After Alexios's rise to power in 1081, Adrianos was raised to the new dignity of "protosebastos", which he shared, for a time, with his brother-in-law Michael Taronites and with the Doge of Venice. According to Zonaras, he was also entrusted with military commands in the campaigns of 1082–1083 against the Normans of Robert Guiscard and Bohemund in Thessaly. Zonaras reports that Alexios gave his brother the imperial regalia, and had him pretend to retreat with his army, so that Alexios himself could strike the pursuing Normans from the rear. However, in the "Alexiad", Anna Komnene credits Nikephoros Melissenos with this role, while the Italian chronicler William of Apulia refers to the two persons as one ("the other brother of the Emperor, also known as Melisianus; his name was Adrianos"). Possibly as a reward for his service, in August 1084 Adrianos was given the proceeds of the entire Kassandra peninsula in Chalcidice for life.