23–25 April 971
The battle before the walls
On 23 April the Rus' wait for the Byzantines on the plain before Dorostolon. Leo the Deacon writes that they stand in a close wall of shields reaching to their feet, with their spears thrust forward. Tzimiskes puts his heavy infantry in the centre and his armoured cavalry on both wings, with archers and slingers behind, shooting over the front line.
Byzantine and Rus' horsemen at Dorostolon, where the unhorsed Theodore of Mistheia shields himself with a Rus' warrior, a miniature of the Madrid Skylitzes, 12th centuryWikimedia Commons, unknown artist, Public domain (MadridSkylitzesScythAsAShieldFol170v.jpg)
The fighting lasts all day, and Leo writes that the advantage changes sides twelve times. Towards evening the emperor sends in all his cavalry, and the Rus' break and flee into the town.
Remains of the fortress of Durostorum on the bank of the Danube at Silistra, photographed in 2018Wikimedia Commons, Carole Raddato, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Fortress on the Danube at Durostorum (Moesia Inferior), Silistra, Bulgaria), (41160582835).jpg)
The next day the Byzantines build a camp on a low rise near the town, with a deep ditch and a rampart topped with spears hung with shields. On 25 April the fleet comes up the Danube with its fire-bearing warships and grain transports and closes the river. Sviatoslav has his boats drawn up on the bank under the walls, out of reach of the Greek fire.
Sources
- Leo the Deacon, The History, translated by Alice-Mary Talbot and Denis F. Sullivan (2005).
- John Skylitzes, Synopsis of Histories.
- Warren Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State and Society (1997), p. 509.
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