Basil I in the context of "Michael III"

Leo VI, also known as Leo the Wise (Greek: Λέων ὁ Σοφός, romanized: Léōn ho Sophós; 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (although his parentage is unclear), he was very well read, leading to his epithet. During his reign, the renaissance of letters, begun by his predecessor Basil I, continued; but the empire also saw several military defeats in the Balkans against Bulgaria and against the Arabs in Sicily and the Aegean. His reign also witnessed the formal discontinuation of several ancient Roman institutions, such as the separate office of Roman consul.

George Syncellus (Greek: Γεώργιος Σύγκελλος, Georgios Synkellos; died after 810) was a Byzantine chronicler and ecclesiastical official. He lived many years in Palestine (probably in the Old Lavra of Saint Chariton or Souka, near Tekoa) as a monk, before coming to Constantinople, where he was appointed synkellos (literally, "cell-mate") to Tarasius, patriarch of Constantinople. He later retired to a monastery to write what was intended to be his great work, a chronicle of world history, Ekloge chronographias (Ἐκλογὴ Χρονογραφίας), or Extract of Chronography. According to Anastasius Bibliothecarius, George "struggled valiantly against heresy [i.e. Iconoclasm] and received many punishments from the rulers who raged against the rites of the Church", although the accuracy of the claim is suspect.

As a synkellos, George stood high in the ecclesiastical establishment of Constantinople. The position carried no defined duties, but the incumbent would generally serve as the patriarch's private secretary, and might also be used by the Emperor to limit the movements and actions of a troublesome patriarch (as was the case during the reign of Constantine VI, when several of George's colleagues were set as guards over Patriarch Tarasius). The office would be an imperial gift by the time of Basil I, and was probably so earlier; as such, George may well have owed his position to the Empress Irene. Many synkelloi would go on to become Patriarchs of Constantinople, or Bishops of other sees (for example George's colleague, John, another synkellos under Patriarch Tarasius, who became Metropolitan Bishop of Sardis in 803).

The Vita Basilii (Greek: Βίος Βασιλείου, romanized: Bios Basileiou, "Life of Basil") is an anonymous biography of the Emperor Basil I, the first Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty. It is the second work in the collection known as Theophanes Continuatus. It may have been written around 950 by the emperor's grandson, the Emperor Constantine VII, or perhaps by Theodore Daphnopates.

The Vita Basilii is a panegyric devoted to extolling Basil, both his personal virtues and his benevolent government. Although he was the first of his family on the throne, he is said to have noble ancestry. He is contrasted with the heroes of antiquity, rather than compared to them. Michael III, the emperor whom Basil replaced, is portrayed as the anti-Basil and "the embodiment of evil". A similarly hostile treatment is given to Constantine's father-in-law and co-emperor, Romanos I (920–45), who was not a Macedonian but a Lekapenos.

Eudokia (or Eudocia) Ingerina (Greek: Ευδοκία Ιγγερίνα, romanized: Evdokia Ingerina; c. 840 – c. 882) was a Byzantine empress as the wife of the Byzantine emperor Basil I, the mistress of his predecessor Michael III, and the mother of emperors Leo VI and Alexander, as well as the mother of Patriarch Stephen I of Constantinople.

The Basilika (Greek: τὰ βασιλικά, romanized: ta basiliká, "the imperial [laws]") was a collection of laws completed c. 892 AD in Constantinople by order of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI the Wise during the Macedonian dynasty. This was a continuation of the efforts of his father, Basil I, to simplify and adapt the Emperor Justinian I's Corpus Juris Civilis code of law issued between 529 and 534 which had become outdated. The term comes from the Greek adjective Basilika meaning "Imperial (laws or enactments)" and not from the Emperor Basil's name; both share a common etymology from the term Basileus.