The Byzantine Market Economy in the 4th to 9th Centuries: Concepts and Definitions

Abstract

The article attempts to outline the philological criteria of working with the Byzantine sources that would allow us to find the key to the concepts and definitions of the Byzantine market economy, or rather the Byzantine “economy with markets.” Only using such a key can we learn to cull from the written sources evidence relating to Byzantine goods and services, crafts, trade, and their specialization. Given that this is the first time such an attempt has been made in historiography, its results may be particularly useful from the methodological point of view for further research in this direction. Especially important is the concept of “goods,” found in the sources as empolema, ergocheiron, pragma, pargmatos, pragmateia, emporeia, emporeuma, empoeumata, agoraima, agoraro, and onia. The concept of “trade relations” (synallagmata) also deserves attention. Specialization in crafts and trade is clearly marked in the written sources by such definitions as “occupation,” “service,” or “job” (yperesia, douleia, douleusis, doulagodia, latreia, pragma, praxis, episteme, epistedeuma, epitedeuma, epeiserchestha , techne, ergosia). Different categories of artisans were referred to using such terms as cheirotechnes, cheirourgos, demiourgos, technites, and their variations (technai depantoiai, cheirotechnai, cheirourgoi, yphantike), while retailers and merchants were usually lumped under the terms agoraios or emporos. Persons working in the same occupation were labeled as omotechnois. The terms omoergoi, etairos, or sygkeimenoi tes autes technes were used in the same sense. They could sometimes refer to a wide variety of traders – those who were engaged in sales (poles, poletes, prates) and therefore had the prefix “I sell” (poleo) attached to the name of their specialization.