Most of the family members are known as military officers, such as Demetrios Katakalon, katepano of Paradounavon, or the general and military author Katakalon Kekaumenos.
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The family became particularly prominent under the Komnenian emperors; Constantine Euphorbenos Katakalon was one of the most important generals of Alexios I Komnenos, and his son Nikephoros Katakalon wedded the Emperor's daughter Maria.
Katakalon Kekaumenos has also been put forward as the author of the so-called Strategikon of Kekaumenos, but his identification with its author, known only as Kekaumenos, is mostly rejected by modern scholars.