Trade Networks in the Middle and Late Byzantine Period

The project aims to study the commercial networks that developed in Byzantium from the 9th to the 15th century. Beyond the stereotypes of trade between Byzantines and foreigners and the indisputably prominent role of Constantinople, interest focuses mainly on the organization of trade and taxation issues that have not been facilitated by research to date (which goods were taxed, at what stage of circulation were taxes on the circulation of goods collected, what happened to goods that were transported within the Byzantine state across different tax regions, which were the customs stations and how was the kommerkion refunded in cases where the goods remained unsold), the role of the state and the privileges granted to foreign merchant groups, the preference for certain goods, and the organization of smaller markets. Finally, there is particular interest in recording the activities of specific merchants, mainly Greek-speaking, who were the main players in commercial activity and about whom we are trying to gather information from archival sources. In the latter case in particular, the Anavathmis database (https://anavathmis.eu/3_1_3/) aims to bring together interesting material.