The Battle of Thessalonica occurred in 996

996

Year 996 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* March or April – Pope John XV dies before being able to crown Otto III, King of Germany as Holy Roman Emperor...

, near the city of Thessalonica, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

.

Origins of the conflict

After the great victory in the Battle of Trayanovi Vrata, and the subsequent civil war in the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

, Samuil was free to attack the Byzantine strongholds all over the Balkan peninsula. After having secured his rule over most of the northern Balkans, in 996

996

Year 996 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* March or April – Pope John XV dies before being able to crown Otto III, King of Germany as Holy Roman Emperor...

 he led a campaign against Thessalonica, Byzantium's second largest city.

The battle

Samuil was a skillful military commander and organised a brilliant ambush. He ordered his soldiers to dig ditches, pitfalls and other traps outside the town and left most of his army there. Next, Samuil assaulted the fortress with a small, detached force. The Byzantine governor, dux Gregory Taronites, sent part of his forces under his son, Ashot, to drive them away. Samuil then staged a deceptive retreat, drawing the Byzantines into the trap he had prepared. Surrounded and cut off, the Byzantine detachment was devastated. When Gregory learned about his son's peril, he and his troops attempted to rescue him, but they were also defeated and the governor killed, while his son was captured.

Aftermath

Despite this victory, Samuil did not attempt to besiege Thessalonica, and instead ventured south, into the thema of Hellas for a plundering expedition. He captured Larissa

Larissa

Larissa is the capital and biggest city of the Thessaly region of Greece and capital of the Larissa regional unit. It is a principal agricultural centre and a national transportation hub, linked by road and rail with the port of Volos, the city of Thessaloniki and Athens...

 and reached Corinth

Corinth

Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...

, after which he learned about the approach of a Byzantine army under Nikephoros Ouranos

Nikephoros Ouranos

Nikephoros Ouranos was a high-ranking Byzantine official and general during the reign of Emperor Basil II. One of the emperor's closest associates, he was active in Europe in the wars against the Bulgarians, scoring a major victory at Spercheios, and against the Arabs in Syria, where he held...

 and returned north. The two armies met at the Spercheios river

Battle of Spercheios

The Battle of Spercheios took place in 997 AD, on the shores of the river of the same name in present-day central Greece. It was fought between a Bulgarian army led by Tsar Samuil, that in the previous year had penetrated far south into Greece, and a Byzantine army under the command of Nikephoros...

, where Samuil was defeated. The long Byzantine-Bulgarian conflict, however, would go on until the final defeat of Bulgaria in 1018.