice as King of Northumbria in the south of Scotland - for 1 year when I was 52, and for 2 years when I was 57. 

I was a main character of Icelandic sagas where I was portrayed slaying of my half-brothers in a ruthless struggle to monopolize my rule over Norway. I was nicknamed “bloodaxe“ because of my violent reputation as a Viking raider. 

I spent much of my childhood in foster homes. When I was 12 years old, my valor and strength convinced many that I was embarked on a career of international piracy. I spent 4 years harassing the Baltic coasts and those of Denmark, and Germany, and another 4 years those of Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France; and lastly, Lapland and northern Russia. I sailed up the Dvina River into the Russian hinterland where I sacked the small trading port of Permina. 

When I was 57 years old, I led a Viking raid to northern England and southern Scotland – a land called Northumbria. We were able to with the blessing of the local Britons and Scots drive king Olaf out and I became their king. I was expelled after a year but 5 years later I led the Viking forces in a second bid for the throne. My second reign proved once again of a short duration as 2 years later I was deposed by the Northumbrians a second time. 

When I was expelled from Northumbria and heading in north-westerly direction in search of support, in a bid for power, my official Osulf had me killed. I died a Christian. Archbishop Wulfstan made me king on the condition that I accept the Christian faith. I was nicknamed “Bloodaxe” because I was considered one of the most brutal and legendary Vikings. I had incredible skill and bravery on the battlefield and a great warrior spirit. 

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Basil II The Bulgar Slayer (958-1025) 
I was born to become a Byzantine Emperor from the Macedonian dynasty and reined nearly 50 years. The early years of my long reign were dominated by civil war against powerful generals from the Anatolian aristocracy. Following their submission, I oversaw the stabilization and expansion of the eastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire, and above all, the final and complete subjugation of Bulgaria, the Empire's foremost European foe, after a prolonged struggle. Despite near-constant warfare, I also showed myself a capable administrator, reducing the power of the great land-owning families who dominated the Empire's administration and military, while filling the Empire's treasury. 

I was a stocky man of less than average stature and was a majestic figure on horseback. I had light blue eyes and strongly arched eyebrows; in later life my beard became scant but my side-whiskers were luxuriant and I had a habit of rolling my whiskers between my fingers when deep in thought or angry. I was not a fluent speaker and had a loud laugh that convulsed my whole frame. As a mature man I had ascetic tastes and cared little for the pomp and ceremony of the Imperial court, typically holding court dressed in military regalia. Still, I was a capable administrator, who, uniquely among the soldier-emperors, left a full treasury upon my death. Despite my dislike for literary culture and an utter scorn for the learned classes of Byzantium, numerous orators and philosophers were active during my reign. 

I was worshiped by my army, as I spent most of my reign campaigning with them instead of sending orders from the distant palaces of Constantinople, as had most of my predecessors. I lived the life of a soldier to the point of eating the same daily rations as any other member of the army. I also took the children of deceased officers of my army under my protection and offered them shelter, food, and education. Many of them later became my soldiers and officers and came to think of me as a father. 

Besides being called the "Father of the Army", I was also popular with country farmers. This class produced most of my army's supplies and soldiers. To assure that this continued, my laws protected small agrarian property owners and lowered their taxes. My reign was considered an era of relative prosperity for the class, despite the almost constant wars. On the other hand, I increased the taxes on the nobility and the church, seeking to decrease their power and wealth. Though understandably unpopular with the nobility and the church, they did not have the power to effectively oppose me - because I was supported by the army. 

Of far-reaching importance was my decision to offer the hand of my sister Anna to Vladimir I of Kiev in exchange for military support, which led to the Christianization of the Kievan Rus` and the incorporation of later successor nations of Kievan Rus' within the Byzantine cultural and religious tradition. 

Around 900, Byzantium began to encourage the Alans to attack Khazaria and weaken its hold on Crimea and the Caucasus, while seeking to obtain an entente with the rising Rus' power to the north, which it aspired to convert to Christianity. The Khazars were a semi-nomadic Turkic people, who commanded the western marches of the Silk Road - the crossroad between China, the Middle East and Kievan Rus`. Between 965 and 969, the Kievan Rus` ruler conquered and destroyed the Khazar state. Although the power of the Khazar Khaganate had been broken by the Kievan Rus` in the 960s, the Byzantines had not been able to fully exploit the power vacuum and restore their dominion over the Crimea and other areas around the Black Sea. 

The biological father of Leo VI the Wise, my great-grandfather, was most likely not Basil I, but Michael III. When I was just 2 years old, I was given the throne by my father, who died 3 years later. Because my brother and I were too young to reign in our own right, my mother married one my father's leading generals, who took the throne as the Emperor. Several months later, he was murdered by his nephew who then became emperor and reigned for 7 years. When he finally died I took over the throne as senior emperor. I was only 16 years old. 

I was a brave soldier and a superb horseman, and I proved myself as an able general and strong ruler. In the early years of my reign, administration remained in the hands of a eunuch who was an illegitimate son of an earlier Emperor. He was the President of the Senate, a wily and gifted politician who hoped that the young emperors would be his puppets. I waited and watched without interfering, devoting myself to learning the details of administrative business and military science. The administrators were brilliant military commanders but were very lax and extremely corrupt. They acquired vast estates illegally and planned to curb the power of the great landowners. 

As a result of the failures of my immediate predecessors, I found myself with a serious problem at the outset of my reign as 2 members of the wealthy military elite had sufficient means to undertake open rebellion against my authority. Showing the penchant for ruthlessness that would become my trademark, I ruthlessly suppressed the rebellions. In order to defeat these dangerous revolts, I formed an alliance with Prince Vladimir I of Kiev, who captured the main Imperial base in the Crimea. Vladimir offered to supply 6,000 of his soldiers as reinforcements to me. In exchange he demanded to be married to my younger sister Anna. At first, I hesitated. We Byzantines viewed all the nations of Northern Europe, be they Franks or Slavs, as barbarians and Anna herself objected to marrying a barbarian ruler. 

Vladimir had conducted long-running research into different religions, including sending delegates to various countries. Marriage was not his primary reason for choosing the Orthodox religion. When Vladimir promised to baptize himself and to convert his people to Christianity, I finally agreed that he marry Anna. They were married in the Crimea in 989. The Rus' recruitments were instrumental in ending the rebellion, and they were later organized into the Varangian Guard. This marriage had important long-term implications, marking the beginning of the process by which the Grand Duchy of Moscow many centuries later would proclaim itself "The Third Rome" and claim the political and cultural heritage of the Byzantine Empire. 

The main leader of the rebellions was captured and accused of plotting with the rebels and punished with exile and the confiscation of his enormous property. Seeking to protect the lower and middle classes, I made ruthless war upon the system of immense estates in Asia Minor, which my predecessor had endeavored to check. The internal strife quelled and I turned my attention to other enemies of the Empire. The Byzantine civil wars had weakened the Empire's position in the east. In 988, a 7-year truce was signed with the Fatimids, a Shia Islamic caliphate that ruled a large area of North Africa, from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west between 909 to 1171. 

The Fatimids claimed descent from Fatima bin Muhammad, the daughter of Islamic prophet Muhammad. The truce stipulated an exchange of prisoners, the recognition of the Byzantine emperor as protector of the Christians under Fatimid rule and of the Fatimid Caliph as protector of the Muslims under Byzantine control. Nevertheless, in 991 the Fatimids launched a campaign against the Emirate of Aleppo, a Byzantine protectorate, perhaps in the belief that Byzantium would not interfere. I intervened personally in the East. I rode with my army through Asia Minor and reached Aleppo in 16 days forcing the Fatimid army to retreat without giving battle. Warfare between the 2 powers continued as the Byzantines supported an anti-Fatimid uprising. 

In 992, I concluded a treaty reducing Venice's custom duties in Constantinople by nearly a half. In return the Venetians agreed to transport Byzantine troops to southern Italy in times of war. During the years when I was distracted with internal rebellions and recovering the military situation on my eastern frontier, Samuel had extended his rule from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea, recovering most of the lands that had been once Bulgarian. He also conducted damaging raids into Byzantine territory as far as central Greece. The tide turned in 996 when a Byzantine general inflicted a crushing defeat on a raiding Bulgarian army. Samuel and his son Gabriel were lucky to escape capture. 

In 1000, a 10-year truce was concluded between the 2 states. Persecution of Christians and the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 1009 strained relations and provided along with Fatimid interference in Aleppo, the main focus of Fatimid-Byzantine diplomatic relations until the late 1030s. I also sought to restore territories the Empire had lost long before. At the start of the second millennium, I took on my greatest adversary, Samuel of Bulgaria. Bulgaria had been partly subjugated, but parts of the country remained outside Byzantine control, under the leadership of Samuel and his brothers. 

As the Bulgars had been raiding Byzantine lands since 976, the Byzantine government sought to cause dissension amongst them by allowing the escape of their captive emperor Boris II of Bulgaria. This ploy failed, so in 986, I used a respite from my conflict with the nobility to lead an army of 30,000 men into Bulgaria and besiege Sofia. Taking losses and worried about the loyalty of some of my governors, I lifted the siege and headed back for Thrace, but I fell into an ambush and suffered a serious defeat. I escaped with the help of my Varangian Guard and attempted to make up my losses by turning Samuel's brother Aaron against him. Aaron was tempted with my offer of my sister Anna in marriage. This was the same Anna who wed Vladimir I of Kiev 2 years later. The negotiation failed when Aaron discovered that the bride he was sent was an impostor. By 987, Aaron had been eliminated by Samuel, and I was busy fighting in Asia Minor. 

I was free to focus on a war of outright conquest against Bulgaria, a war I prosecuted with grinding persistence and strategic insight. In 1000, Two Byzantine generals took the old Bulgarian capital and 2 towns. A year later, I was able to regain control of some territories. The following year I occupied the length of the military road from the western Haemus Mountains to the Danube, thereby cutting off communications to Samuel's Macedonian heartland. Samuel reacted to the Byzantine campaign with a daring stroke; he launched a large-scale raid into the heart of Byzantine Thrace and plundered Adrianople. 

On returning homeward with his extensive plunder Samuel was intercepted near the town of Skopje by a Byzantine army commanded by me. My forces stormed the Bulgarian camp, inflicting a severe defeat on the Bulgarians and recovering the plunder of Adrianople. Skopje surrendered shortly after the battle, and its governor was treated with overt kindness by me. The defection completed the isolation of Samuel's core territories in the highlands of western Macedonia. Samuel was forced into an almost entirely defensive stance. He extensively fortified the passes and routes from the coast-lands and valleys held by me to the territory remaining in his possession. During the next few years, my offensive slowed and I made no significant gains, though in 1009, I defeated an attempt by the Bulgarians to counterattack. 

In 1014, I was ready to launch a campaign aimed at destroying Bulgarian resistance. I and my general out-maneuvered the Bulgarian army, which was defending one of the fortified passes. Samuel avoided capture only through the valor of his son Gabriel. Having crushed the Bulgarians, I exerted my vengeance by cruelty - I captured 15,000 prisoners and blinded 99 of every 100 men, leaving one one-eyed man in each cohort to lead the rest back to their ruler. Samuel was physically struck down by the dreadful apparition of his blinded army and died 2 days later, after suffering a stroke. 

Bulgaria fought on for 4 more years, its resistance fired by my cruelty, but it finally submitted in 1018. This submission was the result of continued military pressure and a successful diplomatic campaign aimed at dividing and suborning the Bulgarian leadership. This victory over the Bulgarians, and the later submission of the Serbs, fulfilled one of my goals, as the Empire regained its ancient frontier for the first time in 400 years. 

The neighboring rulers of Croatia, who were previously allies of Bulgaria, accepted my supremacy in order to avoid the same fate as Bulgaria. I warmly received their offers of vassalage and awarded them honorary titles. Croatia remained a tributary state until my death. Before returning to Constantinople, I celebrated my triumph in Athens. I showed considerable statesmanship in my treatment of the defeated Bulgarians, giving many former Bulgarian leaders court titles, positions in provincial administration, and high commands in the army. In this way I sought to absorb the Bulgarian elite into Byzantine society. Bulgaria did not have a monetary economy to the same extent as was found in Byzantium, and I made the wise decision to accept Bulgarian taxes in kind. My successors reversed this policy, a decision that led to considerable Bulgarian discontent and rebellion 100 years later.

In 1016, my armies attacked and occupied the Crimea. I returned in triumph to Constantinople, then promptly went east and attacked the Georgian Kingdom. I later secured the annexation of the sub-kingdoms of Armenia along with a promise that its capital and surrounding regions would be willed to Byzantium following the death of its king. I created in those highlands a strongly fortified frontier, which, if my 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. 

I was preparing a military expedition to recover the island of Sicily when I died. I was 67 years old. I asked my brother and successor Constantine VIII that I be buried in the Church of St. John outside the walls of Constantinople. The epitaph on my tomb celebrated my campaigns and victories. 185 years later, my grave was desecrated by the invading Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade. 

I was one of the most brutal, ruthless emperors in history. At my death, my empire stretched from Southern Italy to the Caucasus and from the Danube to the borders of Palestine, its greatest territorial extent in over 400 years. Its conquest included lots of bloody battles in which I was always fighting more viciously than any other member of my army. 

I never married nor had children. As a young man I was a womanizer, but when I became emperor, I chose to devote myself to the duties of state. I was succeeded by my brother and his family, who unfortunately proved to be ineffective rulers. Nevertheless, 50 years of prosperity and intellectual growth followed because the funds of state were full, the borders were not in danger from exterior intruders, and the Empire remained the most powerful political entity of the age. The Byzantine Empire under me had a population of about 18 million people. By 1025, I was able to amass over 90,000kg of gold for the Imperial treasury due to my prudent management. 
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1000AD->1682AD 
Yue Fei , Richard I “The Lionheart”, Philip de Molay, Mehmet II “the Conqueror”, Michel Nostredamus, William Adams, Prince Rupert of the Rhine
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