Since the 1060–1070s, the Armenian highlands and the Anti-Taurus Mountains had been exposed to Turkoman warriors and their rule, while the presence of local Christian lords in the region stretching from the Cilician plain to Diyar Mudar persisted.

[1] Philaretos is described by Michael the Syrian as having a "tough and robust character" while Matthew of Edessa saw him as a "lawless and most evil prince".

In 1069 he was given the command of the main Byzantine army that was protecting the frontier of Mesopotamia while Romanus participated in the siege of Akhlat.

He was present at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, where he commanded a division of Romanus' army, and remained at the head of a considerable body of troops after the defeat.

[5] As the only remaining Byzantine general in the southeast he established a quasi-autonomous realm in the neighbourhood of Germanicia, which stretched from Cilicia to Edessa.