Anchialos

   City in Thrace (q.v.) on the coast of the Black Sea (q.v.) fought over by Byzantine and Bulgarian armies. At Anchialos in 763, Constantine V (q.v.) handed Teletz, khan of the Bulgars (qq.v.), such a resounding defeat that Teletz was overthrown and Bulgaria (q.v.) weakened by internal revolts until the accession of khan Telerig (q.v.) ca. 770. In 917 at Achelous (near Anchialos) Tsar Symeon (qq.v.) destroyed a Byzantine army and reoccupied the city, which remained in Bulgarian hands until it was retaken by John V (q.v.) in 1364. In early 1453, before the fall of Constantinople (q.v.), Karadja Beg, general of Mehmed II (q.v.), captured the few remaining Byzantine cities on the Thracian coast of the Black Sea still in Byzantine possession, including Mesembria (q.v.) and Anchialos.