He was married to the sister of Zoe Karbonopsina, the mistress and later wife of Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912), and his career was the direct result of this relationship.
A Muslim fleet under Leo of Tripoli was heading towards Constantinople and had already driven back the Byzantines under the droungarios tou ploimou Eustathios Argyros.
[2] On St. Thomas's day (6 October) in 906, Himerios managed to score his first victory over the Arabs,[3][4] and it was probably then that he was awarded the high state office of logothetēs tou dromou (effectively foreign minister).
Another victory followed in 909, and in the next year, he led an expedition on the Syrian coast: Laodicea was sacked, its hinterland plundered, and many prisoners captured, with minimal losses.
However, as his fleet was rounding Chios, they fell into a Saracen ambush set by Leo of Tripoli and Damian of Tarsus (April 912):[4] the Byzantines were annihilated, and Himerios himself only narrowly escaped.