The 7th Century Byzantine Grain Crisis and Its Management
In the early Byzantine period,Egypt served as the empire's granary and played a crucial role in ensuring the capital's food supply.However,in the first half of the 7th centu-ry,Egypt fell twice,and the granary ceased to exist.This posed a serious threat to the food security of Constantinople,leading to severe famine and plague outbreaks.To address the crisis,Byzantine rulers initially implemented official-led relief efforts and short-term meas-ures such as establishing temporary granaries,which helped alleviate the famine to some ex-tent.They later implemented adaptive reforms amid the trend of agricultural decline,ensu-ring the capital's food security while reducing the pressure on military supply.As a result,they managed to avoid major famines for the next half-century,enabling the empire to weather the crisis smoothly.
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