The newly independent Bulgarian state, ruled by the new Asenid dynasty from its capital at Veliko Türnovo, comes to be known as the “empire of Vlachs and Bulgars,” or the Second Bulgarian Empire.

After the major Bulgarian success in the battle of Tryavna in 1190, their troops have launched frequent attacks on Thrace and Macedonia to liberate all Bulgarian lands.

The imperial troops cannot confront the fast Bulgarian cavalry, which attacks from different directions on a vast area.

Towards 1194, Ivan Asen takes the important city of Sofia and the surrounding areas as well as the upper valley of the Struma River, whence his armies advance deep into Macedonia.

To distract his attention the imperial forces decides to strike in an eastern direction.

They assembled the Eastern army under its commander Alexios Gidos and the Western army under its Domestic Basil Vatatzes to stop the rise of Bulgarian power.

Basil Vatatzes, a Greek nobleman and general, is married to a niece of Emperor Isaac II Angelos and had been appointed by him as Domestic of the East and doux of the Thracesians.

In this capacity, he had suppressed the revolt of Theodore Mankaphas in Philadelphia in 1189.

By 1193, he was Domestic of the West (as with his contemporary and co-commander, Alexios Gidos, it is unclear if he was Grand Domestic or not), at Adrianople.

He is probably the father of John III Doukas Vatatzes, the future Emperor of Nicaea, and of the sebastokrator Isaac Doukas Vatatzes.

Near Arcadiopolis in Eastern Thrace, the imperial armies meet the Bulgarian army and, after a fierce battle, are annihilated.

Most of Gidos's troops perish and he has to flee for his life, escaping only with great difficulty, while the Western army is slaughtered completely and Basil Vatatzes is killed on the battlefield.