Alexandros or Alexander ruled as Emperor of the Byzantine Empire in 912–913. He was the third son of Emperor Basil I and Eudokia Ingerina, and the younger brother og Leo VI.
He was the first Byzantine emperor to use the term "autocrator" on coinage to celebrate the ending of his thirty-three years as co-emperor. Alexander promptly dismissed most of Leo's advisers and appointees, including the admiral Himerios, the patriarch Euthymios, and the Empress Zoe Karbonopsina, the mother of Constantine VII whom he locked up in a nunnery.
During his short reign, Alexander found himself attacked by the forces of Al-Muqtadir of the Abbasid Caliphate in the East, and provoked a war with Simeon I of Bulgaria by refusing to send the traditional tribute on his accession. Alexander died of exhaustion after a game of tzykanion on June 6, 913, allegedly fulfilling his brother's prophecy that he would reign for 13 months. The sources are uniformly hostile towards Alexander, who is depicted as lazy, lecherous, drunk, and malignant, including the rumor that he planned to castrate the young Constantine VII in order to exclude him from the succession.
He was the first Byzantine emperor to use the term "autocrator" on coinage to celebrate the ending of his thirty-three years as co-emperor. Alexander promptly dismissed most of Leo's advisers and appointees, including the admiral Himerios, the patriarch Euthymios, and the Empress Zoe Karbonopsina, the mother of Constantine VII whom he locked up in a nunnery.
During his short reign, Alexander found himself attacked by the forces of Al-Muqtadir of the Abbasid Caliphate in the East, and provoked a war with Simeon I of Bulgaria by refusing to send the traditional tribute on his accession. Alexander died of exhaustion after a game of tzykanion on June 6, 913, allegedly fulfilling his brother's prophecy that he would reign for 13 months. The sources are uniformly hostile towards Alexander, who is depicted as lazy, lecherous, drunk, and malignant, including the rumor that he planned to castrate the young Constantine VII in order to exclude him from the succession.
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