The regulations of the guilds of Constantinople, issued by the eparch (prefect of the city) under Leo VI: who may practise each trade, at what profit, and, often, where in the city.
The book has some twenty chapters, one for each regulated trade: notaries, silversmiths, bankers, the several silk trades, linen merchants, perfumers, candle and soap makers, grocers, saddlers, butchers, pork and fish dealers, bakers, innkeepers, and the building crafts. Penalties range from fines to flogging, shaving and expulsion from the guild.
Several chapters fix places. The silversmiths are to work in their shops on the Mese, where all can watch; the perfumers are to keep their stalls between the Milion and the Chalke gate, so that their sweet smells rise toward the holy image over the gate and fill the palace porches; the livestock markets are assigned to particular fora. The chapter on building contractors makes them answerable for their work: a wall that falls within ten years, except by earthquake, is to be rebuilt at the builder’s own cost.
The book, part by part
I The guilds and their places
Silversmiths on the Mese; perfumers between the Milion and the Chalke; other trades by forum.
Rules: Every trade in its place
II The builders
Contractors answerable for ten years for the walls they build.