The Real Empress Theodora

Theodora was born at around the time of 497 AD in Rome. She died of cancer in 548 AD when she was 51 years of age. Theodora’s father was a bear trainer and her mother, a homemaker. She then met Justinian I, the then later Byzantine emperor. Justinian kept her life very interesting.Theodora was born a peasant, but as she overcame that she helped establish women’s rights. Theodora was born into a peasant family, but then later met Justinian I, the emperor’s nephew. She met him after she took a job spinning wool at a house that was close to the palace. Justinian fell in love with Theodora. They shared passion and chemistry for each other. By law the two could not marry each other. Justinian I then was able to get the law changed to allow them to marry. They were crowned emperor and empress in 527 AD. As Empress Theodora had the power to influence others. Using her power she helped establish protection towards women and women’s rights. She establish many laws that helped women have more rights with divorce, inheritance, and especially poverty. Most importantly, the laws made prostitution illegal and established that anyone who committed rape will be sentenced to death penalty. Theodora is also know for saving Justinian and his role as emperor. In 532, Two political groups called the Blues and the Greens broke out in a riot, that later turned into a revolt. Justinian and his advisors could not control the Blues and the Greens, and soon became to pack up and flee but, Theodora stopped them. She said that dying is better than exile and disgrace. This convinced everyone to stay. Justinian’s generals then, restored order in the empire by attacking. After the revolt, Constantinople had to be entirely rebuilt, since many buildings and orders were destroyed. Aqueducts, bridges, homes and over 25 churches were rebuilt. One of the churches was the Hagia Sophia which is considered to be one of the greatest architectural wonders in the world. After Theodora passed away, it was said that Justinian never stopped grieving for her. He went to her grave every day to light candles. He wept of sorrow. Empresses Theodora was his life. Theodora’s most significant accomplishments were influencing a change in women’s rights. Without Theodora, we would have had a lot of sexism towards women in the world today. There is already still some discrimination against women, today, even years after women began to have some right.s