Theodora: Empress of Byzantium

Rating:
Summary: Theodora and Justinian
Review: I give this author a lot of credit for attempting this biography of Theodora, wife of Emperor Justinian of Byzantium. The credit is surely due because there are, unfortunatley, not a lot of information sources about Theodora, and the most complete source is Procopious's "Secret History", which can in no way be considered a glowing tale of her life. It's quite a salacious read, and perhaps gives one a somewhat distorted view of Theodora, and her upbringing. The auhtor of this work attempts a delicate balance between the "anti" sources, and the other reports of the reign of Justinian and his consort. The result is a book that has many nuances, but appears as fair as possible given the sources and the pasage of time since these events occured in world history. Often the author is driven to psychological speculation over why actions were taken or not taken, and he can't be faulted for his approach, given the situation. Anyone attempting to adequately reconstruct ancient events without proper historical help is going to have this problem, and I feel the author has done as well as can be expected. The book is a good view into the Justinian court, and the life of the Byzantine Empire of the time.