Discussing the financial policy of early Byzantium

About the author:

Alexandr G. Emanov, Dr. Sci. (Hist.), Professor, Department of History and Mundial Politic, University of Tyumen; a.g.emanov@utmn.ru; ORCID: 0000-0002-2352-4363

Abstract:

The article criticises the concept of development of the early Byzantine economy recently offered by the professor of the Altai university, Vadim Serov which didn’t reflect neither barbarous occupations, nor natural disasters, nor the terrible plague and the depopulation caused by it, nor expensive wars. The economy of Byzantium, according to this concept, possessed reliability, maturity and ability adequately and quickly to react to all external threats and internal challenges. The Altai Byzantine researcher, trying to characterize the early Byzantine economy, confidently introduces the concepts of “finance”, “budget”, “financial policy”, “budget policy”, “financial balance”, “deficiency”, “proficit” and uses accounting methods. The article disputes over the Altai scientist’s scepticism concerning opportunities of archeology, numismatics, epigraphics, papyrology in receiving essentially new knowledge of the economic history of early Byzantium. The author pays attention to proceeding publications of archaeological, numismatical, epigraphical and papirological sources on various regions of the Byzantine empire.

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