Alexios Axouch or Axouchos, sometimes found as Axuch (Greek: Ἀλέξιος Ἀξούχ or Ἀξοῦχος), was a 12th-century Byzantine nobleman and military leader of Turkish ancestry.
[1][3] An experienced soldier, Alexios was awarded the rank of protostrator and participated in several military campaigns during the middle reign of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r.
[3][4] Despite having at the same time to manage the delicate relations, fraught with mutual suspicion, with the Holy Roman Empire, which dominated northern Italy, Axouch was apparently very successful in his mission, leading to the conclusion of an honourable peace with King William I of Sicily in 1158 that allowed the Byzantine army to extricate itself from the Italian adventure.
[1][8] Among other things, Alexios was accused of "dabbling in sorcery" and conspiring with a Latin "wizard" to drug the Empress Maria of Antioch to prevent her from giving birth to an heir.
[10] In particular, Choniates reports that Manuel suspected both Axouch and his cousin, the future Andronikos I Komnenos (r. 1182–85), because of the AIMA prophecy, that stated that his successor's name would begin with an "A".