Les Kourkouas (IXe-XIe siècle)

This is the first comprehensive prosopographical study of a Byzantine aristocratic family whose trajectory is significant in several respects. The Kourkouas were a family of probable Armenian descent; in the 9th and 10th centuries their possessions and area of influence lay between Pontus and the north-eastern frontier (Armenian, Chaldean, Mesopotamian and Theodosiupolitan themes). They had brilliant careers at court and in the army, and established relations of kinship and alliance with other illustrious lineages of the eastern military aristocracy. The representatives of this family were key players in the empire's military expansion in the east and in the Byzantine-Arab wars in the 10th century and were able to use their regional influence to project their interests into the centre of imperial politics, ultimately placing one of their own on the throne. The prosopographical reconstruction is based on the testimony of Greek and Arabic literary sources, archival documents, and sigillographic and epigraphic sources; the article includes the description and reading of several unpublished seals.