Battle of Pigae

Infobox Military Conflict


caption=
conflict=Battle of Pigae
partof=the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars
date=March 922
place=Village of Balakla, near Istambul
result=Bulgarian victory
combatant1=Bulgarian Empire
combatant2=Byzantine Empire
commander1=Theodore Sigritsa
commander2=Potas Argirus Alexios Musele †
strength1=Large army
strength2=Unknown
casualties1=Unknown
casualties2=Heavy

The Battle of Pigae occurred between March 11 and March 18, 922 in the outskirts of Constantinople. The result was a Bulgarian victory.

Origins of the conflict

After the major victories in 917, Simeon tried to assume the Byzantine throne and his first step was to become a regent of the juvenile Emperor Constantine VII, but in 919 admiral Romanos Lekapenos, who was trying to prevent the Bulgarian influence in Byzantium, replaced the young Emperor's mother Zoe as regent and by 920 he proclaimed himself for co-Emperor which ruined Simeon's ambitions to ascend the throne by diplomatic means. In 920 the Bulgarian Emperor waged a war and a took almost all Byzantine possessions on the Balkans between 920-924.

The battle

In 922, a large Bulgarian army under the first minister Theodore Sigritsa marched swiftly through the Strandzha Mountains and reached the outskirts of Constantinople. Romanos sent troops under the commander Potas Argirus and the admiral of the navy Alexions Musele to face the Bulgarians. The battle took place at Pigae. The initial Bulgarian blow was irresistible, and the Byzantine commanders were the first to flee. Musele drowned in a desperate attempt to reach a ship. Most of the Byzantine soldiers and sailors were killed, drowned, or captured.

Aftermath

After the battle the Bulgarians burned the palaces in Pigae, looted the Golden Horn, and triumphantly returned to Preslav.

ources

*Ioannes Scylitzes. Historia. 2, 356-357.