Since the strategically vital
Danubian provinces were economically impoverished, the purpose of the was to help support the troops that were stationed there. By connecting the exposed provinces of the Lower Danube with wealthier provinces in the interior of the empire, Justinian was able to transport supplies via the
Black Sea. This territorial restructuring relieved both the destitute populations and the devastated countryside of the Danubian provinces from the burden of sustaining any stationed troops. There is a lack of subsequent evidence on the history of the . However, since the position of was still extant during the mid-570s, this indicates that the overall territorial unit achieved a modicum of success. Ultimately, the Danubian provinces associated with the did not survive the
Avar invasions in the sixth and seventh centuries. However, isolated fortresses on the Danube Delta and along the coast of the Black Sea were maintained via supplies by sea.
Charles Diehl first raised the suggestion that the great
naval corps of the , which appears in the 680s, was first formed by the remainders of the . This argument has been adopted by some scholars since but challenged by others, notably
Helene Ahrweiler in her study of the Byzantine navy. This question is bound up with the discussion on the respective formations' nature as military-naval or civil-administrative entities. Lead seals from Moesia Inferior and Scythia Minor provide archaeological evidence supporting the existence of the . Specifically, thirteen seals, nine of which are from the reign of Justinian, demonstrate that communications between officials from Scythia Minor and
Constantinople occurred on a somewhat regular basis. ==References==