Nikephoros Ouranos (; fl. c. 980 – c. 1010), Latinized as Nicephorus Uranus, was a high-ranking Byzantine official and general during the reign of Emperor Basil II (r. 976–1025). One of the emperor's closest associates, he was active in Europe in the wars against the Bulgarians, scoring a major victory at Spercheios, and against the Arabs in Syria, where he held command during the first decade of the 11th century as Basil's virtual viceroy. A well-educated man, he wrote a military manual (Taktika) and composed several surviving poems and hagiographies. Biography Very little is known of Ouranos's origin, his early years or his family, and the chronicles represent him very much as a "new man". A prōtospatharios and asēkrētis Basil Ouranos, possibly an elder relative, is attested, and we know from Nikephoros's letters that he had a brother named Michael. Nikephoros Ouranos himself first enters history in the early 980s, during negotiations between Byzantium and the Buyid ruler of Baghdad for the return of the renegade rebel general Bardas Skleros. After a first Byzantine embassy in 980, an Arab embassy under Ibn Shahram visited Constantinople in 982, and Ouranos is mentioned in its report as a confidant of the young Basil II, holding the high court position of epi tou kanikleiou (keeper of the kanikleion, the imperial inkstand). Ibn Shahram further mentioned that Ouranos's close association with the emperor made him an enemy to the powerful eunuch parakoimomenos, Basil Lekapenos, who had supervised the affairs of state for decades. During the negotiations, Ouranos functioned as the intermediary between the Arabs and the emperor, and he was subsequently chosen by the parakoimomenos to head a Byzantine delegation to Baghdad, which would take custody of Skleros. Once in Baghdad, however, Ouranos was accused of either trying to poison or to negotiate in secret with Skleros, and was imprisoned. It is very likely that the charges against him were orchestrated by Basil Lekapenos, who wished to get rid of him. He remained in prison in Baghdad until after Bardas Skleros himself was let go in late 986, and was back at Constantinople in 987. By that time, Basil Lekapenos had fallen from power and had died, and Ouranos continued to enjoy imperial favour. He was given the rank of magistros, and his influential position is evident from the fact that Saint Athanasius the Athonite appointed him as the first lay guardian (epitropos) of