Alexios I Megas Komnenos or
Alexius I Megas Comnenus (; c. 1182 – February 1, 1222) was, with his brother
David, the founder of the
Empire of Trebizond, which he ruled from 1204 until his death in 1222. The two brothers were the only male descendants of the
Byzantine Emperor Andronikos I, who had been dethroned and killed in 1185, and thus claimed to represent the legitimate government of the Empire following the
conquest of
Constantinople by the
Fourth Crusade in 1204. Although his rivals governing the
Nicaean Empire succeeded in becoming the de facto successors, and rendered his dynastic claims to the imperial throne moot, Alexios' descendants continued to emphasize both their heritage and connection to the
Komnenian dynasty by referring to themselves as
Megas Komnenos or
Grand Komnenos.