What is "optimatoi"

The Optimatoi (, from , "the Best Men") were initially formed as an elite Byzantine military unit. In the mid-8th century, however, they were downgraded to a supply and logistics corps and assigned a province ( thema) in north-western Asia Minor, which was named after them. As an administrative unit, the Theme of the Optimatoi (Greek: , thema Optimatōn) survived until the Ottoman conquest in the first decades of the 14th century.