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Basil

Specialty Definition: Basil

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Specialty Definition: Basil (herb)

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Information cut from Basil (plant):

The fresh herb can be kept for a short time in plastic bags in the refrigerator, or for a longer period in the freezer, after being blanched quickly in boiling water. Place fresh leaves in a dry jar with a pinch of salt, and cover with olive oil. The dried herb tastes utterly different, rather like curry.

Mediterranean cuisines frequently use basil, especially combined with tomato.

There are several varieties of basil grown in many regions of Asia. Most of the Asian basils have a clove-like flavor that is generally stronger than that of the Western basils. Basils are very popular in Thai cuisine. Vietnamese and Chinese also use fresh or dried basils in soups and foods.

Culinary writers opine it means "king of herbs".

A new page is being created based on this template: Wikipedia:WikiProject Herbs and Spices/Template at See Basil (spice)/Temp

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Basil (herb)."

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Basil (herb)/Temp

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

A new page is being created based on this template: Wikipedia:WikiProject Herbs and Spices/Template

Introduction

Basil (also known as Basilie or Sweet Basil) is an herb which is used to flavour many dishes.

• Give the full name of the plant in bold
• What plant it comes from and provide a link to that plant.
• What part of the plant is it from? root? seed? fruit? leaf?
• What is it? an herb? a spice?
• Anything else interesting about it that needs to be said right off the top? say it here.

Flavour

Basil has a strong unique aroma which is very unique.

• Is it hot? mild? aromatic? bitter? sweet? in one or two sentences, summarize this spice/herb. Are there two types with different flavour?

History

• Provide the history of the spice/herb here.
• Include where is was originally used/grown, according to what we know (provide fact to back this up)
• Did this spice cause any wars? (I think cloves did for example)
• Anything else interesting about its history
• Present history: where is it grown NOW

Preparation/Form

• What form is it available in? Powder, whole, peeled, etc...
• How can you store it? Can it be ground up? frozen? dried? etc..
• How do you use it? Do you roast it first?

Uses

• How it used in different countries?
• What kinds of dishes is it used in?
• Any advice for users? (ie. don't use too much, use within 6 months, VERY HOT, etc...)

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Basil (herb)/Temp."

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Basil (plant)

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Basil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Lamiales Family: Lamiaceae Genus: Ocimum
Species
O. basilicum O. campechianum O. canum O. gratissimum O. kilimandscharicum O. tenuiflorum Ref: ITIS 32626 2002-08-03

Basil (Ocimum basilicum) (also known as Albahaca, American Dittany, Our Herb, St. Joseph's Wort, Sweet Basil and Witches' Herb) is a tender Mediterranean annual herb. The most commonly used varieties are sweet basil and Thai basil. Other varieties include Purple Ruffles, Mammoth, Cinnamon, Lemon, Globe, and African Blue. The original variety from India, Holy Basil (Ocimum sanctum = O. tenuiflorum), is camphoric and rarely used in the kitchen. Basil is very sensitive to cold.

Basil is a low-growing annual. It has light green silky leaves and tastes somewhat like cloves, with a strong, pungent, sweet smell.

The word basil (fr. Gk basileus, king) means "royal". The Oxford English Dictionary quotes speculation that basil may have been used in "some royal unguent, bath, or medicine".

Cultural aspects

The name basil may derive from the basilisk (also fr. Gk basileus), a legendary monster, because the plant was said to be a cure for its poison. Indeed, A Modern Herbal, by Mrs. M. Grieve, tells us: "The seeds have been reckoned efficacious against the poison of serpents..."

The plant has frequently been considered poisonous itself, while African legend claims it protects against scorpions. European lore sometimes claims that basil is a symbol of Satan, though in other places, like India, the plant is highly revered. Similarly, it is a symbol of love in present-day Italy, but represented hatred in ancient Greece.

In Boccaccio's Decameron a memorably morbid tale (novella V) tells of Lisabetta, whose brothers slay her lover. He appears to her in a dream and shows her where he is buried. She secretly disinters the head, and sets it in a pot of basil, which she waters with her daily tears. The pot being taken from her by her brothers, she dies of her grief not long after.

See also Basil of Caesarea.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Basil (plant)."

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Basil I

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Basil I (known as the Macedonian), Byzantine emperor, was born to a family of Armenian (not Slavonic) descent, settled in Macedonia.

He spent a part of his childhood in captivity in Bulgaria, where his family had lived as captives of the Bulgarian prince Krum since 813. He succeeded in escaping and was ultimately lucky enough to enter the service of Theophilitzes, a relative of the Caesar Bardas (uncle of Michael III), as groom. While serving Theophilitzes he visited the city of Patrae, where he gained the favour of Danielis, a wealthy woman who took him into her household and endowed him with a fortune. He also earned the notice of Michael III by winning a victory in a wrestling match, and soon became the emperor's companion and bodyguard (parakoimomenos).

To gain favour with Michael, he divorced his wife and married Eudocia Ingerina, one of Michael's mistresses. It was commonly believed that Leo VI, Basil’s successor and reputed son, was really the son of Michael. Basil then murdered Bardas, who virtually ruled the empire in Michael's place; this was done with the emperor’s consent in April, 866, and a few weeks later Basil was named Caesar. Up to this point, it is unlikely that anyone imagined Basil would be capable of administering the empire alone, as he shared in the debauches of his friend Michael. In September, 867, he had Michael assassinated, and reigned alone.

He inaugurated a new age in the history of the empire, associated with the dynasty which he founded. This is usually called the Macedonian Dynasty, although it would be more accurate to call it the Armenian dynasty. It was a period of territorial expansion, during which the empire was the strongest power in Europe.

Because of the great legislative work which Basil undertook, and which may be described as a revival of the laws of Justinian I, he is often called the "second Justinian." Basil's laws were collected in the Basilica, consisting of sixty books, and smaller legal manuals known as the Prochiron and the Eisagoge. Leo VI was responsible for completing these legal works. Basil's financial administration was prudent.

His ecclesiastical policy was marked by good relations with Rome. One of his first acts was to exile the patriarch Photius and restore his rival Ignatius, whose claims were supported by Pope Adrian II. However, Basil had no intention of yielding to Rome beyond a certain point. The decision of the Bulgarian tsar Michael to submit the new Bulgarian Church to the jurisdiction of Constantinople was a great blow to Rome, who had hoped to secure it for herself. In 877 Photius became patriarch again, and there was a virtual, though not a formal, breach with Rome. Thus the independence of the Greek Church may be said to date from the time of Basil.

His reign was marked by a troublesome war with the Paulician heretics, an inheritance from his predecessor; the death of their chief Chrysochir led to the definite subjection of their state, centred on Tephrice on the Euphrates and aided by the Saracens. There was the usual frontier warfare with the Saracens in Asia Minor. Cyprus was recovered, but retained for only seven years. Syracuse was lost, but Bari and much of Calabria was recovered. The successes in Italy opened a new period of Byzantine domination there. Above all, the Byzantines were once again in control of the Mediterranean Sea, and especially the Adriatic.

Basil reigned nineteen years. His death on August 29, 886 was due to a fever contracted after a serious hunting accident, when his belt was caught in the antlers of a deer and he was dragged from his horse. He was saved by an attendant who cut him loose with a knife, but he suspected the attendant of trying to assassinate him and had the man executed shortly before he himself died.

Preceded by: Michael III

Byzantine emperors

Followed by: Leo VI

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Basil I."

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Basil II

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Painting of Basil II, from an 11th century manuscript (Larger version)

Basil II "Bulgaroktonus" (in Greek Basilios Bulgaroktonos, written Βασίλειος Βουλγαροκτόνος, lived 958- December 15, 1025), Byzantine emperor (January 10, 976-December 15, 1025) led the Byzantine Empire to its greatest heights in nearly five centuries. However, he left no worthy heir and most of his achievements were undone by a long line of weak successors.

Basil was the son of Emperor Romanus II, who died when Basil was only five years old. Because he and his brother, the future Emperor Constantine VIII of the Byzantine Empire (ruled 1025-1028), were too young to reign in their own right, Basil's mother Theophano married one of Romanus' leading generals, who took the throne as the Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas in 963. Nicephorus was murdered in 969, only to be succeeded by another general, who became Emperor John I Tzimisces and reigned for seven years. Finally, when John died on January 10, 976, Basil took the throne.

Although Nicephorus Phocas in particular had proven to be a brilliant military commander during his reign, both generals had proven to be lax administrators. As a result of this, Basil found himself with a serious problem as soon as his reign began. The great landowners of Asia Minor who provided many of the empire's soldiers and taxes were in open revolt against the empire. Basil, showing the penchant for ruthlessness that would become his trademark, took the field himself and suppressed the rebellion. To do so Basil formed an alliance with Vladimir I, Prince of Kiev in 988. Vladimir offered 6,000 men of his army as reinforcements to Basil. In excange Vladimir demanded to be married to Basil's younger sister Anna (963 - 1011). At first, Basil hesitated. The Byzantines viewed the Rus as barbarians and Anna herself objected to marrying a barbarian ruler. But under Vladimir's pressure, Basil finally had to agree. Vladimir and Anna were married in 989. The Rus recruitments were instrumental in ending the rebellion, and they were later organized into the Varangian Guard.

Having put an end to the internal strife, Basil then turned his attention to the empire's other enemies. In the 990s, he launched a campaign against the Muslim Arabs to the south of the empire's heartland, and won several battles in Syria. Although he did not have the force to drive into Palestine and reclaim Jerusalem, his victories did restore much of Syria to the empire. No emperor since Heraclius had been able to hold these lands for any length of time, and they would remain Byzantine for the next 75 years.

However, Basil was far from done. He wanted to restore to the empire territories that had long slipped from its grasp. As the second millennium got under way, he took on his greatest adversary, Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria.

When all-out war broke out in 1002, Samuil had extended the Bulgarian kingdom from the Danube River in the north all the way into Greece, stopping just north of Athens. His rule extended from the Adriatic to the Black Sea, and all of this territory had been conquered over the past 300 years at the expense of the Byzantines. Basil was determined to reverse the fortunes of the empire.

The war ravaged the Balkans for the next dozen years, as Basil and Samuil each won impressive victories. Samuil's force was outnumbered numerically, but he was able to avoid fighting a general engagement while harassing Basil's forces as they advanced through Bulgarian territory. Samuil hoped to wear down the Byzantine forces and either defeat them, or force Basil to make peace.

Finally, on July 29, 1014, Basil II cornered the Bulgarian army and forced it to fight at the Battle of Kleidion, with Samuil several miles away from the battlefield. He crushed the Bulgarians and took 14,000 prisoners. What he did next gave Basil his nickname Bulgaroktonus, "the Bulgar-slayer." He ordered 99 of every 100 of the prisoners blinded, with every 100th man left one eye to guide the rest home.

When Samuil met his troops on their return home, he is said to have died of sorrow. Bulgaria fought on for four more years, but finally submitted in 1018. The victory over the Bulgars and the subsequent submission of the Serbs fulfilled one of Basil's goals, as the empire regained its ancient Danube River frontier for the first time in 400 years.

Basil returned in triumph to Constantinople, then promptly went east and attacked the Persians over control of Armenia, which had become a Byzantine tributary when its king died in 1000. More victories followed, and Armenia rejoined the Byzantine empire for the first time in two centuries. In the meantime, other Byzantine forces restored much of southern Italy, lost to the Normans over the previous 150 years, to the empire's control. When Basil finally died on December 15, 1025, he was planning a military expedition to recover the island of Sicily. By his last request, he was buried not among the other emperors of his family, but instead next to the cavalry's training field. Contemporary sources state this was in order for him to forever hear his troops training to combat for his empire. During the pillage of 1204, Basil's grave was ravaged by the invading Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade.

Basil was a short, stocky man who cared little for the pomp and ceremony of the imperial court, and typically held court dressed in military regalia. Still, he was a capable administrator, who unique among the soldier-emperors, left a full treasury upon his death. He was worshipped by his army, as he spend most of his reign campaigning with them instead of sending orders from the distant palaces of Constantinople, as had most of his predecessors. He lived the life of a soldier to the point of eating the same daily rations as any other member of the army. He also took the children of deceased officers of his army under his protection, and offered them sheltering, nourishment and education. Many of those children would later grow to become his soldiers and his officers, and came to think of him as a father. Besides being called the "Father of the Army", he was also popular with country farmers. This class produced most of his army's supplies and offered him most of his soldiers. To assure that this flow of supplies and men continued , Basil's laws protected small agrarian property and lowered their taxes. His reign was considered an era of relative prosperity for the class, despite the almost constant wars. On the other hand Basil increased the taxes of the nobility and the church and looked to decrease their power and wealth. Though understandably unpopular with them, neither of them had the power to effectively oppose the army-supported Emperor. Basil never married or had children that we know of - a womanizer as a young man, Basil chose to devote himself fully to the duties of state upon becoming emperor. Unfortunately, this meant that he was succeeded by his brother and his family, who proved to be ineffective rulers. Within 50 years of Basil's death, the empire had once again fallen to the status of a second-rate power, and had lost almost everything he regained.

During the 20th Century in Greece, interest for the prominent Emperor resulted in Basil becoming the subject of a number of biographies as well as historical novels. Arguably the most popular of them is Basil Bulgaroktonus (1964) by historical fiction writer Kostas Kyriazis (1920 - ). Written as a sequel to his previous work Theophano (1963), focusing on Basil's mother, it examines Basil's life from his childhood till his death at an advanced age, through the eyes of three different narrators (all of them fictional). The first one is Areti Skylitzi , a girl from a noble family that John I brought to young Basil to be his friend and playmate. She becomes the confidant of his deepest thoughts and later the only woman that truly loves him. Basil can never marry her. Witnessing at an early age the murders of his father Romanus and step-father Nicephorus by Theophano, their wife, his mother, had traumatised him. He associates marriage, trust with death and murder. Areti stays by his side, as his unofficial consort, till his death. She alone hearing his private thoughts, filled often with self-doubt, sorrow , inner conflict while dealing with hard decisions. For Areti, Basil is her life-long consort, needing to be comforted. The second narrator is Nicolaus, one of Basil's generals. He has followed Basil's campaigns through his life, and witnessed his major battles and later his death. For him Basil was his leader, a lord to be respected and served, a "father" of his army. The third and last one is a Bulgar, one of Samuil's generals. He spend most of his life serving his Tsar and fighting Basil. He tells their side of the long battle, that occupied almost forty years. For him Basil is the enemy, the slayer of his people, the man responsible for his own leader's death. Accurately describing the historical events and adding fictional to fill-in the blanks, it has been considered the best introduction to Basil and his age, a casual reader could have. It has been continuously reprinted since 1964.

Preceded by: John I

Byzantine emperors

Followed by: Constantine VIII

External Links:

• A more detailed profile of the Emperor:http://www.roman-emperors.org/basilii.htm

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Basil II."

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Basil of Caesarea

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Basil (ca. 330-379), also called Basil the Great, was bishop of Caesarea, a leading churchman in the 4th century. The Eastern Orthodox Church considers him a saint and one of the Three Holy Hierarchs, together with Gregory Nazianzus and John Chrysostom. Basil, Gregory Nazianzus, and Basil's brother Gregory of Nyssa are called the Cappadocian Fathers. The Roman Catholic Church considers him a saint and a Doctor of the Church.

He should not be confused with Basil Fool for Christ, a Russian Orthodox saint.

Life

Basil was born about 330 at Caesarea in Cappadocia. He came from a wealthy and pious family which gave a number of saints, including his mother Emmelia, grandmother Macrina the Elder, sister Macrina the Younger and brother Gregory of Nyssa.
While still a child, the family moved to Pontus; but he soon returned to Cappadocia to live with his mother's relations, and seems to have been brought up by his grandmother Macrina. Eager to learn, he went to Constantinople and spent four or five years there and at Athens, where he had Gregory Nazianzus for a fellow student and became friends with the future emperor Julian. Both men were deeply influenced by Origen, and compiled the well known anthology of his writings, known as Philocalia.

It was at Athens that he seriously began to think of religion, and resolved to seek out the most famous hermit saints in Syria and Arabia, in order to learn from them how to attain enthusiastic piety and how to keep his body under submission by maceration and other ascetic devices. After this we find him at the head of a convent near Arnesi in Pontus, in which his mother Emilia, now a widow, his sister Macrina and several other ladies, gave themselves to a pious life of prayer and charitable works. Eustathius of Sebaste had already labored in Pontus in behalf of the anchoretic life, and Basil revered him on that account, although they differed over dogmatic points, which gradually separated these two men. Siding from the beginning and at the Council of Constantinople in 360 with the Homoiousians, Basil went especially with those who overcame the aversion to the homoousios in common opposition to Arianism, thus drawing nearer to Athanasius of Alexandria. He also became a stranger to his bishop, Dianius of Caesarea, who had subscribed the Nicene form of agreement, and became reconciled to him only when the latter was about to die. He was ordained presbyter of the Church at Caesarea in 365, and his ordination was probably the result of the entreaties of his ecclesiastical superiors, who wished to use his talents against the Arians, who were numerous in that part of the country and were favoured by the Arian emperor, Valens, who then reigned in Constantinople.

In 370 Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, died, and Basil was chosen to succeed him. It was then that his great powers were called into action. Caesarea was an important diocese, and its bishop was, ex officio, exarch of the great diocese of Pontus. Hot-blooded and somewhat imperious, Basil was also generous and sympathetic. His zeal for orthodoxy did not blind him to what was good in an opponent; and for the sake of peace and charity he was content to waive the use of orthodox terminology when it could be surrendered without a sacrifice of truth. With all his might he resisted the emperor Valens, who strove to introduce Arianism into his diocese, and impressed the emperor so strongly that, although inclined to banish the intractable bishop, he left him unmolested.

To save the Church from Arianism, Basil entered into connections with the West, and with the help of Athanasius, he tried to overcome its distrustful attitude toward the Homoiousians. The difficulties had been enhanced by bringing in the question as to the essence of the Holy Spirit. Although Basil advocated objectively the consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son, he belonged to those, who, faithful to Eastern tradition, would not allow the predicate homoousios to the former; for this he was reproached as early as 371 by the Orthodox zealots among the monks, and Athanasius defended him. His relations also with Eustathius were maintained in spite of dogmatic differences and caused suspicion. On the other hand, Basil was grievously offended by the extreme adherents of Homoousianism, who seemed to him to be reviving the Sabellian heresy.

The end of the unhappy factional disturbances and the complete success of his continued exertions in behalf of Rome and the East, he did not live to see. He suffered from liver illness and his excessive asceticism hastened him to an early death. A lasting monument of his episcopal care for the poor was the great institute before the gates of Caesarea, which was used as poorhouse, hospital, and hospice.

Writings

The principal theological writings of Basil are his De Spiritu Sancto, a lucid and edifying appeal to Scripture and early Christian tradition, and his Refutation of the Apology of the Impious Eunomius, written in 363 or 364, three books against Eunomius of Cyzicus, the chief exponent of Anomoian Arianism. The first three books of the Refutation are his work; the fourth and fifth books that are usually included to do not belong to Basil, or to Apollinaris of Laodicea, but probably to Didymus of Alexandria.

He was a famous preacher, and many of his homilies, including a series of Lenten lectures on the Hexaëmeron, and an exposition of the psalter, have been preserved. Some like that against usury and that on the famine in 368, are valuable for the history of morals; others illustrate the honor paid to martyrs and relics; the address to young men on the study of classical literature shows that Basil was lastingly influenced by his own education, which taught him to appreciate the propaedeutic importance of the classics.

His ascetic tendencies are exhibited in the Moralia and Regulae, ethical manuals for use in the world and the cloister respectively. Of the monastic rules traced to Basil, the shorter is the one most probably his work.

His three hundred letters reveal a rich and observant nature, which, despite the troubles of ill-health and ecclesiastical unrest, remained optimistic, tender and even playful. His principal efforts as a reformer were directed towards the improvement of the liturgy, and the reformation of the monastic orders of the East.

Most of the liturgies bearing the name of Basil, in their present form, are not his work, but they nevertheless preserve the a recollection of Basil's activity in this field in formularizing liturgical prayers and promoting church-song. One liturgy that can be attributed to him is The Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, a liturgy that is somewhat longer than the more commonly used Divine Liturgy of John Chrysostom; it is still used on certain feast days in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

This article incorporates text from the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religion, 1911.

External link

Christian Classics Ethereal Library, Early Church Fathers, Series II, Vol. VIII contains the treaty on the Holy Spirit, the Hexaemeron, homilies and letters.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Basil of Caesarea."

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Modern Usage: Basil

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Image Slideshow: Basil

Photos: Basil More pictures...

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Photo Album: Basil

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Scanning Electron Micrograph of the top side of an unwashed basil leaf. Credit: CDC.		Basil Hicke Dutcher. Credit: National Library of Medicine.
	Marie Flückigger / G. Locher Helv. Friburgs. pingt. 1774. Chr. de Mechel Basil. sculpsit. Credit: National Library of Medicine.		Daniel Bernoullius / J. Rudolph Huber, Senat. Basil. pinx. J. Jacob Haid sculps et excud. Aug. Vind. Credit: National Library of Medicine.
	[J. Basil Girard]. Credit: National Library of Medicine.		Michel Schuppach / G. Locher helv. Friburg ping. Chr. de Mechel Basil sculpsit. Credit: National Library of Medicine.
	Log Chapel of Basil the Blessed and belltower (1823), west view taken from Dvina River on sidewheeler "N.V. Gogol", Chukhchena, Russia. Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540.		Brenda Starr. This Basil St. John must be quite a man. Credit: Library of Congress.
	Isabella, or, The pot of basil. Credit: Library of Congress.		Ballets russes de Monte-Carlo Directeur général: W. de Basil - Directeur artistique: René Blum / / André Masson -33-. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Digital Photo Gallery: Basil
 

"Basil" by Cori Watkins Commentary: "Basil leaves after a light rain."	"Basil" by Kenneth Love Commentary: "The cat that has adopted us. We named him Basil."
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

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