Alexios Doukas Philanthropenos

Alexios Doukas Philanthropenos (Greek: Ἀλέξιος Δούκας Φιλανθρωπηνός, died ca. 1275) was a Byzantine nobleman and distinguished admiral, with the rank of protostrator and later megas doux, during the reign of Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–1282).

Alexios is the first important member of the Philanthropenos family mentioned in the sources. He first appears in George Akropolites's history in autumn 1255 as a military commander in the region of Ohrid — perhaps as governor (doux) of the local thema — during the wars of Theodore II Laskaris (r. 1254–1258) against the Bulgarians.

Throughout the 1260s, Philanthropenos carried the title of protostrator. Theoretically, he was subordinate to the megas doux Michael Laskaris, but the latter was old and infirm, and Philanthropenos exercised the de facto command of the Byzantine navy. In 1262 or 1263, soon after the recapture of Constantinople from the Latins, Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos sent him to raid the Latin possessions of the Aegean Sea. This was the first major expedition undertaken by Palaiologos's recently expanded and reorganized navy, and Philanthropenos's ships were manned by the new corps of the Gasmouloi and the Prosalentai. The Byzantines raided and sacked the islands of Paros, Naxos, and Keos, as well as the towns of Karystos and Oreoi on Negroponte (Euboea), before sailing south to support the operations of an expeditionary force that landed at Monemvasia against the Principality of Achaea.

...
Wikipedia