 Xiphias is next mentioned in the Battle of Kleidion in 1014 , when Basil II was attempting to force the pass known as Kleidion or Kiava Longos , which the Bulgarians under their ruler Samuil had strongly fortified . Xiphias , still strategos of Philippopolis , suggested to the Emperor to bypass the Bulgarian positions and strike them from the rear . After Basil agreed , Xiphias led a picked infantry detachment over Mount Belasica , and on 29 July 1014 , led his troops on a charge on the unsuspecting Bulgarians , who panicked and broke before the unexpected attack . For this feat , which resulted in one of the most decisive victories in the long Bulgarian war , he was rewarded with promotion to the rank of patrikios . In early 1015 , Xiphias , along with Constantine Diogenes , subdued the region of Moglena , which had rebelled against imperial rule . Towards the end of the same year he campaigned from Mosynopolis to the region of Triaditza ( Sofia ) , razing its environs and capturing the fort of Boyana . Finally , in the last year of the Bulgarian war , in 1018 , starting from Kastoria he subdued the remaining Bulgarian strongholds in the region of Servia . 
