Court as a Shop-window: The Role of Diplomatic Gift Exchange between the Byzantine and the Near Eastern Courts in Promoting Commerce the Byzantine and the Near Eastern Courts in Promoting Commerce

Diplomatic gift exchange between the Byzantine and the Near Easterncourts in the Middle Ages have been traditionally seen as anon-economic exchange with indirect economic implications, i.e. the financial impact of gift exchange on the sender and the receiver, and

the economic stimulation that gift exchange causes for trade and manufacturing in the local markets of the sending and receiving party.A thorough examination of Byzantine and Islamic written sources, especially of gift books in Arabic, reveals a strong correlation between the commodities traded and gifts exchanged between the Byzantine and Near Eastern courts, which in turn raises the following question: Did the gift-sending country send gifts to promote its export items? The idea of gifts acting as promotional items, first argued by Anthony Cutler, will be supported by further evidence and discussed in the context of the economic nature of seemingly non-economic activities.



courts in the Middle Ages have been traditionally seen as a

non-economic exchange with indirect economic implications, i.e. the

financial impact of gift exchange on the sender and the receiver, and

the economic stimulation that gift exchange causes for trade and

manufacturing in the local markets of the sending and receiving party.

A thorough examination of Byzantine and Islamic written sources,

especially of gift books in Arabic, reveals a strong correlation

between the commodities traded and gifts exchanged between the

Byzantine and Near Eastern courts, which in turn raises the following

question: Did the gift-sending country send gifts to promote its

export items? The idea of gifts acting as promotional items, first

argued by Anthony Cutler, will be supported by further evidence and

discussed in the context of the economic nature of seemingly

non-economic activities.



courts in the Middle Ages have been traditionally seen as a

non-economic exchange with indirect economic implications, i.e. the

financial impact of gift exchange on the sender and the receiver, and

the economic stimulation that gift exchange causes for trade and

manufacturing in the local markets of the sending and receiving party.

A thorough examination of Byzantine and Islamic written sources,

especially of gift books in Arabic, reveals a strong correlation

between the commodities traded and gifts exchanged between the

Byzantine and Near Eastern courts, which in turn raises the following

question: Did the gift-sending country send gifts to promote its

export items? The idea of gifts acting as promotional items, first

argued by Anthony Cutler, will be supported by further evidence and

discussed in the context of the economic nature of seemingly

non-economic activities.

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