The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Belasica

a mountain range on the border of Bulgaria, Greece, and Yugoslavia.

The troops of the Byzantine emperor Basil II dealt a heavy defeat to Bulgarian troops on July 29, 1014, on the northern slopes of Belasica in the Strumica River valley near the village of Kliuch (in present-day Bulgaria). Upon orders of the emperor, between 14,000 and 15,000 captive Bulgars were blinded. The defeat weakened the Bulgars significantly and hastened the fall of the West Bulgarian Kingdom in 1018.

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References in periodicals archive

Two hundred kilometers to the south of Skopje, in Novo Selo Municipality near Strumica, on the northern slopes of Mount Belasica, there begins the story of the Smolare Waterfall set above the small town of Smolare and hidden among the centuries-old oak trees.

The Smolare Waterfall

In the east river Vardar basin stretches near the Macedonian-Bulgarian border, with basins of rivers Dvoriska and Strumica, until mountain Belasica and Dojran lake.

Applying of factor analyses for determination of trace elements distribution in water from river Vardar and its tributaries, Macedonia/Greece

"It's a long way from FK Belasica - my first club - to Lazio but it hasn't changed me.

PANDEV IN RAGE AT OLSEN

He was spotted by Italian scouts when he became a regular with Macedonian team Belasica at the age of 16.

Football: THE NEW DI CANIO; Now goal-ace Pandev is out to prove his country is no pushover

Levadia Tallinn (Estonia) v Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel); Leixoes (Portugal) v Belasica (Macedonia); Stabaek (Norway) v LINFIELD (Northern Ireland); Sigma Olomouc (Cezch Republic) v Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina); Zimbru Chisinau (Moldova) v IFK Gothenburg (Sweden); Ujpest (Hungary) v Klaksvik (Faroe Islands); Myllykosken Pallo-47 (Finland) v Odense (Denmark).

Football: UEFA Cup qualifying round draw; First leg: August 15. Second leg: August 29

After a series of successes against the Byzantine empire, Macedonian czar Samuil's forces met defeat in on the slopes of the Belasica mountains at Vodca: "the place where the eyes were taken out." According to legend, Byzantine emperor Basil II, known more commonly as "Basil, the Bulgar Slayer," blinded all but every tenth man of Samuil's 14,000 soldiers.

Macedonia: end of the beginning or beginning of the end?

Principal battles: Sofia (981); Chrysopolis (Uskudar) (988); Abydos (989); siege of Aleppo (Halab) (995); the Spercheios (Sperkhios) (996); Skopje (1004); Balathista (Belasica) (1014).

Basil II Bulgaroctonos ("Bulgar-butcher") (958-1025)

Belasica, downstream of the Smolare River, a right tributary of the Strumica River, at an altitude of 600 meters above sea level, in the region of the village of Smolare.

Waterfalls in Macedonia

2 Belasica Str., Skopje 1130, until November 13 2010.

Conferences and exhibitions

UEFA Cup first qualifying rnd, 1st leg - AIK v Fylkir (7.30), Apoel Nicosia v DERRY CITY (5.30), Artmedia v Dudelange (5.00), Birkirkara v Ferencvaros (6.45), Brondby v Dinamo Minsk, Publikum v Belasica (4.30), Cementarnica v Dospel- Katowice (4.00), COLERAINE v Uniao Leiria (7.30), Crvena Zvezda v Nistru Otaci, CWMBRAN v Maccabi Haifa (5.45),

FOOTBALL: Sofia so good for the Turks

Belasica 1, Leixoes 2 (agg 3-4); Partizani Tirana 1, Hapoel Tel-Aviv 4 (agg 1-5); Dundalk 0, Varteks 4 (agg 0-9).

Football: Gr-eight Ipswich leave 'em Beggen for mercy