Battle of Achelous
Simeon I routed a large Byzantine army under Leo Phokas near Anchialus on the Black Sea coast — one of the bloodiest battles of the Middle Ages, which made Bulgaria the dominant power in the Balkans.
- Date
- 20 August 917exact dateDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Achelous river near Anchialustoday: Acheloy, near Pomorie, Burgas Province, Bulgaria · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- First Bulgarian Empire, Simeon I the Great, Byzantine Empire
- Threads
- Early medieval Europe (500–1000)
- Also known as
- Battle of Anchialus; Битва при Анхиале
After the regency of Empress Zoe rejected the marriage alliance promised to Simeon, Byzantium assembled a large army under the domestic Leo Phokas, while a fleet under Romanos Lekapenos sailed to the Danube to bring in the Pechenegs — who in the end were not ferried across. On 20 August 917 the Byzantines, encamped by the Achelous river near Anchialus, were attacked by Simeon, who had concentrated his army in the surrounding hills; a cavalry charge from his reserve turned the battle into a rout.
Leo Phokas escaped to Mesembria, but much of his army perished; Leo the Deacon wrote decades later that heaps of bones could still be seen at the Achelous. The disaster contributed to the fall of Zoe’s regency and the rise of Romanos Lekapenos, while Simeon, though unable to take Constantinople, dominated the Balkans for the rest of his reign.
Connections
Part of
- Golden Age of Bulgaria under Simeon I893 – 27 May 927 · Balkans and Anatolia
Same participants
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Byzantine Empire
- Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium11 June 941 – 944 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Byzantine Empire
- Sviatoslav’s invasion of Bulgariabetween 967 and 968 – July 971 · Balkans and Anatoliavia First Bulgarian Empire
Adjacent events in the thread
- Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte911 · Western and Central Europe
- Abd al-Rahman III proclaims the Caliphate of Córdoba16 January 929 · Western and Central Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte911
- Founding of Cluny Abbeybetween 909 and 910
- Abd al-Rahman III proclaims the Caliphate of Córdoba16 January 929
- First Althing at Þingvellir930
- Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basinbetween 894 and 895 – 907
Eastern Europe
- The Pechenegs first come to the Rus’ land915
- Ibn Fadlan’s embassy to the Volga Bulgars21 June 921 – 12 May 922
- Gnezdovo inscriptionbetween 925 and 960
Middle East and Egypt
- Great Rus’ raid on the Caspianbetween 913 and 914
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Battle of Achelous (917)
- Wikipedia (Russian): Битва при Ахелое
- Fine J. V. A. The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. — Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1983.
- Wikidata: Q658731