David Potter's book on Theodora presents a sympathetic treatment of this empress, underscoring that she was “an agent of change” in an “age of rapid transition” (2). He successfully weaves the story of this powerful woman into an accessible narrative of a complex period, reflecting the aims of the series. Potter presents Theodora as a powerful, intelligent, multilingual, socially savvy woman who was strongly committed to her family, social consciousness, and faith, and connects many of these characteristics to her low social origin. He is particularly effective in showing the impact of social networks Theodora developed and relied on as a tool of wielding power.
The twelve chapters trace the broad chronology of Theodora's life. The first introduces Constantinople where she grew up and outlines key circumstances of her childhood, while the second chapter examines the central source of her life, Procopius's Secret History. The third chapter reconstructs Theodora's early life as a hippodrome mime and prostitute, and the fourth discusses doctrinal controversies and the social role of the circus factions in the early sixth century. After introducing Emperor Justin and his nephew, Justinian, the fifth chapter presents Theodora as an agent of the Blue faction and explores how her anti-Chalcedonian network likely benefited diplomatic negotiations with the Nasrid Arabs in 524. Chapters 6 through 8 span the years 525–532, between Justinian's elevation as Caesar and the Nika Riots. The African and Italian wars and the ongoing religious controversies take center stage in chapter 9, while chapter 10 surveys the rebuilding of Hagia Sophia, legislation of the 530s and early 540s and highlighting laws about women, Theodora's hostel for reformed prostitutes, the ongoing wars, political controversies, and the ravages of the plague in Constantinople in 542–543. Chapter 11 sketches Theodora's continued support of anti-Chalcedonian leaders and communities and her promotion of alliances for members of her family. The last chapter considers Theodora's reception in medieval through twentieth century texts and images.
Scholars demonstrated that although the Secret History has dominated the historiography of Theodora and Justinian since its publication in the seventeenth century, it has little historical information to yield (C. E. Mallet, “The Empress Theodora,” The English Historical Review 2/5 [1887] 1–20; Elizabeth A. Fisher, “Theodora and Antonina in the Historia Arcana: History or Fiction?” Arethusa 11/1–2 [1978] 287–313). Recently, this text was characterized as a comedy, a satirical “historical novel,” and a parody of imperial praise whose primary function was entertainment, militating against its use as a source of factual, historical information (Stavroula Constantinou, “Violence in the Palace: Rituals of Imperial Punishment in Procopios's Secret History,” in A. Beihammer, S. Constantinou and M. Parani [eds.], Court Ceremonies and Rituals of Power in the Medieval Mediterranean [2013] 375–387; Brubaker, Leslie. “Sex, Lies and Textuality: The Secret History of Prokopios and the Rhetoric of Gender in Sixth-Century Byzantium,” in Gender in the Early Medieval World: East and West, 300–900, eds. Leslie Brubaker and Julia M. H. Smith [Cambridge University Press, 2004] 83–101). Though Potter references Fisher and Brubaker's work and describes Procopius's Secret History as a treacherous source, he nonetheless relies heavily on it. A key aspect of Procopius's invective is sexual slander, especially his claim that Theodora was a prostitute (not just an actress); this appears confirmed when John of Ephesus describes her origins from the “brothel” (porneion), although as Potter notes the term could have generally referred to her past as an actress (39, 230 n. 1). Potter maintains that it is a fact that Theodora offered sexual favors to men for payment (29), even though it has been shown that the sources do not provide definite evidence for her identity as a prostitute (Thomas J. McGinn, “The Legal Definition of Prostitute in Late Antiquity,” Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 42 [1997] 73–116). Potter, remarkably, suggests that Theodora had a choice in becoming a prostitute (46–48), yet he also notes that she felt powerless and entrapped by prostitution (47), which she perceived as a social problem linked to poverty (138, 183). Although attempting to work against stereotypes applied to powerful men and women in our sources (chapter 2), Potter's analysis does not move beyond the highly gendered use of sexual slander inherited from Procopius.
Descriptions of urban landscapes and rituals aid Potter's storytelling, while his reliance on wide-ranging primary sources (for example, medical treatises, laws, poetry, chronicles, hagiographies) and a vast body of recent scholarship results in a nuanced picture of a cacophonous age. His analysis of surviving and lost monuments or objects associated with Theodora would have benefited from consultation of additional recent art historical studies (Anne McClanan, Representations of Early Byzantine Empresses, Image and Empire [Palgrave MacMillan, 2002]; Diliana Angelova, “The Ivories of Ariadne and Ideas about Female Imperial Authority in Rome and Early Byzantium,” Gesta 43 vol. 1 [2004] 1–15; Ulrike Unterweger, “The Image of Empress Theodora as Patron,” in Lioba Theis, et. al, eds., Female Founders in Byzantium and Beyond [Wien, Köln, Weimar: Böhlau Verlag, 2014] 97–108, although it is possible that the last item was published too late for inclusion).
The maps, illustrations, dramatis personae, timeline, endnotes, bibliography and index facilitate the book's use. The text contains some errors and misleading statements. Theodora's daughter marries into the family of Emperor Anastasius not Athansius (202); Theodora wears a purple rather than a white chlamys (cloak) in the San Vitale mosaic (125); in the index under “Anthemius of Tralles” two entries refer to others named Anthemius, not the architect (271). It has not been demonstrated conclusively that the mosaic portrait of Theodora at San Vitale dates after her death in 548 (125), rather it was likely completed by 544 (McClanan, Representations, 136). Surprisingly there is no mention of Isidorus of Miletus, the second architect of Hagia Sophia (4, 159) in the discussion of this church.
Potter's engrossing biography of Theodora is well worth reading, although she often slips out of view as the author presents a broad, compelling portrait of a discordant age.
