The Jews of Byzantium engaged economically with society in a number of ways, but consistently over the centuries they committed the bulk of their resources to two realms: taxes and textiles. The first of these, taxation, poses significant problems of definition, because the uniformity of sources declines sharply between the early and middle periods. This lack of clear-cut and abundant evidence in the seventh and subsequent centuries has resulted in a longstanding dispute regarding taxation of the Jews. Scholars question if a special Jewish tax existed, or if the Jews were simply subject to the same burden of taxation as all others in the realm. A resolution to this decades-old debate deserves some attention, but the problem itself, posed thus, only tangentially serves the overarching task of analyzing economic relationships as reflective of civic and social ones. In different fashion, the mode of taxation, i.e., collective or individual, might more accurately suggest the standing of the Jews vis-à-vis the fisc, a posture that not only represents the official relationship to the government but also – indirectly and symbolically – the Jewish place in society. Even analyzed through this lens, however, the official nature of taxation cannot illustrate the day-to-day encounters among people and groups, as other aspects of the economy can do.

Unlike taxation, which recognizes first and foremost the subject–state relationship, Byzantine-Jewish manufacturing and commerce evolved in the context of a bustling marketplace, both in Byzantium and beyond.