[3] On his father's side, Alexios was also closely related to the imperial family of the Palaiologoi, through his grandmother, Martha Palaiologina, a sister of Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (r.

[3] Alexios's uncle, Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328), took an active interest in the defence of the Anatolian possessions of the Byzantine Empire against the encroaching Turkic emirates in the early 1290s: hoping to re-establish the akritai, he settled refugees from Venetian-held Crete in military colonies along the border and appointed Alexios as doux of the Thracesian theme, awarding him the high court title of pinkernēs.

[7] During the next two years, Alexios achieved several victories: he defeated the Turks of Mysia at Achyraous and forced them to recognize Byzantine rule, and then moved south.

[3] Based at Nymphaion, he scoured the valley of the Maeander river, managing to stop the Turkish raids and advance into the Emirate of Menteshe, recapturing the fortress of Melanoudion, the town of Hieron, and rid Miletus of the payment of tribute to the Turks.

The exact circumstances and reasons for this move remain obscure, but the revolt was fuelled by the discontent of the Asian provinces over high taxation and what many perceived as the neglect of the defence of Asia by the Palaiologoi.

[11] Philanthropenos remained at Philadelphia until 1326, possibly also 1327, but it appears that he was then appointed as governor of the strategically important Byzantine island of Lesbos, since he was dismissed from the same post in 1328 by Andronikos III Palaiologos.

[3] In 1335, Lesbos was seized by a Latin army under the Genoese Lord of Phocaea, Domenico Cattaneo, and Andronikos III raised a fleet of 83 ships to recover the island, which arrived in June 1336.

[3] Exuberantly praised by contemporaries like Nikephoros Gregoras as the "Belisarius of the Palaiologan era", Alexios Philanthropenos was left by Andronikos III as governor of the island, where he lived until his death, which occurred probably in the 1340s.