Theodora: Actress, Empress, Saint by David Potter (review)

David Potter has written Theodora: Actress, Empress, Saint as part of the Women in Antiquity series, edited by Ronnie Ancona and Sarah B. Pomeroy. David Potter’s book is as much a story of Mediterranean politics in the ancient world as it is the love story between Justinian, the son of peasants, and Theodora, a former actress and as such considered a person of ill repute, that rose from humble beginnings to become Emperor and Empress of the mighty Byzantine empire. Together they were one of the most famous couples of the ancient world, known for their piety and for championing the downtrodden.

Theodora’s story starts with that of her family. They were what one might term circus folk. Her mother was an actress and her father was a bear keeper, ursarius. These were considered prestigious occupations in the 6^th century Byzantine world Theodora inhabited. The family was considered upper middle class in Constantinople, the Byzantine capital where they lived. Actors and actresses, and bear trainers, too, were a vital part of the entertainment provided the Roman masses as part of the horse races at the Hippodrome. In ancient Rome, there were four main rival circus factions that played in the Hippodrome against each other, racing and taunting, but in Constantinople, the new Rome, there were but two, the Blues and the Greens. The factions were fiercely competitive towards one other, claiming they had a monopoly on the “right thinking.” Inter-factional violence was not uncommon.

The factions weren’t mere teams of sport. They were veritable institutions. Their heads were compensated as well as high-ranking palace officials. They had their neighborhoods or districts where their supporters lived. An alliance with a faction could make or break a government. Their spy networks alone were worth much value. Emperors were known to micromanage the factions’ affairs in order to exert control over these institutions. The factions’ role was not only to entertain. In a system where the wealthy few controlled most of the resources, going to see a spectacle made people happy. The factions functioned as a lever to maintain the social order.

Along with the church, the factions were important means of controlling the population. But who controlled the factions and the church? Different types of people surely, but nevertheless, the networks of power were interconnected in the Byzantine world. The ultimate authority rested with the emperor and the empress. In Theodora’s case, she held a lot of power of her own. Leaders were thought to derive their ability to rule due to their piety. They were supposed to be closer to God than mere mortals and so they could steer their people on the righteous path. Church officials, especially the ascetic, pious ones, derived their power along the same lines of thought.

A point of acute contention and the reason for a lot of factionalism was the split between the Chalcedon and the Anti-Chalcedonians’ viewpoints of Christianity. The Council of Chalcedon, which took place in Western Europe in ad 451, gave birth to a fierce doctrinal debate. The Chalcedonians believed Christ had a human aspect that suffered on the cross while the Anti-Chalcedonians believed that Christ was a unity, his divinity indivisible. The Anti-Chalcedonians, which Theodora supported, saw themselves as the pure brand of the church, shunning privilege, embracing the ascetic life, and helping the downtrodden. In practical terms this meant that the anti-Chalcedonians tended to be people who were outside the established political system. The 6^th century was a time in transition, when social and economic mobility was more apparent than any other time in the Roman Empire. It was a time when an actress could become an Empress and a saint.

In 521–522, her acting career behind her, Theodora moved to the province of Pentapolis, in modern-day Libya, as concubine to an older powerful man who was to govern the province. There, she gave birth to a daughter, but the father abandoned the young family. This is where...