ABSTRACT
In this chapter I would like to address the changes in the scale of the Cypriot economy in the transition from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages. 1 To do so I will try to assess the level of the local productive organization and infrastructure, the breadth of the distributive networks (both commercial and non-commercial), the patterns of consumption at elite and non-elite levels, and the place of Cyprus within the exchange routes bypassing the political, religious, and cultural frontier between the Caliphate and Byzantine Empire. However, I would like to make two preliminary remarks. I am perfectly aware that this chapter is a sort of natural completion to the previous sections of this book. This is because, directly or indirectly, the sources I have presented the reader with and the kind of analysis I have proposed so far concern the economic dimensions of life in Cyprus from the early seventh to the early ninth century: the forces that shaped local demand (mainly the religious and secular ecclesiastical elites) or production (mainly the building and artisanal activities), urban and rural life, and the fiscal system as supported by the Constantinopolitan administration. Therefore, there is the risk that the reader will find some parts of this chapter repetitive or even redundant. In my opinion, this is not the case, because to assess the scale of economic activity I will engage with the most reliable guide of the economic system: ceramics, evidence I have only skimmed in the previous sections of the book, though I included a long methodological assessment in Chapter 3. 2
