Imagine it’s 540 CE, and you’re visiting a busy trading port in Constantinople, a city at the intersection of many important global trade routes. Merchants here handle goods from all over the world. Let’s take a stroll through a warehouse near the docks and see what’s happening today.
The shelves are piled high with bolts (rolls) of cloth, including silk and linen. Barrels and amphorae (clay jugs) filled with oil and wine are everywhere. Workers are unloading chests of precious spices that arrived earlier today. The spices were carried across the desert from China and India by caravan. The merchant who owns all these goods has a ship leaving tomorrow. It will sail across the Black Sea and up the Dnieper River. If all goes well, it will come back loaded with furs, salt, wax, and honey.
