Upon the death of Ashot III in 967, his two sons, Grigor II (Gregory Taronites) and Bagrat III (Pankratios Taronites), ceded Armenia to the Byzantine Empire in exchange for lands and noble titles. In Byzantium, probably along with other branches of their family already established there in previous decades, they formed the Taronites family, which was one of the senior Byzantine noble families during the 11th–12th centuries. Under Byzantine rule, Taron was united with the district of Keltzene into a single province (theme), whose governor (strategos or doux) usually bore the rank of protospatharios. In the middle of the 11th century, it was united with the theme of Vaspurakan under a single governor. Taron also became a metropolitan see with 21 suffragan sees.