Basil II Blinds the Bulgarian Army at Kleidion
The Bulgar-Slayer ends a half-century war by blinding 15,000 prisoners and doubling the empire's size
Quick facts
- Emperor
- Basil II
- Epithet
- Bulgaroktonos, the Bulgar-Slayer
- Battle
- Kleidion, July 29, 1014 CE
- Bulgarian ruler
- Tsar Samuel
What happened
Basil II, great-great-grandson of Basil I, took the throne in 976 CE at age five alongside his brother Constantine, though guardians and generals actually ruled until he came fully into power. Basil fought a decades-long war against the Bulgarian Empire under Tsar Samuel, a struggle that included Basil's own earlier defeat at Trajan's Gate. The decisive encounter came at the Battle of Kleidion on July 29, 1014 CE, when Byzantine general Nikephoros Xiphias infiltrated the Bulgarian rear and helped shatter Samuel's army. Basil then divided thousands of Bulgarian prisoners into groups of one hundred, blinded 99 men in each group, and left one man with a single eye in each group to lead the others home; Samuel reportedly died of shock two months later upon seeing his returning soldiers.
Why it matters
The victory earned Basil the epithet Bulgaroktonos, the Bulgar-Slayer, and led to the full incorporation of Bulgaria into the empire, restoring the Danube frontier the Byzantines had not fully held since the 7th century and leaving Basil ruling an empire that was the undisputed superpower of its day.
How we know
The World History Encyclopedia's biography of Basil II, itself informed by the 11th-century historian Michael Psellos's Chronographia, describes Basil's rise, the war against Samuel, and the aftermath of Kleidion.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Basil II · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Dumbarton Oaks. The Macedonian Dynasty (862-1056) · Primary source (author-declared)doaks.org · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match).
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