Doukas,
Latinized as
Ducas (; feminine:
Doukaina/
Ducaena, Δούκαινα; plural:
Doukai/
Ducae, Δοῦκαι), from the
Latin tile
dux ("leader", "general",
Hellenized as [
ðoux]), is the name of a
Byzantine Greek noble family, whose branches provided several notable generals and rulers to the
Byzantine Empire in the 9th–11th centuries. A maternally-descended line, the Komnenodoukai, founded the
Despotate of Epirus in the 13th century, with another branch ruling over
Thessaly. After the 12th century, the name "Doukas" and other variants proliferated across the Byzantine world, and were sometimes presented as signifying a direct genealogical relationship with the original family or the later branch based in the Despotate of Epirus.