What is "vlastos"

Vlastos or Vlasto (or 'Blasto/us' in some Greek/Latin translations). 'Vlasto' derives from the ancient Greek 'blast' or 'vlast', meaning a young shoot, a bud, something which flourishes or burgeons and, in general terms, implies fruitfulness, potency and vigour. The Vlastos were an ancient Greek noble family, known to have been prominent in Ionia in ancient times, in Rome in the c. 2nd A.D., in Constantinople as members of its principal noble families,. later in Crete, Chios and Venice.

Vlastos were both powerful and influential at the highest levels in the Byzantine Empire. Their role continued through the Genoese, Venetian and Ottoman empires until the catastrophic The Massacre at Chios in 1822.

From at least the c. 17th until 1822, the Vlastos were a principal ruling (demogeront) family of Chios, having previously been prominent in Crete since 1092. After the massacres their diaspora led to the founding of more scattered 'dynastic' communities in, among other cities, Alexandria, Athens, Corfu, Syros, Liverpool, London, Marseilles, Livorno (Leghorn), Paris, Trieste, etc.