[5] Warren Treadgold – who notably believes that Paphlagonia belonged to the Armeniakon, and not the Boukellarion – suggested that its re-emergence as a separate province was linked with the new threat of Rus' naval activity in the Black Sea.

[3][4][7] A notable exception to the usual thematic hierarchy is the existence of a katepano, in charge of a naval squadron, with his seat at Amastris.

[1][3] After the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, most of the region was lost to the Seljuk Turks; the campaigns of John II Komnenos in the 1130s managed to recover firm control of the coast.

The interior became disputed territory, John II took Kastamon and Gangra but the latter soon returned to Turkish hands.

After the Fourth Crusade, Paphlagonia came under the control of David Komnenos, but in 1214 the Nicaean emperor Theodore I Laskaris seized the western parts up to Amastris.