Battle of Bathys Ryax

Battle of Bathys Ryax
Part of the Byzantine–Paulician wars

Map of Byzantine Asia Minor and the Byzantine-Arab frontier region in the middle of the 9th century
Date872 or 878[1]
Location
Bathys Ryax (modern Kalınırmak pass, Sivas)[2]
Result Byzantine victory
Belligerents
Paulician principality of Tephrike Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Chrysocheir  Christopher
Casualties and losses
Extremely heavy Light

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.