The exploitation of the surface and sub-surface of the sea was for the Byzantines a source of prosperity, wealth and life, while simultaneously offering artistic inspiration and symbolism in a religious context. Mediterranean water passages acted as channels through which to communicate and transfer ideas as well as unify a disparate empire and ensure safe maritime voyages within its borders.

Despite the clear relationship between the Byzantines and the maritime element, best reflected in the Naval Law of Rhodes, the admirable codification of shipping customs and practices of the 7th century which regulated matters pertaining to the management of shipping enterprise, surviving literature on Byzantine merchant shipping cannot boast a great many studies, contrary to material available on the empire's military fleet.

TARGETS

The following paper aims to provide a series of answers to issues concerning maritime enterprise in the Byzantine Empire and its impact on the prosperity and well being of its population. It focuses on state policies concerning trade and shipping, on the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the Byzantine fleet and on the political, social and economic status of members of the shipping enterprise (captain, crew, merchants, passengers, but also persons not traveling with the ship but investing money or commodities, such as money-changers, landowners, etc.).