Battle of Strumitsa

After their defeat near Belasitsa, the Bulgarian troops commanded by Samuel's son Gavril Radomir did not give up and quickly recovered. In the next engagement, they routed a detachment led by the doux of Thessaloniki, Theophylact Botaneiates, who lost his life in the battle. After Theophylact's death, the Byzantine emperor Basil II was forced to withdraw from Bulgaria despite his earlier success at the Battle of Belasitsa. Following his victory on 29 July 1014, when he succeeded in destroying a substantial part of the Bulgarian army, Basil II captured a small fortress not far from Strumitsa. Strumitsa itself nevertheless remained under Bulgarian control. To open his route to Thessaloniki, the emperor dispatched Theophylact Botaneiates with troops to clear the barriers that the Bulgarians had erected south of the town before the Byzantine invasion began. If Botaneiates succeeded in his task, the Byzantine army would have an open route to Thessaloniki.

The Byzantines were intercepted in a narrow pass, had no opportunity to mount an organised defence and were defeated. Most were killed.