Dynatoi

The dynatoi, "the powerful", were in Byzantine law the senior ranks of civil, military and church officialdom, usually also holding considerable fortunes and landed estates. In Asia Minor the Phokades and the Maleinoi almost monopolised senior posts in the early and mid-10th century. Emperors from Romanos I Lekapenos to Basil II legislated to protect smaller landowners from them and keep them from the military lands, and Basil II made them liable for the taxes of their poorer neighbours. Their posts were seldom hereditary, but by the mid-11th century a few families formed a hereditary aristocracy.