Thread by @byzantinemporia

Historians can tell us a lot about the past through their errors. In fact, these tell us a lot about one of the most famous battles in Byzantine history, if we just read them carefully.

But first, a story from Herodotus about the Phoenicians. Thread.

Herodotus relates how circa 600 BC, the Egyptian pharaoh Necho commissioned a Phoenician expedition to sail through the Red Sea, down the coast of Africa, then back to Egypt through the Straits of Gibraltar.

According to Herodotus, this was done in two years.

We might think this was a tall tale, but for one detail:
“These men made a statement which I do not myself believe, though others may, that as they sailed on a westerly course round the southern end of Libya [i.e. Africa], they had the sun on their right—to north of them.”

This is in fact EXACTLY what happens south of the equator: the sun moves through the northern half of the sky.

Herodotus, by arguing AGAINST the Phoenicians' account, inadvertently gives us concrete evidence of its truth.

Past historians can thus inform us through their errors as well as by their statements.

An interesting example of this lies in the accounts describing the Battle of Pliska, in which a Byzantine army was annihilated and Emperor Nicephorus I slain and turned into a drinking gourd.

Our two main sources for the battle are Theophanes the Confessor and an anonymous fragment by the so-called Scriptor Incertus. Theophanes, and probably also the Scriptor Incertus, was a man of the church who knew little about war.

Together, they describe how Nicephorus assembled a massive army to destroy the neighboring Bulgarian state, which had grown at Byzantium’s expense for the past hundred years. In May of 811, the army set out from Constantinople against the powerful Bulgarian khan Krum.

According to Theophanes, the Bulgarians positioned in Thrace were terrified at the sight of the massive Byzantine army and fled up into the mountains. Nicephorus crossed the range after them, defeated some more Bulgarian troops, then burned their capital of Pliska to the ground.

After this great triumph, Nicephorus lost his mind. He ordered horrific punishments against his own men for the smallest slights and unspeakable atrocities against the local populace. The army rampaged across the countryside.

Krum, however, was not yet defeated. He gathered his surviving forces, hired Avar and Slavic mercenaries, and built barricades in the mountain passes, trapping the Byzantines.

After several days, he struck.

Krum attacked the imperial camp before dawn. The rest of Byzantine army was too scattered to come to Nicephorus’ aid. The emperor was killed in the ensuing slaughter and his skull made into a drinking gourd by Krum. In a panic, many of Nicephorus' household fled south.

When these terrified men got to the mountains, they faced the great palisades that Krum had erected. The Scriptor Incertus describes how some scrambled over it as others burned parts down and pushed through the wreckage.

Unluckily for them, there was a large ditch on the other side. Those who had jumped down broke their legs and were left to starve. Those who had pushed through the burnt parts fell in and were trapped, dying an agonizing death in the flames.

This is where the story gets odd. A ditch is supposed to be placed in FRONT of a palisade, not behind it. This makes the barrier that taller and harder for attacking troops to climb.

The chroniclers were wrong: these barriers were not built to trap the Byzantines.

What were the palisades for then?

Almost certainly to keep the Byzantines OUT of Bulgaria, as the Bulgarians had done many times over the previous century. Krum almost certainly probably erected them as the Byzantine army was marching through Thrace.

This explains an otherwise elusive quote from Theophanes:
“After many detours through difficult country, [Nicephorus] recklessly invaded Bulgaria.”

The emperor crossed the mountains through difficult side roads because Krum had blocked the main passes.

This also means that the Bulgarians did not simply flee into the mountains when the Byzantines approached: they went to man the defensive positions. Seeing this, the Byzantine army bypassed them.

Krum and Nicephorus were both cannier than the chronicles let on.

So when Krum learned that the Byzantines had slipped through despite his preparations, he led his men down to the plain below in a desperate rush to save Pliska.

Outnumbered and unable to fight using usual Bulgarian defensive tactics, he was badly defeated.

The Scriptor Incertus reports that after the Byzantine army was let loose on the Bulgarian countryside, many men tried to desert. Some must have come across the defensive ramparts, thought it was a trap, then turned back around to tell their comrades.

If Krum did not deliberately seal off the mountain passes to trap the Byzantines, he was probably not as certain of victory as the chronicles make him out to have been: he WANTED the Byzantines to flee in panic.

This means that the Byzantine army was indeed much stronger than the Bulgarian and had all but eradicated the Bulgarian state. Only Nicephorus’ complete dissolution gave Krum a fleeting opportunity to snatch victory—which he brilliantly did.

Among Theophanes’ and the Scriptor Incertus’ sources for the battle were the teenage sons of the army’s commanders, brought along to apprentice at war. They were part of Nicephorus’ household, and many died at the palisade.

Their confused accounts reflected both their inexperience (thinking the palisades were built to trap the army) and their utter panic, giving a sense of how deaf the emperor’s household had become to more sober and experienced voices.

Both Theophanes and the Scriptor Incertus naively repeat these young men’s version of events. Yet by doing so, they inadvertently cast much more light on what actually happened.

Which brings us back to the original point....

Herodotus stated that some people believed the Phoenicians’ story; the two Byzantines were oblivious to the flaws in their sources’ accounts. Yet all three give us much richer accounts by their errors.

How much more historical detail is hiding in plain sight?

And I should add: how sloppy are some modern accounts?

The Battle of Pliska is sometimes called the Battle of Varbitsa pass. It’s said to have taken place while the Byzantine army was already re-crossing the mountains. Even disregarding the above, this is horrible misreading...

The Scriptor Incertus is explicit that when Krum attacked, detachments of the Byzantine army were scattered far from one another and didn't know what was happening. I.e. they were marauding in the plain, not all trapped in a valley. Presumably, many of these in fact survived.

For more on the Battle of Pliska and what else our historians’ errors can tell us:
byzantinemporia.com/battle-of-plis…

@holland_tom some grist for the Herodotus-over-Thucydides mill