The Kourkouas family or Curcuas (Medieval Greek: Κουρκούας, from Armenian: 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.[1] 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.
- ^ "Aristocrats, Mercenaries, Clergymen and Refugees: Deliberate and Forced Mobility of Armenians in the Early Medieval Mediterranean (6th to 11th Century a.d.)", Migration Histories of the Medieval Afroeurasian Transition Zone, BRILL, pp. 327–384, 2020-04-23, retrieved 2023-04-18