Theodora

Biography

Reputedly the daughter of a circus bear-keeper and a former actress and courtesan, Theodora rose from the lowest ranks of Constantinople to become Justinian's wife, co-ruler, and the most powerful woman in Roman history. He changed the law so he could marry her and treated her as a genuine partner in government. Her defining moment came during the Nika Riots of 532, when the mob nearly overthrew Justinian and his advisers urged flight. Theodora reportedly shamed them into standing firm with a ringing speech — that royalty was a fine burial shroud, and she would not flee — steeling Justinian to crush the revolt and save his throne, and with it the whole project of reconquest. A shrewd champion of women's rights and religious minorities, she shaped policy until her death from cancer in 548.