The Battle of Bathys Ryax

Basil I, Chrysocheir, and the Annihilation of the Heretical Paulician State

von Winston Maddox

128 Seiten, Taschenbuch

Kurzbeschreibung des Verlags

Can an idea be so dangerous that an empire must burn whole mountains to erase it?For nearly two centuries, the eastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire was consumed not just by the Arab-Byzantine wars, but by an internal nightmare: the rise of the Paulicians. Rejecting the cross, the priesthood, the Old Testament, and the sacred sacraments of Constantinople, this dualist sect did not merely preach in secret-they took up arms. Under renegade imperial officers and charismatic zealots, they carved an independent military state out of the harsh Anatolian highlands at Tephrike, creating a rogue sanctuary that struck terror into the hearts of emperors.In The Battle of Bathys Ryax, Winston Maddox pulls back the curtain on this ruthless, often-overlooked war of annihilation. Readers are taken directly onto the mud-slicked mountain passes and into the council chambers of Constantinople, where Emperor Basil I realized that no treaty could contain the dualist threat. Follow the rise of Chrysocheir, the "Golden Hand," whose fast-moving raiders pillaged deep into imperial territory, desecrated churches, and turned Ephesus into a stable for their warhorses. This is not a passive reading experience; it is an immersive descent into the brutal logistics, shifting border alliances with Islamic emirs, and uncompromising zeal that defined ninth-century warfare.The climax arrives in 872 AD along the narrow pass of Bathys Ryax, where imperial strategy and heretical fervor collided in a catastrophic ambush. Through meticulous historical reconstructive narrative, Maddox detail-maps the tactical maneuvers, the breakdown of command structures, and the final hunt for Chrysocheir that left the Paulician state shattered beyond repair. You will witness the systematic razing of Tephrike and the massive population deportations that unwittingly seeded dualist heresy across the Balkans for centuries to come.What drives men to build a state on the absolute rejection of the world around them, and what does it take for a medieval empire to systematically destroy an idea? The Battle of Bathys Ryax delivers the answers with unrelenting detail, rigorous scholarly foundation, and narrative momentum crafted specifically for those who demand their history unvarnished.

• Reihe: The Strange and Forbidden Sects of Medieval Europe
• Themen: Philosophie und Religion Religion und Glaube Religion, allgemein Religiöse Fragen und Debatten Blasphemie, Ketzerei, Konversion, Apostasie
• ISBN: 9798235002715
• Sprache: Englisch
• Erscheinungsdatum: 06.09.2026
• Größe: 203 x 127 mm
• Verlag: Winston Maddox Publishing