Nikephoros Ouranos - Biography

Biography

Very little is known of Ouranos's origin, his early years or his family, and the chronicles represent him very much as a novus homo. A prōtospatharios and asēkrētis Basil Ouranos, possibly an elder relative, is attested, and we know from Nikephoros's letters that he had a brother named Michael. Nikephoros Ouranos himself first enters history in the early 980s, during negotiations between Byzantium and the Emir of Baghdad for the return of the renegade rebel general Bardas Skleros. After a first Byzantine embassy in 980, an Arab embassy under Ibn Shahram visited Constantinople in 982, and Ouranos is mentioned in its report as a confidante of the young Basil II, holding the high court position of epi tou kanikleiou (keeper of the kanikleion, the imperial inkstand). Ibn Shahram further mentioned that Ouranos's close association with the emperor made him an enemy to the powerful eunuch parakoimomenos, Basil Lekapenos, who had supervised the affairs of state for decades. During the negotiations, Ouranos functioned as the intermediary between the Arabs and the emperor, and he was subsequently chosen by the parakoimomenos to head a Byzantine delegation to Baghdad, which would take custody of Skleros.

Once in Baghdad, however, Ouranos was accused of either trying to poison or to negotiate in secret with Skleros, and was imprisoned. It is very likely that the charges against him were orchestrated by Basil Lekapenos, who wished to get rid of him. He remained in prison in Baghdad until after Bardas Skleros himself was let go in late 986, and was back at Constantinople in 987. By that time, Basil Lekapenos had fallen from power and had died, and Ouranos continued to enjoy the imperial favour. He was given the rank of magistros, and his influential position is evident from the fact that Saint Athanasius the Athonite appointed him as the first lay guardian (epitropos) of his monastery of the Great Lavra.

Following the death of the doux of Thessalonica, Gregory Taronites, in battle against the Bulgarians in 996, Basil II appointed Ouranos as Domestic of the Schools of the West; in effect, commander-in-chief of the European field army. Following their success, the Bulgarians had penetrated deep into Greece, raiding and pillaging even unto Corinth in the Peloponnese. In 997, Ouranos assembled his forces at Thessalonica and marched south to meet them, while the Bulgarian Tsar Samuel, upon hearing of his coming, turned north. The two armies eventually met on the banks of the river Spercheios in Central Greece, which was flooded due to heavy rainfall in the preceding days, rendering it impassable. Both armies thus encamped on opposite shores of the river. The Bulgarians, confident that the Byzantines could not cross the river, neglected to station guards. Ouranos, however, found a ford further upstream, crossed his army over during the night, and attacked the Bulgarian camp. The battle was a rout, as the majority of the Bulgarian army, caught unawares, was either killed or captured. Even Tsar Samuel and his son were wounded and only escaped by lying among the slain.

Ouranos continued campaigning in the area over the next years, although no information on his operations is provided by the chronicler Skylitzes, our main source. In December 999, Ouranos was appointed doux of Antioch in Syria, one of the most important Byzantine regional military commands. Following the death of the previous doux, Damian Dalassenos, in battle against the Fatimids in 998, Emperor Basil himself had campaigned in the area in the previous year, hoping to stabilize the eastern frontier so as to devote his resources in the West against Bulgaria. In the spring of 1000, Ouranos accompanied Basil in his campaign that led to the annexation of the Georgian principality of Tao, and defended this new possession from attacks by Gurgen of Iberia in 1001–1002.

After achieving a ten-year truce with the Fatimids in 1001, the trusted Ouranos was meant to be Basil's representative in the eastern border areas, and was armed with plenipotentiary authority, as attested by a seal declaring him "master of the East" (ὁ κρατῶν τῆς Ἀνατολῆς). In 1000–1001, Ouranos quelled an uprising by two Syrian Bedouin tribes, the Noumeritai and the Ataphitai. In 1005–1007, he was engaged in operations against the Arab rebel Al-Asfar, whom he finally defeated in 1007. Nothing is known of Ouranos after that date, although the fact that a successor as doux of Antioch was not appointed until 1011 may mean that he continued to occupy the office until that date.