ABSTRACT
Byzantine traders travelling or residing in foreign countries were for obvious reasons outsiders. Surprisingly, however, at times we also find them as outsiders in the empire itself, whether individually or collectively. This seemingly paradoxical situation raises a series of questions, only some of which can be addressed here. First, who in fact were the Byzantine traders we are dealing with? Under what circumstances did they become outsiders, and exactly in what sense? How did they react as outsiders? Did their individual attitudes and responses generate collective ones, and to what extent did the former and the latter coincide? And, finally, what were the official, learned and popular expressions of 'outsiderness' in trade and in what way did they differ?
