Theodora

Byzantine empress (r. 527–548)

• Born: c. 497
• Birthplace: Constantinople, Byzantine Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey)
• Died: June 28, 0548
• Place of death: Constantinople, Byzantine Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey)

Theodora used her privileged position as consort of the great Byzantine emperor Justinian I to administer the complex political machinery of an empire. An empress in more than title, she took an active part in political decision making and social reform, was sympathetic to the rights of women, and succeeded in defending the religious rights of the persecuted Monophysites against the Orthodox majority in the early Christian era.

Early Life

The girl who would grow up to become Empress Theodora (thee-uh-DOHR-uh), the most famous of the Byzantine empresses, was born to a family of poor circus performers in Constantinople probably in 497. The Greek Byzantines shared with the Latin Romans a love for the circus, which included chariot racing, athletic contests, and various types of animal acts. The Hippodrome, or racetrack, was the colorful center of a turbulent area of Constantinople frequented by every social class and nation from beggar to emperor, barbarian to Byzantine Greek; this was the setting for Theodora’s earliest experiences, and it was there that her father Acacius worked as a bearkeeper in the employ of the “Green” circus faction. The circus factions were groups that organized and supported the competing teams of charioteers and athletes. They performed a rudimentary political function as well, in that they became the focus of various popular allegiances.

Theodora’s father died when she was four or five, leaving her destitute mother to provide for herself and her three young daughters. Because the bearkeeper had worked for the Greens, the mother turned to them for help, hoping to obtain her husband’s old job for her new husband. In an effort to win favor, she coached her daughters to perform and beg in a graceful manner, thinking thus to melt the hearts of the crowd; however, the attempt was unsuccessful. She and the children were ridiculed, and it was the rival faction, the Blues, who came to the family’s rescue. The future empress would never forget, nor forgive, the humiliation of the episode and the cruelty of the Greens.

Theodora’s older sister Comito began to perform as an actress several years after these events; at the time, the profession was held in very low esteem, particularly for women. Actresses were treated as no better than prostitutes and were forbidden to marry men of the upper classes. There were few other careers available to women, however, and the tough world of the Hippodrome provided a ready-made audience for female entertainers. Like her older sister, Theodora was attractive, and she began to accompany her sister on the stage, where her lively antics, quick wit, and physical beauty brought her popular success. She also soon won fame for less refined talents, such as her willingness to disrobe in public and perform obscene acts. In time, she became a notorious courtesan, according to the Anecdota (c. 550; Secret History of the Court of the Emperor Justinian, 1674) of Procopius of Caesarea, the contemporary historian on whom most modern information about Theodora is based. (The Anecdota was discovered in the Vatican library more than a millennium after its original appearance.) According to Procopius, there was no limit to the extent of her perversions and scandalous behavior, which he describes in lascivious detail. However, Procopius intensely disliked both Emperor Justinian and Theodora, which may explain his scurrilous and probably biased account of the empress’s behavior.

Around 520, Theodora disappeared for a time from Constantinople in order to accompany a lover, Hecebolus, to Cyrene in North Africa, where he had just obtained a position as governor. They soon quarreled, however, and she found herself alone and destitute. She made her way to Alexandria, Egypt, a major center of civilization within the Byzantine Empire and across the Mediterranean Sea from Constantinople. There she apparently met Timothy, the patriarch of Alexandria, and Severus, the patriarch of Antioch, two of the five leaders of Christendom at the time. Both men had suffered persecution because they believed in the Monophysite (unitary) nature of Christ, a belief recently termed heretical by the Orthodox Church. Both treated her with kindness, which she remembered with gratitude for the rest of her life. She seems to have experienced a sort of religious conversion that changed her life such that, when she returned in 522 to Constantinople, she took up a modest but honest livelihood spinning wool, forsaking the theater and her former life.

Life’s Work

It was not long after her return to Constantinople that Theodora met Justinian, nephew of the emperor and heir apparent to the throne of Byzantium. Justinian, fifteen years her senior and a supporter of the Blues circus faction, fell deeply in love with her, and they soon began living together in the Palace of Hormisdas. Although Justinian showered Theodora with love and expensive gifts, he also wished to marry her. This was contrary to current law, which forbade marriage between a patrician and an actress. Although the current empress Euphemia was implacably opposed to the marriage, having herself risen from lowly estate to achieve royal status, her timely death and the compliance of Justinian’s uncle, the emperor Justin I, enabled the couple to wed in 525. Thus it came about that the daughter of a bearkeeper and the son of a peasant were to become the next emperor and empress of the powerful and vast Byzantine commonwealth.

Two years passed between the marriage and the assumption of the throne, which gave Theodora time and seasoning for the important role she would play as empress and coruler with her husband. She learned court etiquette, observed and discerned the centers of political power, and formed alliances with key palace players. By April, 527, when Justinian was formally crowned in the palace, Theodora had transformed herself into an empress worthy of the throne of Byzantium.

As a ruler, Justinian is remembered as a codifier of Roman law. He wished as well to restore the divided Roman empire, of which the Byzantine state was the eastern branch, to its former unified and exalted position. To do this, however, he was obliged to wage numerous long and costly wars. Predictably, the taxes levied against the population to finance these projects were a source of popular resentment, which reached a climax in 532 when the circus factions, including the Blues whom Justinian had previously supported, united against him in the Hippodrome. Justinian’s attempt to quell the rebellion, known as the Nika Riots after the war cry nika (victory) chanted by the populace, only exacerbated the anger of the crowd, which then proceeded to destroy many of the principle public buildings and churches of the city and threatened the royal palace itself. Theodora is credited with stiffening Justinian’s resolve in putting down the rioters, at least thirty thousand of whom were subsequently massacred by Justinian’s military general Belisarius (c. 505–65). She also insisted on the execution of Hypatius, a nephew of the former emperor who had been crowned by the rioters.

Theodora also eventually prevailed against one of the men, John of Cappadocia, who had been a focus of popular antipathy and a cause of the rebellion. This man, promoted to praetorian prefect in 531 and a genius at raising the money to finance Justinian’s wars, was known for his coarseness and brutality as well as for his contempt for the empress. Theodora used her palace connections and her capacity for intrigue to bring about John of Cappadocia’s fall from favor and ultimate exile.

Contemporary accounts reveal Theodora as thoroughly accustomed to a life of luxury and opulence. She was famed for her beauty, which even her prime detractor Procopius acknowledged. She reveled in elaborate jewelry and extravagant costume, and she insisted on observance of all the intricacies of court etiquette and ceremony. According to Procopius, she slept many hours a day, spent hours on personal adornment, and enjoyed rich food. The most famous surviving portrait of her is from a mosaic in the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, where she is depicted just a few years before her death. This shows her as a slender woman of elegance, with large eyes and a fine complexion.

Besides enjoying the splendors of court life, however, Theodora was also deeply engaged in religious issues. She was a source of support and even refuge for members of the often-persecuted Monophysite sect. Theodora is perhaps best known for her activity in the founding of many churches, among which was the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople. The most notable ecclesiastic foundation of the reign of Justinian and Theodora, however, was the rebuilding and redesign of Hagia Sophia , the Church of Holy Wisdom, in Constantinople, shortly after its destruction in the Nika Riots. Later in her life, one of Theodora’s chief plans was to install as pope of Rome a candidate who would be positively inclined toward the Monophysites. Thus, on the death of Pope Agapetus in 536, she struck a bargain with a Roman deacon named Vigilius that in return for her support of his candidacy to the papacy, he would accede to her wishes regarding the Monophysites. When instead a rival claimant, Silverius, was installed as pope, Theodora engineered his deposition in favor of Vigilius. However, Theodora’s hopes that the new pope would prove to be her puppet turned out to be unfounded. Once ensconced in the Holy See, Vigilius refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Monophysites.

Although in modern terms Theodora probably would not be considered a feminist, relying as she did on her husband’s position and on palace intrigue to achieve her goals, it is nevertheless noteworthy that Theodora did take measures to help women at a time when there were few institutional means to do so. She was instrumental in promulgating laws that improved the legal status of actresses, ensured inheritance rights for females, and protected prostitutes from exploitation by pimps and brothel-keepers. Both her sisters, in spite of their early careers as actresses, married men of high rank in the Byzantine Empire. By the time of her death, presumably from cancer, in 548, Theodora had succeeded in improving the lot of many distressed women.

Significance

Theodora, a woman who shared the real political power of the Byzantine throne with her emperor husband, was an early example of women’s ability to make political and social change in a complex society. Theodora’s achievements in the realm of social legislation, religious tolerance, and Realpolitik show her to have been well in advance of her time in many respects.

Byzantine Emperors: Justinian Line, 518-610

Reign

• Emperor

518-527

• Justin I

527-548

• Theodora (empress)

527-565

• Justinian I the Great

540

• Khosrow I sacks Antioch

565-578

• Justin II

578-582

• Tiberius II Constantinus

582-602

• Maurice

602-610

• Phocas (non-Justinian)

Bibliography

Bridge, Antony. Theodora: Portrait in a Byzantine Landscape. 1978. Reprint. Chicago: Academy Chicago, 1993. Print.

Browning, Robert. Justinian and Theodora. Rev. ed. New York: Thames, 1987. Print.

Calkins, Robert G. Medieval Architecture in Western Europe: From A.D. 300 to 1500. New York: Oxford UP, 1998. Print.

Cameron, Averil. Procopius and the Sixth Century. Berkeley: U of California P, 1985. Print.

Diehl, Charles. Theodora: Empress of Byzantium. Trans. Samuel R. Rosenbaum. New York: Ungar, 1972. Print.

Evans, James Allan. The Age of Justinian: The Circumstances of Imperial Power. New York: Routledge, 1996. Print.

Evans, James Allan. The Empress Theodora: Partner of Justinian. Austin: U of Texas P, 2002. Print.

Garland, Lynda. Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium, A.D. 527–1204. New York: Routledge, 1999. Print.

McCash, June Hall, ed. The Cultural Patronage of Medieval Women. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1996. Print.

Norwich, John Julius. Byzantium: The Early Centuries. New York: Knopf, 1994. Print.

Procopius. The Anecdota: Or, Secret History. Vol. 6 in Procopius. Trans.by H. B. Dewing. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1960–62. Print.