690 Theodora I
Further reading:Richard Beadle, ed., The Cambridge
Companion to Medieval English Theatre(Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1994); Jody Enders, The Medieval
Theater of Cruelty: Rhetoric, Memory, Violence (Ithaca,
N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1999); Shmuel Moreh,
Live Theatre and Dramatic Literature in the Medieval Arab
World(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1992);
Eckehard Simon, ed., The Theatre of Medieval Europe: New
Research in Early Drama(Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-
sity Press, 1991); Charlotte Stern, The Medieval Theater in
Castile(Binghamton: Medieval & Renaissance Texts &
Studies, 1996); Ronald W. Vince, ed., A Companion to the
Medieval Theatre(New York: Greenwood Press, 1989).
Theodora I(495/500–548) Byzantine empress, wife of
Justinian I
Theodora’s life has been related to us primarily through
the writings of PROCOPIUS OFCAESAREA. In his Secret His-
toryhe was particularly revealing about her notorious
and scandalous life. She supposedly grew up amid the
disreputable carnival atmosphere of the circus factions in
CONSTANTINOPLE. She was said to have been an actress
and a prostitute. Justinian persuaded his uncle, the
emperor Justin I (ca. 450–527), to abrogate the laws that
prevented members of the senatorial class from marrying
actresses in 525. It would appear that Justinian, who
became emperor in 527, was devoted to her and that her
influence was substantial. She particularly helped fortify
his resolve in quelling the “Nika revolt” in 532.
Though despised by the aristocracy, Theodora
became well known and loved for her charitable works,
palace, intrigues, and ruthless political maneuvers. She
and Justinian never produced children, although she had
had children by other men before her marriage. In mat-
ters of ecclesiastical policy, she took a particularly inde-
pendent line, remaining a convinced and supportive
MONOPHYSITEin opposition to her husband. However, she
did not in the end much influence Justinian’s religious
policies. She died of cancer in Constantinople on June
28, 548.
See alsoBELISARIUS;BYZANTINEEMPIRE ANDBYZAN-
TIUM;CONSTANTINOPLE;HAGIASOPHIA.
Further reading: Procopius, Secret History of Pro-
copius,trans. Richard Atwater (Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press, 1963); Antony C. Bridge, Theodora: Por-
trait in a Byzantine Landscape(London: Cassell, 1978);
Robert Browning, Justinian and Theodora(London: Wei-
denfeld and Nicolson, 1971); Averil Cameron, Procopius
and the Sixth Century(Berkeley: University of CaliforniaThe court of Empress Theodora, Byzantine mosaic, sixth century, San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy (Scala / Art Resource)