Explanation:
A dizzying array of goods circulated in the Byzantine and early Islamic Middle East along trade networks at the juncture of several continents and bodies of water. Although the region’s best known routes were those running between Europe and Asia at the western edge of the Silk Road, no less important were north-south overland routes across the Arabian Peninsula to eastern Africa. The convergence of these routes created a unique setting for cultural exchange, as merchants, mercenaries, nomads, and pilgrims came into constant contact along these networks.
Goods, Services, and Taxes
Luxurious silks, spices, incense, and the like counted among the Byzantine and early Islamic period’s most desired goods. Silk was particularly prized by both the Byzantine and Sasanian courts. Significant quantities of it outside the Middle East attest to the material’s inherently high value and to the reach of its appeal. For instance, extraordinary silks survive as the linings of reliquaries in European treasuries; equally impressive are pieces wrapping the bodies of mummies found in China. Byzantine and Sasanian silks have been discovered in graves in Egypt, showing the taste for the material among local, upper-class populations (15.109). Silk’s role as a valuable commodity ensured that its production continued for several centuries. Examples with classical imagery featuring crosses and Arabic inscriptions show the enduring popularity of older motifs (1987.442.5; 51.57).
Such luxury goods, however, were within the means of the relatively rarified elite. More mundane trade items formed the true foundation of the Byzantine and early Islamic economies. Late antique ostraka—pottery fragments with writing in Greek or Coptic, most of them from Egypt—are particularly valuable for historians studying trade (14.1.157). These documents include information about everyday life, such as receipts for commercial products like linen, letters between farmers about crops and livestock, and information about changing political and fiscal administration. Byzantium’s wealthy southern provinces generated significant tax income for the imperial treasury based on these goods, and the loss of these territories in the seventh century dealt a major blow to the empire’s finances
