Constantine VIII, having no male heir, has attempted to arrange the marriage of his daughter Theodora to the heir presumptive, Romanus Argyrus, the son of an unnamed member of the Argyros family and a great-grandson of Romanos I Lekapenos.

His sister Maria Argyre had married Giovanni Orseolo, a Venetian lord in Dalmatia.

He also has a brother, Basil Argyros.

Theodora, possessed of a strong and austere character, refuses.

Under Basil II, Romanos had served as judge, and under Constantine VIII he became urban prefect of Constantinople.

Romanos had attracted the attention of Constantine VIII, who forces him to divorce his wife (sending her into a monastery) and to marry the emperor's daughter Zoe Porphyrogenita, a woman in her fiftieth year.

The marriage takes place on November 12, 1028, and three days later Constantine VIII dies, leaving Romanos III as emperor.

The Macedonian line is continued in his two daughters.