One of the first publications of the celebrated medieval economic historian, this paper deals with the Byzantine silk industry as a tool of Imperial policy, from the use of silk to establish a "hierarchy of clothing" which distinguished the Emperor and those he delighted to favor, beginning in the middle of the fourth century, through the Imperial monopoly of silk weaving established by Justinian (Procopius complains of the exorbitant prices), to the renewal of trade in silk under Leo VI. Separate chapters consider the silk-workers, their guild structure, the control of internal trade, and trade with the Muslims, the Slavs, and Western Europe. Lopez concludes that the Byzantines kept control of silk, did not pay much to do so, and used it effectively as a means of prestige. Eight pages of illustrations.