[1] Theodoro was also known as Gothia because its territory had previously belonged to the Crimean Goths, who had undergone Hellenization under the influence of the Byzantine Empire.
The Goths in the Crimea (1936) by Alexander Vasiliev presented the theory that Demetrios and his successors were descendants of Constantine Gabras, the doux of Trebizond in the early 12th century.
[2] Constantine is considered a nephew of Theodore Gabras, the 11th century Duke of Trebizond mentioned in the Alexiad by Anna Komnene.
Historian Thierry Ganchou has recently asserted that due to discrepancies in Spandounes' accounts, it may be that Helena Kantakouzene had never existed.
They included Basil, Manuel and George Komnenos, princes decapitated by orders of Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire in 1463.