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Theodora - Actress, Empress, Saint (Paperback)
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Theodora - Actress, Empress, Saint (Paperback)
Series: Women in Antiquity
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
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Two of the most famous mosaics from the ancient world, in the
church of San Vitale in Ravenna, depict the sixth-century emperor
Justinian and, on the wall facing him, his wife, Theodora
(497-548). This majestic portrait gives no inkling of Theodora's
very humble beginnings or her improbable rise to fame and power.
Raised in a family of circus performers near Constantinople's
Hippodrome, she abandoned a successful acting career in her late
teens to follow a lover whom she was legally forbidden to marry.
When he left her, she was a single mother who built a new life for
herself as a secret agent, in which role she met the heir to the
throne. To the shock of the ruling elite, the two were married, and
when Justinian assumed power in 527, they ruled the Eastern Roman
Empire together. Their reign was the most celebrated in Byzantine
history, bringing wealth, prestige, and even Rome itself back to
the Empire. Theodora was one of the dominant political figures of
her era, helping shape imperial foreign and domestic policy and
twice saving her husband from threatened deposition. She played a
central role trying to solve the religious disputes of her era and
proactively assisted women who were being trafficked. An
extraordinarily able politician, she excited admiration and hatred
from those around her. Enemies wrote extensively and imaginatively
about her presumed early career as a prostitute, while supporters
elevated her, quite literally, to sainthood. Theodora's is a tale
of a woman of exceptional talent who overcame immense obstacles to
achieve incredible power, which she exercised without ever
forgetting where she had come from. In Theodora: Actress, Empress,
Saint, David Potter penetrates the highly biased accounts of her
found in the writings of her contemporaries and takes advantage of
the latest research on early Byzantium to craft a modern,
well-rounded, and engaging narrative of Theodora's life. This
fascinating portrait will intrigue all readers with an interest in
ancient and women's history.
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