Description
Book SynopsisA scholarly, yet highly accessible account of the life and times of the Empress Theodora, who rose from actress in burlesque theater to co-ruler of Byzantium.
Trade Review"There is no other book that gives Theodora as extensive or as penetrating treatment as this one... The task is worthwhile, because Theodora is a figure of historical importance and great interest and perhaps the only Byzantine woman about whom the sources say enough to make even a short book feasible." Warren Treadgold, author of A Concise History of Byzantium "[Evans's] book is informative and entertaining. He writes with clarity and lucidity, virtues which are particularly evident in his acount of the theological disputes of the age. He has successfully set before us the woman "whose strange elevation" as Gibbon puts it, "cannot be applauded as the triumph of female virtue"."--Les Etudes Classiques, 71,3, July-Sept 2003
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Chapter 1. A New Dynasty Takes Power
- Chapter 2. The Early Life of Theodora
- Chapter 3. The Early Years in Power
- Chapter 4. The Nika Revolt
- Chapter 5. Theodora's Friends and Enemies
- Chapter 6. Theodora and Foreign Policy
- Chapter 7. The Theological Dilemma: The Search for Common Ground
- Chapter 8. Theodora's Quest for a New Strategy
- Chapter 9. The Coercion of Rome
- Chapter 10. Afterword
- Abbreviations
- Bibliography
- Notes
- Index
