Goods, Services, and Taxes
Luxurious silks,
spices
,
incense
, and the like counted among the Byzantine and early Islamic period’s most desired goods. Silk was particularly prized by both the Byzantine and
Sasanian courts
. Significant quantities of it outside the Middle East attest to the material’s inherently high value and to the reach of its appeal. For instance, extraordinary silks survive as the linings of reliquaries in European treasuries; equally impressive are pieces wrapping the bodies of mummies found in China. Byzantine and Sasanian silks have been
discovered in graves
in
Egypt
, showing the taste for the material among local, upper-class populations (
15.109
). Silk’s role as a valuable commodity ensured that its production continued for several centuries. Examples with
classical imagery
featuring crosses and Arabic inscriptions show the enduring popularity of older motifs (
