Some Thoughts on Climate Change, Local Environment, and Grain Production in Byzantine Northern Anatolia

The interrelationships between environment, climate and society are by definition highly complex, and only a close analysis of the specific mechanics of change can reveal any putative causal connections. This paper will take the case of Byzantine Anatolia between the 6th and 8th c., together with the case of the small provincial city of Euchaïta in the Pontus, and examine some of the evidence for such causal links. As part of this discussion, I will suggest some of the reasons for the survival of the eastern Roman empire during the crisis of the later 7th and early 8th c.