Mills in Byzantium and their Economic and Social Impact

Throughout its long history, the medieval East Roman Empire of Byzantium depended on an agrarian economy, based on the Mediterranean triad of basic foodstuffs: grain, olives and grapes. The technologies involved in refining these after harvesting that involved the use of wheels and presses have only recently begun to attract scholarly attention. The project investigates the social and economic impact of milling as it can be traced in written texts from the fourth to the fifteenth century. The focus is on flour mills, whether driven by water, wind or animals. Hand-operated querns, mostly worked by women, will be studied in comparison, in order to establish whether they were used in in competition or in a complementary way. The regional focus is on Asia Minor, the Southern Balkans including Constantinople and Thessaloniki, and the Aegean. The project will also consider supporting evidence from pictorial representations and published archaeological material, augmented by a field trop to a landscape where Byzantine milling is still in evidence, i.e. the region around Thessaloniki. What kind of financial investment and social organization was needed for the construction, operation and maintenance of mills? How did the operation of mills and the activity of milling create social bonds? What kind of role did mills play in networks on a local, regional, and transregional level? What can the development over time of milling organization and milling technology tell us about productivity, material profit and technological advancement in Byzantine society? What insights can be gleanend from the preference for water mills or for wind mills about the interaction with the natural environment in different locations and at different time periods of Byzantine history? The written material to be examined cover a wide range: narrative sources (histories, hagiographies), epistolography, legal sources (imperial laws, ecclesiastical regulations, contracts), charters and tax registers as well as epigraphic material. The information gathered from the written sources will be made accessible in an online open-access database on Byzantine mills. In addition, select aspects will be published as peer-review articles. An internatioanl workshop will bring together scholars working in related fields for exchange and discussion, resulting in an edited volume of the presentations. Through this range of activities, the project intends to lay the groundwork for future investigations of the multi-facetted role played by technology which used the energy of renewable power in Byzantium.