Constantine VIII

Constantine VIII was de jure Byzantine emperor from 962 until his death in 1028, the younger son of Emperor Romanos II and Empress Theophano. He held the nominal rank of co-emperor from 962 onward, reigning alongside a succession of more powerful figures in turn: his father, his stepfather Nikephoros II Phokas, his uncle John I Tzimiskes, and his brother Basil II. Only after Basil's death in 1025 did Constantine become sole ruling emperor, at the end of decades spent in his brother's shadow. Counting his long nominal co-reign, he occupied the throne for sixty six years in total, making him de jure the longest reigning of all Roman emperors since Augustus.