Byzantine Silk Smuggling

Around 552 AD, according to the historian Procopius, two monks arrived in Constantinople with a remarkable offer for the emperor Justinian I. For centuries, silk had been one of the most valuable goods in the Roman world, but the secret of how it was made was closely guarded by China, and the trade passed through Persia, the empire's great rival, which profited heavily as a middleman. The monks had lived in a region east of Persia where silk was produced, and they explained that it was made by worms. Justinian sent them back, and they returned, supposedly smuggling silkworm eggs hidden inside hollow canes or walking sticks. From these, the Byzantines began raising silkworms and producing silk themselves, with mulberry trees planted to feed them. Silk production became a closely controlled imperial industry, especially in Constantinople and later in Greece, where regions such as the Peloponnese and Thebes became famous centers of silk production. Byzantine silks were used as diplomatic gifts and symbols of imperial power, and they became one of the empire's most prized products.