The main source describing Daphnomeles's life, and indeed the Bulgarian campaigns (986–1018) of Emperor Basil II, is the late 11th-century "Synopsis Historion" of John Skylitzes, whose chronology is often problematic to reconstruct. Daphnomeles came from the landed aristocracy of Asia Minor, which for centuries provided the Byzantine military elite. Traditional historiography places his first appearance in circa 1005, when the Adriatic port city of Dyrrhachium is said to have been surrendered by John Chryselios, a local magnate, to the Byzantines. Daphnomeles, at the head of a fleet, took possession of the city. Given the chronologically unclear narrative of Skylitzes, however, it is possible that this episode reflects his later appointment (after 1018) as (military governor) of the city.