Niketas Chalkoutzes

The patrikios Niketas Chalkoutzes (Νικήτας Χαλκούτζης, fl. 950–965) was a Byzantine general, the first attested member of the Chalkoutzes family, and most notable for his recovery of Cyprus from the Arabs in 965. He was probably the island's first Byzantine governor. He also served as an ambassador to the Hamdanid Emir of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla, ca. 950. According to John Skylitzes, Sayf took Chalkoutzes along with him in a raid into Byzantine territory, but Chalkoutzes bribed his guards and managed to escape with his servants during an ambush upon Sayf's forces by Leo Phokas the Younger.