【简译】拜占庭帝国的贸易

2022-10-12 11:04 作者:神尾智代 0人读过 | 我要投稿

Trade and commerce were essential components of the success and expansion of the Byzantine Empire. Trade was carried out by ship over vast distances, although for safety, most sailing vessels were restricted to the better weather conditions between April and October. On land, the old Roman road system was put to good use, and so by these two means goods travelled from one end of the empire to the other, as well as from far-away places such as modern-day Afghanistan, Russia, and Ethiopia. The bigger cities had thriving cosmopolitan markets, and Constantinople became one of the largest trading hubs in the world where shoppers could stroll down covered streets and pick up anything from Bulgarian linen to Arabian perfumes.

商业贸易是拜占庭帝国强盛与对外扩张的重要组成部分。拜占庭商人通过船只进行远距离贸易，尽管为了安全起见，大多数帆船被限制在4月至10月之间的较好天气条件下航行。在陆地上，古老的罗马公路系统得到了较好利用；通过这两种交通方式，货物从帝国的一端运到另一端，以及从遥远的地方，如现代的阿富汗、俄罗斯和埃塞俄比亚运来。较大的城市拥有繁荣的国际市场，君士坦丁堡成为世界上最大的贸易中心之一，购物者可以在棚顶街道上漫步，购买从保加利亚亚麻布到阿拉伯香水的任何进口货物。

拜占庭对待贸易的态度

The attitude to trade and commerce in the Byzantine Empire had changed very little since antiquity and the days of ancient Greece and Rome: the activity was not regarded highly and considered a little undignified for the general landed aristocrat to pursue. For example, emperor Theophilos (r. 829-842 CE) famously burned an entire ship and its cargo when he found out that his wife Theodora had been dabbling in commerce and had financial connections with the vessel. This attitude may explain why Byzantine chroniclers often avoid the subject entirely. Indeed, in Byzantine art and literature, traders, merchants, bankers and money-lenders who had tried to cheat their clients were often portrayed as inhabiting the lower levels of Hell.

自古希腊、古罗马时代以来，拜占庭帝国对商业贸易的态度变化不大：这项活动不被高度重视，对一般的土地贵族来说，商业贸易有点不体面。例如，狄奥斐卢斯皇帝（公元829-842年）在发现他的妻子狄奥多拉一直在涉足商业活动并与某艘商船有经济联系时，他下令烧毁了整艘船及其货物，这一点在历史上很有名。统治者的这种态度也许可以解释为什么拜占庭的编年史家经常完全回避这个话题。事实上，在拜占庭的艺术和文学作品中，那些试图欺骗客户的贸易商、商人、银行家和放债人往往被描绘成居住在地狱的下层。

There was also a general mistrust of traders and entrepreneurs (who could be both men and women) by both the general populace and the authorities. Emperors, therefore, were often particular in enforcing such matters as the standardisation of weights and measures, and, of course, prices. Heavy goods were scrupulously weighed using steelyards and weights in the form of a bust of either the emperor or the goddess Minerva/Athena. Smaller goods such as spices were measured out using a balance with weights made of copper-alloy or glass. To minimise cheating, weights were inscribed with their representative weight or equivalent value in gold coinage and regularly checked.

普通民众和当局对商人和企业家（可以是男性和女性）也普遍存在不信任。因此，皇帝们在执行诸如重量和度量衡的标准化，当然还有价格方面的规定时，往往很重视。重的货物要用秤砣和皇帝或密涅瓦/雅典娜女神的半身像来严格称量。较小的货物，如香料，则使用天平和铜合金或玻璃制成的砝码进行测量。为了最大限度地减少商人的作弊行为，砝码上刻有其代表重量或金币的等值，并有专人定期检查。

国家的参与

Perhaps because of these attitudes to trade as a slightly less than respectable profession, the state was much more involved in it than might be expected. Unlike in earlier times, the state played a greater role in trade and the provisioning of major cities, for example, which was rarely left to private traders. Trade operated through a variety of hereditary guilds with merchants who transported the goods (navicularii) being subsidised by the state and subject to significantly reduced duties and tolls. Duty on imported goods was collected by state-appointed officials known as kommerkiarioi who collected duties on all commercial transactions and who issued an official lead seal once goods had been through the system. To limit the possibilities for corruption, the kommerkiarioi were given one-year posts and then moved elsewhere.

也许是由于这些对贸易的态度，认为贸易是一种略显不体面的职业，国家在贸易中的参与程度比预期的要高得多。与早期不同的是，国家在贸易和主要城市的供应方面发挥了更大的作用，这些贸易很少由私人商人来做。贸易通过各种行会运作，运输货物的商人（navicularii）得到国家的补贴，并享受大幅降低的关税和通行费。进口货物的关税由国家任命的官员（kommerkiarioi）征收，他们对所有商业交易征收关税，一旦货物通过该系统，他们就会颁发官方铅封。为了限制腐败的可能性，Kommerkiarioi被授予一年的职位，期满后转职到其他地方。

Customs stations were dotted along the frontiers and major ports of the empire with two of the most important being at Abydos and Hieron, which controlled the Straits between the Black Sea and the Dardanelles. There must have been a good deal of smuggling but measures were taken to counter it such as a 6th-century CE treaty between the Byzantines and Sassanids which stipulated that all traded goods must pass through official customs posts. Records were scrupulously kept, too, most famously the Book of the Prefect in Constantinople, which also outlined the rules for trade and trade guilds in the city.

海关站分布在帝国的边境和主要港口，其中最重要的两个是在阿拜多斯和希伦，它们控制着黑海和达达尼尔海峡地区之间的海峡。这里有大量的走私活动，但官方也采取了一些措施来对付走私活动，如公元6世纪拜占庭和萨珊王朝之间的条约规定，所有贸易货物必须通过官方海关。贸易记录也被官方严格保存，最有名的是君士坦丁堡的《省长之书》，它还概述了该城市的贸易与贸易行会的规则。

Other examples of state intervention in trade include the provision made for loss or damage to goods transported by sea. The Rhodian Sea Law (7th or 8th century CE) stipulated that, in such a case, merchants received a fixed compensation. The state also ensured that no goods useful to an enemy were permitted to be exported - gold, salt, timber for ships, iron for weapons, and Greek Fire (the secret Byzantine weapon of highly inflammable liquid). Neither was the prestigious silk dyed with Tyrian purple permitted for sale abroad.

国家干预贸易的其他例子包括对海上运输货物的损失或损坏作出的规定。罗德海法（公元7或8世纪）规定，在这种情况下，商人可以得到固定的赔偿。国家还确保不允许出口对敌人有用的货物——黄金、盐、船舶用木材、武器用铁和希腊火（拜占庭的秘密武器，高度易燃液体）。著名的用骨螺紫染色的丝绸也不允许在国外销售。

Another area of close state supervision was, of course, coinage. Copper, silver, and gold coins were minted and issued carrying images of emperors, their heirs, the Cross, Jesus Christ, or other images related to the Church. Although the state minted coins primarily for the purpose of paying armies and officials, the coinage did filter down and through all levels of society. Coinage - in the form of the standard gold nomisma (solidus) coin - was also necessary to pay one's annual taxes. When there were fewer wars and so fewer soldiers and suppliers to pay for or when the tentacles of the local state bureaucracy declined in the 7th and 8th century CE, coins could become scarce and barter had to be resorted to in the provinces, especially.

国家密切监督的另一个领域是钱币。铜币、银币和金币被铸造和发行，上面印有皇帝、其继承人、十字架、耶稣基督或其他与教会有关的图像。虽然国家铸造货币主要是为了支付军队和官员工资，但货币确实向下渗透并在社会的各个层面流通。货币——以标准金币诺米斯玛塔（索利都斯）的形式——也是支付个人年度税收所必需的。当战争减少，因此需要支付的士兵和供应商也减少时，或者当地方国家官僚机构在公元7和8世纪衰落时，货币可能变得稀缺，特别是在各省不得不诉诸于易货贸易。

Byzantine state control of trade was hit by the Arab conquests from the 7th century CE. Cities, too, were in decline and ever-more self-sufficient while shipping became increasingly the domain of private traders. When a greater stability in the Mediterranean allowed for a resurgence in wider trade networks from the 10th century CE, it would be the Italian states which seized the opportunity to reap profit from the transport and sale of goods from one end of the known world to the other. Great merchants such as the Venetians were even given their own facilities and preferential regulations and duties at Constantinople. At first, this was in return for naval aid in Byzantine wars, but steadily the presence of Italian merchants (from Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa, and Venice) on the wharfs of the capital would become a permanent fixture. Constantinople, thus, could boast the most vibrant market in Europe with merchants from Syria, Russia, Arabia and many other places forming a semi-permanent cosmopolitan residency. Quarters sprang up in the city where Jews built synagogues, Arabs built mosques, and Christians their churches.

从公元7世纪开始，拜占庭对贸易的控制受到了阿拉伯征服的打击。城市也在衰落，越来越仅自给自足，而航运逐渐成为私人商人的领域。从公元10世纪开始，地中海地区变得更加稳定，使得更广泛的贸易网络得以恢复，意大利的国家抓住了这个机会，从已知世界的一端到另一端的货物运输和销售中获取利润。像威尼斯人这样的大商人甚至在君士坦丁堡获得了他们自己的设施和优惠的法规和关税。起初，这是对拜占庭战争中海军援助的回报，但随着时间的推移，意大利商人（来自阿马尔菲、比萨、热那亚和威尼斯）在首都码头将成为一种永久性的存在。因此，君士坦丁堡可以说是欧洲最活跃的市场，来自叙利亚、罗斯、阿拉伯和其他许多地方的商人形成了一个半永久性的世界性居住地。城市中出现了犹太人建造犹太教堂、阿拉伯人建造清真寺、基督徒建造教堂的地方。

贸易货物

The great traded goods of antiquity continued to be the most commonly shipped in the Byzantine Empire of the medieval period: olive oil, wine, wheat, honey, and fish sauce. Likewise, the terracotta amphora remained the storage vessel of choice. The design of amphorae changed depending on the location of their manufacture, although handles became significantly bigger from the 10th century CE. The contents were carefully labelled with either stamped inscriptions on the sides or clay tags added. Byzantine amphorae have been found across the Mediterranean and in ancient Britain, the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the Arabian Sea areas. Not until the 12th century CE would the amphorae be challenged and surpassed in use by the wooden barrel.

古代的贸易商品仍然是中世纪时期拜占庭帝国最常运输的商品：橄榄油、葡萄酒、小麦、蜂蜜和鱼酱。同样地，陶制双耳瓶仍然是首选的储存容器。双耳瓶的设计根据其制造地点的不同而改变，尽管从公元10世纪开始，双耳瓶的手柄明显变大了。货物被仔细地贴上标签，有的在侧面印上铭文，有的则加上了粘土标签。拜占庭式双耳瓶在整个地中海和古代英国、黑海、红海和阿拉伯海地区都有发现。直到公元12世纪，双耳瓶的地位才受到挑战，并在使用上被木桶超越。

Other goods which were traded between regions included cattle, sheep, pigs, bacon, vegetables, fruit, pepper and other spices, medicines, incense, perfumes, soap, wax, timber, metals, worked gemstones, lapis lazuli (from Afghanistan), glass, ivory (from India and Africa), worked bone, flax, wool, textiles, linen (from Bulgaria), fur (from Russia), silver plate, enamels, amber (from the Baltic), bronze vessels, and brass goods (especially buckets and decorated doors panels largely destined for Italy). The slave trade, with slaves often supplied from Russia, continued to be important, too.

其他地区之间的贸易商品包括牛、羊、猪、熏肉、蔬菜、水果、胡椒和其他香料、药品、香、香水、肥皂、蜡、木材、金属、加工宝石、青金石（来自阿富汗）、玻璃、象牙（来自印度和非洲）、加工骨、亚麻、羊毛、纺织品、亚麻（来自保加利亚）、毛皮（来自罗斯）、银盘、珐琅、琥珀（来自波罗的海）、铜器和黄铜制品（尤其是主要运往意大利的水桶和装饰门板）。奴隶贸易，通常由罗斯提供奴隶，仍然是重要的。

Pottery tableware was another common part of any ship's cargo as indicated by shipwrecks. Slipped red-bodied ceramics with stamped or applied decoration were common until the 7th century CE and then slowly replaced by finer wares which were lead-glazed, white-bodied and then red-bodied from the 9th century CE. Decoration, when present, was impressed, incised, or painted. Constantinople was a major production centre for white-bodied ceramics and Corinth produced a large quantity of red-wares from the 11th century CE.

正如考古学家发现的沉船所显示，陶器餐具是任何船只承载货物的常客。在公元7世纪之前，带有印记或应用装饰的滑动红体陶器很常见，它们慢慢被更精细的器皿所取代，这些器皿是铅釉的、白体的，从公元9世纪开始是红体的。如果有装饰，则是压印、刻画或绘画。君士坦丁堡是白陶的主要生产中心，而科林斯从公元11世纪开始生产大量的红陶。

Silk was first introduced from China but imported raw silk was eventually replaced by silk produced on mulberry farms (the food of the silkworm) in Phoenicia and then Constantinople from 568 CE. The silk factory at the Byzantine capital was under imperial control, and the five silk guilds were under the auspices of the Imperial Prefect of the city. Other notable silk-producing sites within the empire included southern Italy, Greek Thebes and Corinth.

丝绸最早是从中国引进的，从公元568年开始，进口的生丝最终被腓尼基和君士坦丁堡的桑树农场（蚕的食物）生产的丝绸所取代。拜占庭首都的丝绸厂处于帝国的控制之下，五个丝绸行会是在该城市的帝国长官的主持下运行的。帝国内其他著名的丝绸生产地包括意大利南部、希腊底比斯和科林斯。

Marble was always in demand across the empire as it was used by those who could afford it for buildings, flooring, church altars, decoration, and furniture. The basic grey-white marble which became the staple of any Byzantine architect's project was quarried in large quantities from the island of Proconnesus in the Sea of Marmara (up to the 7th century CE) while more exotic marble came from Greece, Bithynia and Phrygia. Shipwrecks provide evidence that marble was worked before it was shipped to its final destination. Many ancient monuments, especially pagan ones, across the Mediterranean were also plundered for whatever useful marble bits and pieces could be reused and shipped elsewhere. Cyzicus in the Sea of Marmara became a noted centre of marble production and recycling from the 8th century CE.

大理石在整个帝国都有需求量，因为那些有能力的人将其用于建筑、地板、教堂祭坛、装饰和家具。基本的灰白色大理石成为任何拜占庭建筑师项目的主要材料，这些大理石大量采自马尔马拉海的普罗科尼苏斯岛（直到公元7世纪），而更多的异国大理石来自希腊、比提尼亚和弗里吉亚。沉船提供的证据表明，大理石在被运往最终目的地之前已经被加工过。整个地中海地区的许多古迹，特别是异教徒的古迹，也被掠夺，以获取可以重新使用和运往其他地方的任何有用的小块大理石。从公元8世纪开始，马尔马拉海的基齐库斯成为著名的大理石生产和回收中心。

罗马人的发明，秤杆（或称杆）天平沿蚀刻臂使用滑动重量来确定货物的质量，很像现代的横梁天平。图中的拜占庭天平可追溯到公元 5 世纪至 7 世纪。（纽约大都会博物馆）

市场与商店

Ordinary citizens could purchase goods in markets which were held in dedicated squares or in the rows of permanent shops which lined the streets of larger towns and cities. Shops usually had two floors - one on street level where the goods were manufactured, stocked and sold, and a second floor where the shopkeeper or artisan and their family lived. Shoppers were protected from the sun and rain in such streets by collonaded roofed walkways, which were often paved with marble slabs and mosaics. Some shopping streets were pedestrianised and blocked to wheeled traffic by large steps at either end. In some cities, the shopkeepers were expected to maintain lamps outside their shops to provide street lighting. Just as today, shopkeepers tried to spread their wares out as far as possible to catch the casual shopper, and there are imperial records complaining about the practice.

普通市民可以在公共广场的市场或较大城镇街道两旁的一排排永久性商店中购买商品。商店通常有两层——一层在街道上，用于生产、储存和销售货物，第二层是店主或工匠及其家人的住所。在这样的街道上，购物者可以通过带顶棚的人行道来避免日晒雨淋，这些人行道通常是用大理石板和马赛克铺成的。有些商业街是步行街，两端的大台阶阻挡了车轮的通行。在一些城市，店主被要求在他们的商店外保留灯，以提供街道照明。就像今天一样，店主们试图将他们的商品尽可能地分散开来，以抓住休闲购物者的眼球，并且有帝国记录抱怨商人的这种做法。

One final highlight of the shopping calendar was the festivals and fairs held on such important religious dates as saint's birthdays or death anniversaries. Then churches, especially those with holy relics to attract pilgrim visitors from far and wide, became the centrepiece of temporary markets where stalls sold all manner of goods. One of the largest such fairs was at Ephesus, held on the anniversary of Saint John's death. Typically, the 10% sales tax collected by the state kommerkiarioi at such events was a tidy sum, according to one record as much as 100 lbs (45 kilos) in gold.

在购物日历中，我们可以发现最后一个亮点是在圣人的生日或死亡纪念日等重要宗教日期举行的节日和集市活动。教堂，特别是那些拥有圣物以吸引远道而来的朝圣者的教堂，成为临时市场的中心，商人们在那里摆摊出售各种商品。最大的此类集市之一是在以弗所，在圣约翰的死亡纪念日举行。通常情况下，国家Kommerkiarioi在此类活动中收取的10%的销售税是一笔不小的数目，根据一项记录，我们可以了解这笔税多达100磅（45公斤）黄金。