Battle of Thessalonica (995)
| Battle of Thessalonica | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Thessalonica, Greece | |
| Result | Bulgarian victory |
Ashot Taronites (POW)
The Battle of Thessalonica (
Origins of the conflict
After the great victory in the
The exact date of this campaign, and the subsequent battle, is unclear. An Armenian source puts it as early as 991, while the account of John Skylitzes, on which the dating by traditional accounts relies, implies it happened in 996. However, as John Chaldos is attested as doux in Thessalonica in 995/6 in succession to Taronites, the campaign must have happened at the latest in 995, if not some time before.[1][2][3]
The battle
Samuil sent a small detachment towards the city, while the main body of his army remained behind to carefully prepare an ambush for the Byzantine army. As the Bulgarian raiding party approached Thessalonica, Gregory Taronites sent out his son, Ashot, with the vanguard to make contact with them and reconnoitre the Bulgarian dispositions. Ashot engaged the Bulgarian raiding party and drove them back, but was drawn into the ambush and encircled with his men. His father, following up with the main Byzantine force, rushed to his rescue, but was killed trying to reach him.[4][5]
Aftermath
Ashot Taronites was taken captive and taken to Bulgaria, where shortly after he was wed to Samuil's daughter
In Thessalonica, Taronites was succeeded by John Chaldos, who likewise fell victim to a Bulgarian ambush and was captured in 996.[8][9] After that, emboldened by his successes, Samuil ventured south, into the thema of Hellas for a plundering expedition. He captured Larissa and reached Corinth, after which he learned about the approach of a Byzantine army under Nikephoros Ouranos and returned north. The two armies met at the Spercheios river, where Samuil was defeated.[10][11] The long Byzantine-Bulgarian conflict, however, would go on until the final defeat of Bulgaria in 1018.
References
- ^ Holmes 2005, pp. 403–404.
- ^ Strässle 2006, pp. 78, 405.
- ^ Wortley 2010, pp. 323–324, esp. note 126.
- ^ Holmes 2005, pp. 165, 406–407.
- ^ Wortley 2010, p. 323.
- ^ Holmes 2005, pp. 103–104, 196.
- ^ Wortley 2010, pp. 324–325.
- ^ Holmes 2005, p. 404 note 15.
- ^ Wortley 2010, p. 324 note 126.
- ^ Holmes 2005, pp. 163–167.
- ^ Wortley 2010, p. 324.
Sources
- Йордан Андреев, Милчо Лалков, Българските ханове и царе, Велико Търново, 1996.
- Holmes, Catherine (2005). Basil II and the Governance of Empire (976–1025). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-927968-5.
- Strässle, Paul Meinrad (2006). Krieg und Kriegführung in Byzanz: die Kriege Kaiser Basileios' II. gegen die Bulgaren (976–1019) (in German). Cologne: Böhlau Verlag. ISBN 3-412-17405-X.
- Wortley, John, ed. (2010). John Skylitzes: A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811–1057. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-76705-7.