thumb|right|Inscription of Gregorios Kourkouas from the church in Patalenitsa, 1090/1091 The '''Kourkouas family''' or '''Curcuas''' ({{langx|grc-x-medieval|Κουρκούας}}, from {{Langx|hy|Գուրգեն}}, ''Gurgen'') was, allegedly, one of the many nakharar families from Armenia that migrated to the Byzantine Empire during the period of Arab rule over Armenia (7th–9th centuries) although the latter is mostly speculative.<ref>{{Citation |title=Aristocrats, Mercenaries, Clergymen and Refugees: Deliberate and Forced Mobility of Armenians in the Early Medieval Mediterranean (6th to 11th Century a.d.) |date=2020-04-23 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004425613_013 |work=Migration Histories of the Medieval Afroeurasian Transition Zone |pages=327–384 |access-date=2023-04-18 |publisher=BRILL}}</ref> They rose to prominence as part of the Anatolian military aristocracy in the 10th century, providing several high-ranking generals and an emperor. They intermarried extensively with the aristocratic families of Phokas and Skleros. In the 11th and 12th centuries, they shifted to the civilian bureaucracy.
== Famous members == *John Kourkouas (9th c.), Domestic of the ''Hikanatoi'' regiment and conspirator against Basil I ::*John Kourkouas (10th c.), alongside Theophilos, grandsons of the above; Domestic of the Schools of the East and famous general under Romanos I Lekapenos :::*Romanos Kourkouas, son of John Kourkouas, was Domestic of the Schools of the West ::::*John Kourkouas, son of Romanos, Domestic of the Schools of the East, killed in the Siege of Dorostolon ::*Theophilos Kourkouas, other grandson, ''strategos'' of Chaldia and later Domestic of the Schools ::::*John I Tzimiskes (c. 925–976), grandson of Theophilos Kourkouas, Byzantine Emperor in 969–976; apparently died childless ;Later generations *John Kourkouas (11th c.), Catepan of Italy in 1008–1010 *Gregory Kourkouas, ''doux'' of Philippopolis in 1089–1091 *Michael II Kourkouas, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 1143–1146.
==References== {{reflist}}
== Sources == * {{citation | last = Andriollo | first = Lisa | chapter = Les Kourkouas (IXe-XIe siècle) | language = fr | title = Studies in Byzantine Sigillography | volume = 11 | editor1-last = Cheynet | editor1-first=Jean-Claude | editor2-last = Sode | editor2-first = Claudia | location = Berlin | publisher = De Gruyter | year = 2012 | pages = 57–88 | isbn = 978-3-11-026668-9 | chapter-url = https://www.academia.edu/2074096/Les_Kourkouas_IXe-XIe_siecle_}} * {{citation | last = Cheynet | first = Jean-Claude | title = Pouvoir et contestations à Byzance (963–1210) | location = Paris | publisher = Publications de la Sorbonne | year = 1996 | isbn =978-2-85944-168-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vicqWvzRLkYC | language = fr}} * {{citation | editor-first = Alexander | editor-last = Kazhdan | title = Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium | location = Oxford and New York | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1991 | isbn = 978-0-19-504652-6 | pages=1156–1157}} * {{citation | last=Stouraitis | first=Ioannis | title=Kourkouas Family | work=Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor | publisher = Foundation of the Hellenic World | location = Athens | url=http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=9099 | year=2003}}
Category:Kourkouas family