Although he has drawn famous portraits of Byzantine aristocrats in a number of studies, Paul Lemerle did not explicitly address the relation with the provincial territories as an important factor in creating a Byzantine aristocratic identity. The issue was first explicitly raised by Hélène Ahrweiler, who pointed to the progressive detachment of Byzantine aristocrats from their provincial bases during the eleventh century and to their subsequent « constantinopolisation ». In later years, scholars, such as Jean-Claude Cheynet, Alexander Kazhdan and John Haldon, have further scrutinized the importance of provincial bonds as a source of social power and political influence. The authors of this paper provide a fresh look at long-debated questions by reconsidering Byzantine aristocratic attitude toward the eastern regions of the Empire on the eve of the Turkish invasions. Evidence related to the physical presence of prominent individuals and families in the eastern provinces has been collected in an updated prosographic table, which takes into account both the ownership of properties and the performance of public functions in Asia Minor. The interpretation of the available sources sheds new light on a complex network of relations connecting the elites in the capital and a stratified provincial society. The symbolic power of provincial family memory is also examined through the prism of hagiographic literature. The Lives of Dositheos the Young and of Niketas Patrikios showcase the alleged provincial connections of two important lineages, the Genesioi and the Monomachoi, and point to their implications for family prestige and social legitimacy.