Fascinating people, fascinating places.

G'd a and welcome to the Dan Mainwearing podcast.

This is where we talk to and about the famous and the infamous,

the celebrated and the obscure, the well-known and the

undiscovered, interviews, articles and discussions from around the globe.

On the 1st of April 527 AD, an extraordinary event unfolded in the ancient city of Constantinople, known

to the modern world as Istanbul.

The 37 year old woman, a former actress and prostitute,

dressed in the imperial regalia of Rome,

was crowned as Empress of Byzantine, the eastern branch and largest remnant of the Roman Empire.

But unlike many women who've been awarded such titles,

Theodora wasn't just a consort or wife of the emperor.

She was at her husband's behest,

an equal partner in the imperial household. She was also the most legitimately powerful woman

to dominate Roman or Byzantine history. In this episode I seek to discover the story behind the influence.

The early life, her struggles, and to separate the fact from the fiction. Oh, Theodora's earliest years are shrouded in mystery. Three separate accounts claim Turkey, Cyprus and Syria as possible

birthplaces. What we do know is that while still an infant she found herself living

in Constantinople, the city renamed to commemorate

the first Roman emperor to end centuries of repression and embrace Christianity. By this time, and despite a brief renaissance under the Emperor Julian the Apostate, the

traditional pagan religions of Rome had all been but stamped out by zealous emperors and administrators who enthusiastically

embraced Christianity.

Despite this apparent sea-changing culture, in many respects, Constantinople was still identifiable

...