Andronikos Doukas ( general under Leo VI ) Andronikos Doukas or Doux ( , died circa 910 ) was a Byzantine general and rebel in the reign of Emperor Leo VI the Wise ( r . 886 – 912 ) . The first member of the illustrious Doukas line to achieve prominence as a successful general , his rivalry with the powerful eunuch Samonas led to his revolt and eventual defection to the Arabs in 906 – 907 . He died in exile in Baghdad . Biography . Andronikos Doukas is the first prominent member of the Doukas family whose life is known in some detail . He was possibly the son of the first recorded Doukas , an official active circa 855 , but nothing is known of his origin and early life . Andronikos first appears in the sources in 904 , already a holder of the exalted title of " patrikios " and a general . In November or December of that year , along with Eustathios Argyros , he campaigned against the Arabs and won a major victory over the combined forces of Mopsuestia and Tarsos near Germanikeia . Alexander Vasiliev suggested that this campaign was possibly waged in retaliation of the Arab sack of Thessalonica , the Byzantine Empire ' s second - largest city , a few months earlier . Probably after his victory , he was raised to the rank of Domestic of the Schools , i . e . commander - in - chief of the Empire ' s army . In 906 , he was ordered west to the Aegean coast to join forces with the fleet under Himerios , in order to confront a large Arab naval expedition . Andronikos , however , was reluctant to comply , fearing for his safety : he had received letters from Constantinople warning him that Himerios had been given orders to seize and blind him . In fact , the chroniclers relate that these letters had been sent through the machinations of the eunuch Samonas , Leo ' s influential Arab - born chamberlain . Samonas bore a personal grudge against the Doukas family ever since Andronikos ' s son Constantine had seized him during an attempted flight to his native lands a few years earlier . The repeated pleas of Himerios to join him only made Andronikos more suspicious , and he firmly refused to board the former ' s flagship . In the event , Himerios departed with his own forces and on 6 October secured a major victory over the Arab fleet . At the news of this , Andronikos , fearing punishment for having disobeyed the Emperor ' s commands , withdrew east with his family and dependants and seized the fortress of Kaballa , near Iconium . There he held out for some six months , while Leo sent the new Domestic of the Schools , Gregoras Iberitzes , a relative by marriage to the Doukai , to persuade him to surrender . However , when Andronikos heard the news of the deposition of his friend the Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos ( February 907 ) , on whom he had placed hopes for mediation , he resolved to flee and asked for aid from the Arabs . In mid - spring 907 , an Arab force came to his aid and broke the leaguer around Kaballa . Escorted by the Arabs , Andronikos and his family crossed the border , coming first to Tarsos and finally to the Abbasid capital , Baghdad . The flight of Andronikos Doukas represents a peculiar episode : several scholars , such as Alexander Vasiliev and Romilly Jenkins , consider it evidence of a real plot against Leo , which included the Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos and perhaps also the admiral Eustathios . Others , such as Demetrios Polemis and Shaun Tougher , reject this interpretation and explain the episode in terms of the rivalry with the powerful Samonas . They regard Andronikos ' s actions to have been purely defensive in character and mandated by his untenable position after his refusal to cooperate with Himerios . Despite Andronikos ' s defection – or because of it , considering that Leo of Tripoli and Damian of Tarsus , Byzantium ' s most dangerous opponents at the time , were Byzantine renegades – Leo was determined to retrieve him . Personal sympathies also played a role : Leo was evidently attached to his general , and even wrote a poem in lamentation of his defection . Consequently , the Emperor sent Andronikos a secret message guaranteeing a safe return , hidden inside a candle . Samonas , however , contrived for this to fall in the hands of the Caliph ' s vizier , discrediting the general in the Arabs ' eyes . Andronikos was then imprisoned in Baghdad and forced to convert to Islam . He probably died there soon after . His son Constantine , on the other hand , soon managed to escape Baghdad and return to Byzantium , where he was pardoned by Leo and entrusted with senior military commands . Legacy . The careers of both Andronikos and Constantine , who in 913 also mounted an unsuccessful bid for the throne that cost him his life , entered folk legend and provided the models for two personages in the epic poem " Digenes Akritas " .