while concentrating on their military duties is still a matter of debate. Their officers however were drawn from the local aristocracy.

The Akritai declined in importance by the late 10th century, as the Byzantine conquests pushed the border eastwards, and its defense radically restructured, with smaller themata grouped in five large regional commands headed by a doux and a heavy presence of professional troops (tagmata). During the first half of the 11th century,