In this capacity, he sailed with 100 ships in relief of Ragusa against an Arab siege which had already lasted 15 months, and restored the imperial suzerainty over the coasts of Dalmatia. At a subsequent date, he was appointed in a position in the Byzantine navy, and in 867 he was in charge of the Imperial Fleet ( droungarios tou ploïmou). In his capacity, Ooryphas made a report to Emperor Michael III, who was campaigning against the Arabs in Asia Minor. Niketas Ooryphas first appears in our sources in 860, as urban prefect of Constantinople, when a Rus' fleet suddenly appeared in the entrance to the Bosporus and started pillaging the city's suburbs. Several people surnamed Ooryphas are recorded in sources during the first half of the 9th century, all of them in high naval positions, but any family relation is conjectural. Nothing is known of Niketas Ooryphas's early life. Saracen corsairs, from the Madrid Skylitzes manuscript.
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