section_path: Society/Socio-economic
section_name: Socio-economic
paragraph_text: Socio-economic
  
  Agriculture was the main basis of taxation and the state sought to bind everyone to land for productivity. Most land consisted of small and medium-sized lots around villages, with family farms serving as the primary source of agriculture. The coloni, once referred to as proto-serfs, were free citizens; however, their status remains a subject of historical debate.
  
  The Ekloge in 741 made marriage a Christian institution and no longer a private contract, and the institution's development correlated with the increased rights of slaves and the change in power relations. Marriage was considered an institution to sustain the population, transfer property rights, support the elderly of the family; and the Empress Theodora had additionally said that it was needed to restrict sexual hedonism. Women usually married at ages 15–20, and were used as a way to connect men and create economic benefit among families. The average family had 2 children, with mortality rates around 40-50%. Divorce could be done by mutual consent but would be restricted over time, for example, only being allowed if a married person was joining a convent.
  
  Inheritance rights were well developed, including for all women. The historian Anthony Kaldellis claims that these rights may have been what prevented the emergence of large properties and a hereditary nobility capable of intimidating the state. The prevalence of widows (estimated at 20%) meant that women often controlled family assets as heads of households and businesses, contributing to the rise of some empresses to power. Women were major taxpayers, landowners, and petitioners to the imperial court, primarily seeking resolution for property-related disputes in the latter capacity.