The Power of a Context. Literary Distortion of Economic Issues in the Byzantine and Arab Sources About the Peace Treaty in 782

Can the literary underpinning of a historical text be relevant for economic issues? The present case-study addresses the problem, with no presumption of being exhaustive and/or solving it. On the one hand, this case study (just as one out of many) reveals important economic issues, between the lines both of al-Ṭabarī and of Theophanes: (1) there was plenty of coins in Byzantium: not only the solidi aurei but also the Arab dinars; (2) the latter is a confirmation of the Byzantine export towards Syria and Baghdad; (3) the ransom and the tribute were a haemorrage of coins from Byzantium; (4) yet Eirene was immediately able to fund a new military expedition in Greece; (5) the Arab raids and the Byzantine payments were also a haemorrage of goods (wool, animals, warfare objects), which caused to the Arabs a saturation of one market where the price fell; (6) the prisoners were also goods and they were so many that their price fell, too. On the other hand, this case study shows the power of a literary context (a) in re-writing the events; (b) in conveying the ideological message, whatever the deliberate distortions.