The silk industry around Naupaktos and its implications

Abstract

The silk production around Naupaktos is better documented than other examples of the silk industry in Byzantine Central Greece, especially in terms of its organisation, industrial layout and technical parameters. However, in comparison with its much better-known Theban counterpart, the Naupactian silk industry remains underexplored in current scholarship. This article focuses on synthesising the information about the industry provided by the surviving writings of John Apokaukos, the metropolitan of Naupaktos c.1200-1232. It also seeks to evaluate how the result of this investigation may complement or revise our current knowledge of the silk industry in Byzantine Central Greece.