his monastery of the Great Lavra. Following the death of the military governor (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, took his army across during the night, and attacked the Bulgarian camp. The battle was a rout, as the majority of the Bulgarians, caught unawares, were 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 about his operations is provided by the chronicler Skylitzes, the 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 to enable him to devote his resources in the West against Bulgaria. In the spring of 1000, Ouranos accompanied Basil in his campaign, which 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 arranging 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" (). 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