Alexios III of Trebizond

Alexios III Megas Komnenos (1338–1390) ruled Trebizond from 1349 until his death. The son of Emperor Basil and Irene, he was raised at the Byzantine court until John VI Kantakouzenos sent him to Trebizond in 1349 to replace the deposed Michael.

Crowned in 1350, he married Theodora Kantakouzene in 1351, defeated the rebel Niketas Scholares, and survived an ambush in 1363. Marriage alliances with Turkmen neighbors and Georgia secured his reign; he died in 1390 and was succeeded by his son Manuel III.