The Economic History of Byzantium From

Physical Factors in the Evolution

of the Landscape and Land Use

Bernard Geyer

Part 1: Geographical Determinants

of the Byzantine Agrarian Economy

From a geographer’s point of view, the Byzantine Empire developed within a context that was basically, though not exclusively, Mediterranean. The relevant criterion for a Mediterranean climatic zone is one in which olives can be cultivated,1 often in association with non-irrigated cereals and vines, and this applies to the narrow indented peninsulas of Italy and Greece, the jagged coastlines of the western front of Asia Minor and the islands of the inland sea (Fig. 2). However, in places where the peninsulas spread out (as in the northern Balkans and in Anatolia), where the continental influence prevails (as in Syria), and where the altitude produces a cool and humid climate, the Mediterranean influence diminishes and is restricted to a narrow belt along the coastline (as in the former Yugoslavia and along the southern front of Anatolia). In other places, however, it does not disappear completely, except perhaps in the regions of the Danube or along the southern littoral of the Black Sea (Trebizond); it is affected by varying degrees of degradation, allowing the particular features of adjacent bioclimatic zones to appear. Great as is the diversity of the Mediterranean world’s potential, this does not in itself explain why the empires that grew up along the shores of the inland sea were so powerful. Whether they arose by chance or out of necessity, the wealth, diversity, and longevity of these empires can only be explained by taking the influences and contributions from these simultaneously adjacent and more continental areas into account.

This chapter was translated by Sarah Hanbury Tenison.

1 P. Birot and P. Gabert, La Me´diterrane´e et le Moyen-Orient, vol. 1, Ge´ne´ralite´s, Pe´ninsule ibe´rique–Italie

(Paris, 1964), 69. For a detailed geographical study of the whole of the Mediterranean and the Middle East, readers are referred to the above volume and to P. Birot and J. Dresch, La Me´diterrane´e et le Moyen-Orient, vol. 2, Les Balkans–l’Asie mineure–le Moyen-Orient (Paris, 1956). Briefer geographical syntheses more specifically concerned with the Byzantine world have been published, notably, M. F. Hendy, Studies in the Byzantine Monetary Economy c. 300–1450 (Cambridge, 1985), and M. Kaplan, Les hommes et la terre `a Byzance du VIe au XIe sie`cle: Proprie´te´ et exploitation du sol (Paris, 1992).

32 BERNARD GEYER

Arising as it did along the shores of a closed sea with little space for development, the Byzantine Empire, by transcending its original boundaries, was able, for a time at least, to annex a complementary space that was indispensable to its survival: the Danubian plains,2 the Anatolian plateau, and, prior to these, the Syrian plateau and the Nile delta, all potentially great cereal-producing regions and a resource that formed part of its power base.

A Vigorous and Compartmentalized Relief, the Expression

of a Complex Geological Structure

Vigor, complexity, and instability are the terms that best describe the Mediterranean relief. It appeared, for the main part, at the time of the alpine orogenesis, following the collision of continental plates which produced a complex tertiary and quaternary tectogenesis,3 in which folds and accidents resulting in breaks, gave rise to mountain chains with a marked relief.4 Clearly, this structural history is too complicated to be discussed here. We need only recall that it lies at the origin of the region’s compartmentalization, divided into small units that were further subdivided by a process of morphogenesis.

The totality of the Mediterranean sphere, which is of interest to us here, is characterized by the interlinkage of natural units and by the exiguity of topographical areas. Thus, while the Balkans present a generally massive aspect, looked at closely, the mountain range is broken up by corridors, basins, and depressions. The same applies to the whole western front of Asia Minor, where the mountains frequently plunge directly into the sea, producing a deeply indented coastline. In both cases, the intermingled landscapes witness to the complexity of the structure and allow the volume of mountains greatly to exceed the plains. These are young mountains, with steep slopes and deep valleys that allow little room for level surfaces, although the latter are not entirely absent. Consequently, we need to stress the importance of the plains of Cilicia and Pamphylia, as well as those of Bithynia in Asia Minor; also of part of Thrace and the Hebros (Maritza) valley, the valleys of the Strymon, the Axios (Vardar), the Aliakmon rivers in Macedonia, and the plain of Pinios in Thessaly. To these can be added regions of low plateaus, such as those in Apulia and in eastern Basilicata.5

The mountains include some approximately horizontal places: old surfaces, structural or the result of erosion, high plateaus, cut out and cut up in the course of a long geological history, as in eastern Macedonia or Bithynia (Fig. 3).6 However, these flat

2The term plain is here used in the broad sense and indicates, more than the valley itself, the whole system of pediments and hills that dominate it, notably to the south.

3This tectogenesis still occurs, manifesting itself in a high degree of seismicity.

4Birot and Gabert, La Me´diterrane´e et le Moyen-Orient, 1:13, and J.-J. Dufaure, ed., La mobilite´ des paysages me´diterrane´ens: Hommage `a Pierre Birot (Toulouse, 1984), chap. 2, pp. 50ff.

5J.-M. Martin, La Pouille du VIe au XIIe sie`cle (Rome, 1993), 64.

6P. Bellier et al., Paysages de Mace´doine: Leurs caracte`res, leur ´evolution `a travers les documents et les re´cits des voyageurs (Paris, 1986), 41. B. Geyer, J. Lefort, and F. Planet, “Prospection dans la re´gion de Bursa, 1990,” IX Aras¸tırma Sonuc¸ları Toplantısı (Ankara, 1992), 114.

1. Localization map

[Paris,1964]:(1)limitsetby	bydampweatherin
leMoyen-Orient,vol.1	summer;(3)limitset
LaMéditerranéeet	dampweatherin
2.Climaticlimitstoolivecultivation(afterP.BirotandP.Gabert,	coldweatherinwinter;(2)limitsetbycoldweatherinwinterand summer;(4)limitsetbyaridity;(5)coldanddrywind.

3. A classic type of siting during the Byzantine and Ottoman periods: a Bithynian village situated on a mountain ledge, which exploits the level surfaces for the purposes of agriculture and the slopes for stock-raising and timber

4. A marginal type of siting: a Bithynian village situated at the bottom of the valley, at the head of a river system, whose territority is composed almost entirely of sloping and fragile valley sides

5. Marked aridity on an exposed south-facing slope in Macedonia (photo: Jacques Lefort)

6. A state of extreme degradation on calcareous slopes that were previously farmed (terrace cultivation on south-facing slopes) and subsequently abandoned, in the Alaouite djebel, Syria

7. Badlands developed on marly rocks as a result of overexploitation, Macedonia (photo: Jacques Lefort)

8. Immediate effects of erosion on the coastal slopes of Chalkidike: in the aftermath of a storm, streams of mud run down to the sea and disperse in the water (photo: Jacques Lefort)

9. Long-term effects of erosion in the Yalakdere basin, Bithynia: a historical alluvial formation at the bottom of the valley

Evolution of Land Use in the Byzantine World

33

surfaces constitute the exception: two-thirds of the Balkans consist of mountains, and the proportion is higher if one excludes the Danubian plains, which are basically extraMediterranean. Only 10% of Anatolia consists of coastal plains and valleys,7 apart from the huge internal plateau, which is also extra-Mediterranean. We must also stress the importance of prograded coasts, notably the deltas that were built up at the outlets to the watercourses. The lands thus gained from the sea are the result of the rivers’ considerable alluvial load, itself due to the vigorous relief, to strong variations in the rivers’ flow, and to the frequent rainwash on the slopes.8 Both depressions and bays were gradually filled by alluvial deposits, resulting sometimes in considerable gains of land with a strong agricultural potential. The tides are not very high, so these gradually built-up surfaces, which even small rivers are capable of creating,9 were already in existence during the Byzantine period. Unfortunately, they tend to be insalubrious marshland, established at the back of lagoon coasts or in depressions with inadequate drainage, and have been breeding grounds for malaria. Exploiting them has almost always required extensive prior improvements to the land.

Given that the Mediterranean landscape is clearly mountainous, it does not offer much in the way of large terrains suitable for growing cereals (Fig. 4). On the other hand, as we will see, it is better suited to the cultivation of trees, a process whereby the previous natural vegetation forms are preserved in an artificial arrangement.

The continental regions situated on the margins of the Mediterranean area present greater expanses of flat or gently sloping surfaces. Thus we find the high valley of the Hebros (Marica) in the northern part of the Balkan peninsula and, beyond the mountain chain of the great Balkan, the hills and glacis that descend to the Danube or, further northeast, to the Sava valley. The paths of all these great watercourses were determined by this structure; over time, large valleys were gradually carved out which are abundantly covered by the alluvial deposits of the watercourses. The peninsula widens to the north, providing space for these great rivers, which could not spread out within the densely packed massifs in the southern Balkans. The interior of Anatolia presents another instance of huge and relatively level expanses. In fact, we find there a very large and complex plateau, surrounded by mountains, and constituted in the main from old erosion surfaces, dissected into stacks from 1,000 m to more than 1,500 m high. Some endoreic, karstic, and/or tectonic depressions have gradually been excavated. Fairly modest massifs dominate, which often have very individual features: horsts and residual or volcanic reliefs (Erciyes Dagh).10 Only in the east do the mountains exhibit a vigor that is exceptional for the region, with the Taurus massifs, the eastern Pontic chains, where the drainage once again becomes exorheic. So, while these very different topographical zones reveal contrasts, they also share some complementary features. The economic consequences arising from this were also influenced by climatic factors.

7Hendy, Studies, 26.

8Birot and Gabert, La Me´diterrane´e et le Moyen-Orient, 1:27.

9Ibid.

10Birot and Dresch, La Me´diterrane´e et le Moyen-Orient, 2:140.