Editing Constantine VI (section)

===Economy===
Although the eighth century was a period of depopulation and ruralisation, there is evidence of a degree of prosperity, for example, the written record of the very large payment of 7,200 ''[[nomisma|nomismata]]'' (100 pounds of gold) by Constantine for the fair of St John at [[Ephesus]] in 795, which seems to suggest that the peasantry was industrious at the time.<ref>{{cite book |last=Auzépy |first=Marie-France |date=2008 |editor-last=Shepard |editor-first=Jonathan |title=The Cambridge history of the Byzantine Empire (c. 500–1492) |publisher=Cambridge University Press |chapter=State of emergency (700–850) |page=264|isbn=978-0-521-83231-1}}</ref>