ABSTRACT

Basil II was the most accomplished emperor of the Macedonian dynasty. Emblem of Byzantine success in the Middle Ages, he receives glowing press in historical accounts. Most of the time, scholars explain the bachelorhood of Basil with evidence from Michael Psellos and, at times, Ademarus Cabannensis. Symeon the New Theologian was a monk, hegoumenos of a monastery, possessor of an oratory, and important ecclesiastical writer who was a little older than Basil and a eunuch. An understanding that same-sex desire and behaviour were likely and not weighty things for Symeon to discuss is only a precondition for seeing Basil in the parable’s emperor. When Symeon criticises an emperor, at that moment the current holder of the throne, Basil II, comes into view. Symeon’s emperor’s carnal forgiveness is a metaphor for the favour Basil showed to some of his former enemies.