Everyday Life in Byzantium Read online

  Though usury was strongly disapproved of it was found to be necessary and could not therefore be forbidden. Goldsmiths acted as money-lenders, but the government tried to control the rates of interest on loans. Though the average rate varied from 4 to 8 per cent, Justinian forbade more than 12 to be charged. Gradually the rate came to depend upon the borrower’s rank and occupation, noblemen being charged 4½ per cent, merchants 8½, and others 6¼. When the Italians gained a foothold in Byzantium they proceeded to replace the Greeks as money-lenders. A highly efficient clearance system between towns existed in Byzantium several centuries before anything of the sort was known to western Europe. The goldsmiths may have been responsible for evolving it, though the credit may well lie with the state bank of Byzantium: created probably at much the same time as Byzantium’s coins, the bank became the only institution in which people could buy or sell money. If they were found doing so elsewhere the sum involved was confiscated. In addition to handling currency the bank also collected the dues levied on ships using the Straits, and all customs charges.

  47 Bejewelled gold earrings

  From the start sharp distinctions were drawn between jewellers of different types. Thus not only did silversmiths and goldsmiths work in separate workshops, but in addition the men engaged in making the gold granules and wires so much used in jewellery, and the men who later made the gold partitions which the enamellers filled with coloured pastes, were all given separate places of work. There were men both among the silver- and the goldsmiths who did nothing but make regalia, insignia and badges of office, and the ceremonial vessels and dishes needed by the court and Church. Some metal-workers specialised in bronze, others in copper or lead. The majestic bronze doors which were made for the cathedral of Haghia Sophia in 838 were not in their day unique. Both bronze and silver doors were fitted to several halls in the Great Palace, but those in Haghia Sophia are the only ones to survive to testify to the skill of their makers. Between them, the metal-workers and jewellers furnished the court, Church and state with all the ceremonial vessels they required, with their jewellery, decorations, table-ware and kitchen utensils, as well as with the reliquaries, crosses and gospel covers needed by the faithful, and horse trappings varying from ornate, bejewelled examples to the strictly utilitarian.

  48 Table-ware: A Silver chalice; B Bronze goblet; C Bronze ewer; D Pottery cup; E Bronze vessel; F Silver strainer

  In addition metal-workers, whether living in the capital, in provincial towns or in the countryside, made the innumerable articles required in everyday life, especially knives and tools such as mattocks, hatchets and spades. Iron railings were constantly needed for windows or balconies, and iron bars for strengthening doors and chests. Bolts, keys, locks and vast quantities of nails were always being sold, but the more skilled workmen also produced chandeliers, called polycandeli, formed of bronze or iron hoops. These were of various sizes and were suspended from the ceilings of churches, and doubtless also of palaces and mansions; oil lamps fitted with wicks were fixed to the top of the hoop and ornaments hung from them—in the case of churches, symbols such as crosses, fish or birds.

  Metal-workers also made the chains and anchors required by the country’s extensive shipping. The most highly skilled craftsmen fashioned the clockwork devices which became fashionable in the ninth century. It has been suggested that the demand for these was created by the works of Arab mathematicians at the time when Emperor Theophilus was strongly attracted to everything Arabic. (His admiration for the Arabs in fact led him to build himself a room in the Persian style and to adorn it with niches worked in the Eastern stalactite manner.) During his reign the jewellers employed in the imperial workshops made the ingenious mechanical devices of which the imperial throne was the most elaborate creation. The designs for these stemmed at any rate sometimes from the Byzantine and not the Arab world: for instance, a director of the imperial metal-workers’ workshop, a relative of Patriarch Anthony, invented the silver tree bearing on its branches metal singing birds. This creation was melted down by Michael III (842-67) when he was in need of silver. The throne was a later work, dating from the tenth century. It was being used in the throne room in the Magnaura Palace in 968 when Liutprand was astonished to see, at a given signal, the lions which formed part of its supports start to roar, and the birds on it to sing, whilst other metal animals rose to their feet. Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus mentions some cast gold cocks, goats and sheep which, aping a fountain, sprayed out jets of rose water. Like the marble and stone needed by sculptors and builders, many of the metals used by the metal-workers were provided by convicts who worked in the quarries and mines (all of which were state-owned).

  Byzantium’s economic prosperity was directly related to the stability and high value of its currency. It owed much of its reputation to Constantine I’s decision to replace the country’s rather unstable silver coinage by a gold coin, the value of which was related to its weight. He took as his standard the gold coin which was known first as the Latin solidus; later it was called by the Greek word of nomisma, and later still, under Italian influence, it became the besant. Constantine stipulated that the solidus was to weigh 1/72 of a pound, that is to say 4.48 grammes. To begin with, large-scale transactions were calculated either on the basis of 100 nomismata or by weight, but when it became the habit to clip the gold coins as part payments for a transaction, it was usual to weigh the coins instead of counting them—a practice which established the habit of clipping the gold pieces to obtain an exact payment in preference to giving change. In the fourth and early fifth centuries the emperors were anxious to retain the gold coins within their borders. First Valentinian II (375-92), then Theodosius II (408-50) forbade barbarians trading with Byzantium to pay for their purchases in copper, and only used the solidus to pay for the spices they imported from India and silks from China. In the year 498 Anastasius decided to issue a large bronze coin stamped with the letter ‘M’ to be valued at 40 nummia or units as well as some smaller ones stamped with a ‘K’ for 20 units, an ‘I’ for ten and an ‘E’ for five. All these coins, whether of gold, silver or bronze, retained their full value both within Byzantium and abroad until the eighth century, when the Ommayad Caliphs were able to threaten the solidus by seizing control of the bulk of the Arab trade. As a result the Byzantines found that they could only import Eastern goods across Anatolia, whilst the Arabs were able to sell them direct to the Western world. However, the Byzantines succeeded in counteracting this move by using their navy to blockade Egypt and Syria, employing bases such as Malta, Lampedusa, Sicily and Tunis for the purpose. Thus the Ommayad threat to the solidus remained an empty one. The coin retained its full value till the ninth century, though under Basil II (976-1025) its value fell to 18 carats and both a light and a heavy nomisma were in circulation. As a result its value fell abroad until, under Constantine IX Monomachus (1042-55), it came to be worth no more than 12 carats. Alexius I (1081-1118) found it necessary to re-value it. He minted several different issues and succeeded in stabilising its value, though at a low rating. The Latins continued to use the nomisma during their occupation of Constantinople and its stability was therefore not greatly impaired. On re-entering Constantinople Michael Palaeologus found himself in such need of funds, especially gold, that he recalled all gold coins from circulation and melted them down. He did this ostensibly in order to mint a new issue stamped with a picture of the Virgin protecting the walls of Constantinople, but in reality, in order to debase its value. Andronicus II (1282-1328) was to link the solidus to the grosso and, as Italian traders gained an ever firmer footing in Byzantium, the Greek coin lost its international role to the Italian. Even so, few other nations, whether in ancient or modern times, can boast of a currency which retained its original value throughout close on 1,000 years.

  49 Gold coins showing Justinian II and John I Zimisces

  Until about the year 490, Byzantine coins resembled those of Rome, showing on one side the bust of the reigning emperor rendered in a mark
edly Roman style, and on the other a Latin inscription. Somewhat later the inscriptions were partly in Latin, partly in Greek, whilst the reverse side was stamped either with the emblem of a particular city, a figure of the archangel Michael or a cross. Justinian was the first to express his deeply religious outlook by stamping one side of his gold coins with the crucifixion scene. By that time the portraits stamped on the coins had acquired a markedly Greek character. Justinian II (685-95) stamped one side of his coins with the picture of the head of Christ set against a cross—a choice which may well have been intended to commemorate the rescue by Heraclius (610-41) of a portion of the True Cross from the Persians. All such figural representations disappeared during the iconoclast period (723 to 843) though on some a cross continued to appear till about the middle of the eighth century. After iconoclasm Basil I (867-86) was the first to use religious designs on his coins; those produced during the tenth century, when the members of the gifted Macedonian dynasty ruled, are artistically the finest. They generally display an inscription on the reverse, giving the emperor’s imperial titles; after some years the inscription was omitted and, instead, a rendering either of Christ or the Virgin appeared on one side and the emperor’s portrait on the other. Christ and the emperor were sometimes represented enthroned, sometimes standing, whilst the Virgin was often shown accompanied by saints. Throughout the years, whenever rulers reigned jointly or an emperor had crowned his co-ruler, their portraits appeared side by side on the same face of the coin. Under the Palaeologi the designs on the coins had a narrative character, depicting either a coronation or a city.

  Almost from the start the mint became an imperial monopoly with the result that gold coins were, with few exceptions, issued in Constantinople. However, during the Latin occupation of the capital, Salonica, Nicaea and Trebizond all issued coins of their own. Until the eighth century silver coins had not only been issued in Constantinople but also in Rome, Carthage, Salonica, Nicomedia, Antioch, Alexandria, Chersonesus and Sicily, but the Macedonians put an end to the practice.

  Apart from the imperial monopolies, until the sixth century the Eastern trade was by far the most profitable of all, for it dealt with such desirable luxuries as spices, ivory and jewels and such essentials as corn and cotton. Though spices were very expensive all aspired to use them, as they made it possible for food which had lost its first freshness to be consumed with pleasure. They were so much sought-after that it is not surprising to find Alaric demanding, in 408, 3,000 tons of pepper as part of the ransom for raising the siege of Constantinople. India provided Byzantium with these condiments, yet never enough to meet the growing demands of a prosperous society. India likewise furnished the supplies of ivory needed by the master craftsmen who carved them into panels for caskets, book covers, triptychs, diptychs, even furniture and doors. As the source of these articles, no less than for political reasons, India was highly esteemed in Byzantium. One emperor even built himself a room in the Indian style in the Great Palace and many Greek artists found inspiration in Indian themes. One of the finest pieces of early Byzantine silver to have come down to us is the magnificent sixth-century dish adorned with a figure personifying India.

  50 Masons raising a pillar

  Many Persians and Arabs were among the skilled artisans working in Constantinople. Though some earned their living as quack doctors, the majority were craftsmen. They may have been responsible for teaching the Constantinopolitans how to make paper, having themselves learnt to do so from the Chinese, even though the special paper used in the imperial chancery continued to be imported from Baghdad. It was also doubtless due to Eastern influence that, from late in the thirteenth century, Byzantine architects started inserting glazed vessels produced by Byzantine potters in the facades of their buildings, and more especially in their churches.

  The building trade absorbed many men and much material. Workers in stone, marble and bone also made luxury articles—beads, crosses and other ornaments—whilst carpenters and other workers in wood produced many household articles, such as bowls, spoons, and furniture. They relied on such tools as axes, adzes, gimlets and saws, with which they achieved quite remarkable results. The making of string nets and baskets provided much employment, but the soap, and more particularly the candle, industries were especially important. Candles were not only needed in the home, but also for processional purposes and above all in the churches, where they were used not only for illumination but were lit before icons and on altars as tokens of reverence. Nevertheless, the potters’ and leather-workers’ guilds were the largest in the country. Like the woollen clothing of the working classes, much of the pottery was produced in the country by the villagers, but many potters brought their wares to sell in the markets which were held regularly in all towns. In later times, probably as a result of Eastern influence, much pottery of really high quality was also made. Though no kiln sites have so far been discovered, the bulk of the finer wares are so beautiful that there can be little doubt that these were made in the major cities, such as Constantinople and Salonica. Nicomedia was also an important centre of production and perhaps too Nicaea which was later, under the name of Isnik, to become the main centre of the Turkish pottery industry. Especially characteristic of Byzantium are the revetment plaques which were made in the manner of a tile, both to serve as icons or to be used as mouldings, to cover joins or other structural features of a building, or perhaps to frame mosaics or paintings on walls.

  Pottery was used to produce every sort of domestic article from a sieve or great wine or oil jar to cups, plates, dishes and bowls. Even chafing dishes on high perforated stands, into which some sort of heater was put, have been found. Some of the vessels were crude, but others were made and decorated with great artistry.

  In early times Alexandria and Antioch handled most Byzantine imports and exports, but Constantinople’s outstanding geographical advantages quickly made themselves felt, and the loss of the older ports to the Arabs did no more than confirm the role which the capital had by then assumed as the Empire’s foremost industrial and commercial city. From the end of the seventh century all Europe’s Eastern trade passed through Constantinople, the capital serving both as a great transit port and a terminal. All ships carrying Europe’s trade with the Orient, whether imports or exports, had to be unloaded in Constantinople, even if they were only in transit, in order to undergo a rigorous customs examination. High dues were charged on all articles and intelligence officers were employed there and in such major ports as Abydos to track down smugglers. Until the seventh century much of the transit trade was handled by Syrians, but with the loss of the eastern provinces to the Arabs it passed into Jewish hands. The latter lived with their families outside the capital’s main walls, and the majority settled in the Blachernae district where their quarter was enclosed by a defensive wall. Within it the Jews enjoyed considerable political independence and religious freedom. They were therefore able to build as many synagogues there as they wished. Some of these were of such obvious architectural merit that they aroused universal admiration. However, the Jews were not destined to remain prosperous for long. Their trade suffered in the tenth century when the Arabs tried to break the blockade which the Byzantines had imposed on them. As a first move towards that end the Emir of Kairouan in North Africa captured Sicily and Carthage. This made the Straits of Messina especially valuable to the Byzantines since they now afforded the only means of communication with Naples, Genoa and Pisa. Italy’s maritime cities were by this time contributing to the prosperity of Hadanid Syria and Fatimid Egypt—both of which had eclipsed Baghdad—by entering into direct trade with them, bypassing Byzantium. In return for luxuries Venice in particular showed no hesitation in supplying the Muslims with wood for the manufacture of men-of-war and munitions, though both these were to be used against fellow-Christians—albeit Orthodox Christians. The Byzantines were obliged to close their eyes to these distressing developments in order to maintain their own trade with Venice. When the Arabs gained control of
the Straits of Messina (to retain it till the eleventh century), the Byzantines started to use the port of Bari in southern Italy and retained their monopoly over silks, purple dye and ivory. However, Italy was rapidly becoming an important centre of textile production and soon started exporting cheap silks to Byzantium, selling them freely there and undercutting the sale of the vastly superior Byzantine stuffs.

  During the mid-Byzantine period Salonica came to rank second to Constantinople from both a commercial and an industrial point of view. Corinth which, with Sparta, lay on the route taken by Italian ships sailing from Venice, Bari, Amalfi and Sicily to Greece also became prosperous, whilst Trebizond on the south-eastern shores of the Black Sea gained control of the overland Eastern trade and exported its own silks and silver articles. Its annual fair was attended not only by Greek merchants, but also by Muslims and Armenians. Overland travel was not unduly arduous. Though the roads were not so well maintained as in Roman times they were kept in reasonably good condition; the cost of the repairs was met by tolls, paid by all except high officials.

  The merchant navy contributed very considerably to Byzantium’s trade. The Rhodian Maritime Law which laid down conditions for the employment of fishermen also did so for crews manning the merchant ships and for the passengers sailing on them. Wages on these ships were low; in 709 a steward earned two nomismata a month. Space on a vessel was divided equally between the passengers and crew, though a man was entitled to three times as much room as a woman. For reasons of safety no passenger was allowed either to fry fish or chop wood on board ship, but each passenger was entitled to a daily measure of water and to purchase food from the ship’s cook. A captain had the right to abandon a passenger on land or to jettison his cargo if it seemed to him essential to do so either to escape capture by pirates or to avoid running into a sudden storm or some similar disaster; a system of insurance appears to have existed for compensating those who encountered such misfortunes. Arab pirates were a constant menace to shipping, though a system of convoying did much to control them. A ship which foundered near the shore was in almost as much danger of being looted by its fellow-countrymen as it was by pirates, for the poverty-stricken villagers would descend upon a wreck like locusts, rapidly stripping it to its hull. Ships were not always owned by merchants, as was generally the case in medieval Europe; many belonged to the merchant seamen who manned them. In the ninth and tenth centuries there were many splendid vessels, equipped with improvements unknown in other merchant fleets. The most important of these were a square stern and the rig known as the lateen sail. However, by then the bulk of the trade was being carried in foreign bottoms. Each nation had begun to transport its own goods and the Italians had acquired their own landing grounds in Constantinople, which enabled them to gain a foothold in the capital. Venetian galleys usually needed 24 days to reach Constantinople, sailing past Corfu and Patras. From the eighth century many merchants used to travel with their goods in order to be able personally to purchase from the Byzantines such essential imports as bread, wine and meat; but they were never allowed to buy fish, which was considered the basic food of the very poor. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, when England was trading with Byzantium, she used Italian merchantmen to carry the goods, at any rate as far as the mainland of western Europe.