Byzantine Trade

Trade is an essential part of any story of globalization. The Byzantine Weight exemplifies an aspect of how trade was conducted. Weights consolidated the measure of quantity and allowed for trade to become more simple and standardized. This tool allowed for the transaction of goods to be facilitated more easily, representing the certification of the cost of goods. Another look at trade is through the ideas that were exchanged. The Lamp with Spies Carrying Grapes and Two Panels of an Ivory Diptych Announcing the Consulship of Justinian illustrate the dissemination of ideas from one culture to the next through trade. These items could have also been part of trade as well. The lamp has both Roman and African influences. This fusion represents the cultural fusion of the Middle Ages. Ideas traveled, people traveled, the world was in motion.

Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Trade