The Battle of the Gates of Trajan

After the fall of Veliki Preslav and Drastar, all eastern and southern Bulgaria came under Byzantine rule. The unconquered lands remained under the Cometopuli, who retaliated and began a prolonged war against the empire. Samuel, one of the Cometopuli, led the anti-Byzantine struggle. Although he and his brothers commanded the resistance, Samuel did not assume the title of tsar; Roman held it. Samuel became tsar only after Roman, regarded as the legitimate heir, died. One of Samuel's principal aims was to liberate the conquered Bulgarian lands in the north-east, and he succeeded. He then besieged Larissa for three years and captured it. This enraged Emperor Basil II, later nicknamed the Bulgar-Slayer. He decided to capture Sredets and launched an ill-considered campaign, reaching the region and Roman fortress of the Gates of Trajan, where the battle took place.

The battle ended in a humiliating defeat for Basil II, who barely escaped Bulgarian territory. It was also his first defeat since ascending the Byzantine throne. The victory was celebrated in numerous chronicles and, thirty years later, in the Bitola Inscription commissioned by Tsar Ivan Vladislav.