George of Antioch, bilingual (in Greek and Arabic) and familiar with the Mediterranean, was soon working for Roger as an ambassador on missions to Fatimid Egypt.

Rising to the title of familiaris of the court, by 1123 he had risen to second in command in Christodulus' navy.

In the attack on Mahdia that year, George had captured the fortress of ad-Dimas, but the campaign had to be abandoned.

In the following five years, George had overshadowed Chrisotodulus and by 1127 had replaced him in the position of emir of Palermo.

In that year, both emirs were present at Montescaglioso with Count Roger, but Christodulus seems to have died soon thereafter.

George, his successor, has been instrumental in fully subduing independent-minded Apulia and Calabria in the years following Roger's succession there.

George had brought sixty ships to bear on besieged Bari in 1129, at that time rebellious under Prince Grimoald Alferanites.

Surrender had been forced, but Roger had pardoned the prince.

In 1131, Roger demands that the citizens of Amalfi turn over the keys to the castle as well as full control over their city's defenses.

The Amalfitans refuse, and Roger sends John of Palermo across the Strait of Messina to join up with a royal troop from Apulia and Calabria and march on Amalfi by land, while George of Antioch blockades the town by sea and sets up a base on Capri.

Amalfi soon capitulates.