Battle of Katasyrtai

Battle of Katasyrtai
Part of the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars
Date Fall, 917 Location Katasyrtai, near Constantinople Result Bulgarian victory
Belligerents
Bulgaria	Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Simeon I of Bulgaria	Leo Phocas
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Heavy

The battle of Katasyrtai occurred in the fall of 917, shortly after the striking Bulgarian triumph at Anchialus near the village of the same names close to the Byzantine capital Constantinople, now Istambul. The result was a Bulgarian victory.

Origins of the conflict

From the beginning of 917 both sides prepared for decisive actions. The Byzantine tried to make a coalition against Bulgaria but their attempts failed due to the fast reaction of Simeon. Nonetheless the Byzantines summoned an enormous army but they were decisively defeated at Anchialus.

The battle

While the victorious Bulgarian army was marching southwards, the Byzantine commander Leo Phokas, who survived at Anchialus reached Constantinople by sea and gatherred the last Byzantine troops to intercept his enemy before reaching the capital. The two armies met near the village of Katasyrtai just outside the city and after a night fighting, the Byzantines were completely routed from the battlefield.

Aftermath

The last Byzantine military forces were literally destroyed and the way to Constantinople was opened but the Serbs rebelled to the west and the Bulgarians decided to secure their rear before the final assult of the Byzantine capital which gave the enemy precious time to recover.

• Ioannes Scylitzes. Historia. 2, p.88