Theodora, Empress of the East

TEODORA, EMPRESS OF THE EAST. – The most famous of the various empresses of this name, wife of Justinian, died in 548, not yet fifty years old.

Of humble origin, her early youth must have been anything but irreproachable, even if she did not attain the depravity claimed by Procopius. In 522, however, when she met Justinian, although little more than twenty and very beautiful, she was already living in retirement, devoted to practices of piety and passionately interested in the religious questions that at that time stirred the consciences of the people. Married in 525 and crowned in 527, she knew how to maintain her position with dignity; and especially after her manly energy revived the resistance to the great insurrection of 532, she exercised considerable influence over her husband’s mind, though not so strong as some maintain, since she opposed his politico-religious programme centred on consolidating the unity of the Church within the unity of the Empire. Justinian, although associating his wife’s name with his own in rescripts and imperial laws, was able to resist her pressure in favour of the Monophysites, whose fervent adherent T. was and whose doctrines she would have liked to ensure the triumph of, using her authority to promote their supporters to the highest ecclesiastical dignities. T. was chiefly responsible for the deposition of Pope Silverius (v.) and his replacement by Vigilius, who, having subsequently proved insufficiently compliant towards the Monophysites, was himself arrested (545) and exiled at the Empress’s behest.

(phot. Alinari)

TEODORA, empress of the EAST – Head of the Empress T. Byzantine mosaic, from the Barberini collection (6th century) – Rome, Museo Barracco.