The Battle of Bathys Ryax was fought in 872 or 878 between the Byzantine Empire and the Paulicians. The Paulicians were a Christian sect which—persecuted by the Byzantine state—had established a separate principality at Tephrike on Byzantium's eastern border and collaborated with the Muslim emirates of the Thughur, the Abbasid Caliphate's borderlands, against the Empire. The battle was a decisive Byzantine victory, resulting in the rout of the Paulician army and the death of its leader, Chrysocheir. This event destroyed the power of the Paulician state and removed a major threat to Byzantium, heralding the fall of Tephrike itself and the annexation of the Paulician principality shortly after.
HistoryLayer draws the world as it was in any year from 123,000 BCE to
2026. Move the slider and the borders redraw for that year; the map
carries 23,890 events, 12,790 people, 837 wars and 13,183 cities, each
one readable in place. Signing in is optional and lets you keep what
you find.