Gates of Trajan, Battle of the

The Battle of the Gates of Trajan is a battle between Byzantine and Bulgarian forces in the year 986.

It takes place in the pass of the same name, modern Trayanovi Vrata, in Sofia Province, Bulgaria.

It is the largest defeat of the Byzantines under Emperor Basil II.

After the unsuccessful siege of Sofia he retreats to Thrace, but is surrounded by the Bulgarian army under the command of Samuil in the Sredna Gora mountains.

The Byzantine army is annihilated and Basil himself barely escapes.Fifteen years after the fall of the Bulgarian capital Preslav, the victory at the Gates of Trajan extends the Bulgarian successes achieved since 976.

Later on, Tsar Samuil moves the capital from Preslav in the northeast to Ohrid in the southwest.

The memory of the great victory over Basil II is preserved thirty years later in the Bitola inscription of Ivan Vladislav (1015–1018), the son of Aron.

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