THEODORA, the wife of the emperor Justinian (q.v.), was born probably in Constantinople, though according to some in Cyprus, in the early years of the 6th century, and died in 547. According to Procopius, our chief but by no means a trust worthy authority for her life, she was the daughter of Acacius, a bear-feeder of the amphitheatre at Constantinople, and while still a child appeared on the stage. Becoming a noted courtesan, she accompanied a certain Hecebolus to Pentapolis (in North Africa), of which he had been appointed governor, and, having quarrelled with him, betook herself first to Alexandria, and then back to Constantinople through the cities of Asia Minor. In Constantinople she attracted the notice of Justinian. He desired to marry her, but could not overcome the opposition of his aunt, the empress Euphemia. After her death (usually assigned to the year 523) the emperor yielded, and as a law forbade the marriage of senators with women who had followed the stage, this law was repealed. Thereupon Justinian married Theodora. They were some time after (527) admitted by Justin to a share in the sovereignty; and, on his death four months later, Justinian and Theodora became sole rulers of the Roman world. He was then about forty-four years of age, and she some twenty years younger. Procopius relates in his unpublished history (' Avbc5ora) many repulsive tales regarding Theodora's earlier life, but his evident hatred of her, though she had been more than ten years dead when the Anecdote were written, and the extravagances which the book contains, oblige us to regard him as a very doubtful witness. James Bryce discovered in Rome what is believed to be the only ms. of this so-called life of Justinian; he considered it worthless as an authority. (See THEOPHILUS.) Theodora speedily acquired unbounded influence over her hus band. She had a right to interfere, for she was not merely his consort, but empress regnant. In the most terrible crisis of Justinian's reign, the great Nika insurrection of 532, her courage and firmness in refusing to fly when the rebels were attacking the palace saved her husband's crown, and no doubt strengthened her command over his mind. Officials took an oath of allegiance to her as well as to the emperor (Nov., viii.). Procopius describes her as acting with the greatest cruelties. The city was full of her spies, who reported to her everything said against herself or the administration. She surrounded herself with ceremonious pomp,
and required all who approached to abase themselves in a manner new even to that half-Oriental court. She constituted herself the protectress of faithless wives against outraged husbands, yet pro fessed great zeal for the moral reformation of the city, enforcing severely the laws against vice; and immuring in a "house of repentance" on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus five hundred courtesans whom she had swept out of the streets of the capital. How much of all this is true we have no means of determining, for it rests on the sole word of Procopius. But there are slight indications in other writers that she had a reputation for severity.
In the religious strife which distracted the empire Theodora took part with the Monophysites. As Justinian was a warm up holder of the decrees of Chalcedon, this difference of the royal pair excited much remark and indeed much suspicion, and if it is true that Theodora disapproved of Justinian's western con quests, her judgment must be acknowledged to have been correct. In other matters also the wife spoke and acted very differently from the husband ; but their differences do not seem to have dis turbed either his affection or his confidence.
Theodora bore to Justinian no son, but one daughter—at least it would seem that her grandson, who is twice mentioned, was the offspring of a legitimate daughter, whose name, however, is not given. According to Procopius, she had before her marriage become the mother of a son, who when grown up returned from Arabia, revealed himself to her, and forthwith disappeared for ever; but this is a story to be received with distrust. That her behaviour as a wife was irreproachable may be gathered from the fact that Procopius mentions only one scandal affecting it, and that with some hesitation, the case of Areobindus. Her health was , delicate, and, though she took all possible care of it, fre quently quitting the capital for the seclusion of her villas on the Asiatic shore, she died comparatively young. Theodora was small in stature and rather pale, but with a graceful figure, beautiful features, and a piercing glance. There remains in the apse of the famous church of S. Vitale at Ravenna a contemporaneous mosaic portrait of her, to which the artist, notwithstanding the stiffness of the material, has succeeded in giving some character.