ABSTRACT
The external trade of the empire was not important. From the northern barbarians little was imported but slaves, and the account was probably balanced by the export of manufactured goods. From Armenia, Persia and the Caucasian lands came very highly priced slaves, eunuchs. The other principal imports were highly priced luxury goods which came from the east either by long sea or by caravan across central Asia; incense from the Yemen, pepper from Malabar, sundry other spices and perfumes, and above all silk from China. The sea trade was shared by Alexandrian and Arab shippers; goods that came overland had to be bought on the Persian frontier, and their price was vastly augmented by numerous tolls en route. Hence Justinian’s attempts to establish friendly relations with the kingdoms of the Axumites and Himyarites, who controlled the southern extremity of the Red Sea, and thus to facilitate direct sea voyages to India and Ceylon to buy silk. These imports were apparently paid for almost entirely in gold coin, but the drain on the empire’s currency was not noticeable. On the contrary, the amount of gold in circulation in the empire seems to have risen from the fourth century onwards, mainly in all probability by the release of demonetized hoards.
