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Empress Theodora Essay

1111 Words5 Pages

Empress Theodora was born into one of the lowest Byzantine classes in 497. Theodora turned to a life of prostitution following her fathers death, which was considered as a disrespectful and scandalous profession. Theodora and Justinian met in 522 and he wanted to marry her right away, but with his high status he was unable to marry a prostitute. Justinian later had this law appealed so he could marry Theodora and while doing so, he received a negative response from the people. The Byzantine citizens were not fond of someone who came from a lower class of prostitution being their leader. This law was the first of many laws that Justinian claimed were based on the Empress to improve the lives of women. Theodora and Justinian were determined to …show more content…

Justinian furthered his mission and began building safe houses for women who were trying to get out of being a prostitute which helped reflect his pure faith as emperor. This essay investigates how Justinian used Theodora to perfect his society and assesses how successful his legislature, safe houses, and punishments were in regards to molding his own utopia. Although, some people say that Theodora was the one who took advantage of her relationship with Justinian, the laws that she got passed only put more control over women and their bodies. Justinian changed these laws that seemed to be made for Theodora and the improvement of women's status but were instead for changing the parts of society that he didn't like as …show more content…

Procopius tells us that “the imperial couple made a palace into a splendid monastery for former prostitutes who had been forced into working in brothels because of their extreme poverty”. Metanoia was meant for women who weren't high-class or were victims of forced prostitution and later became a place of repentance, which ensured that these former prostitutes would never be compelled to depart from the practice of virtue again. It was looked to as a place of healing and the first step to beginning a new life away from prostitution. This new life was what Justinian was hoping for as he was slowly progressing towards an empire free of sin. Although Theodora did not have a place like Metanoia when she left the life of prostitution, she began to repent anyways. Her own repentance granted her an abundance of respect from the people of the Byzantine Empire, especially women and Justinian. This level of respect made women try to imitate Theodora, so through her repentance, Justinian was able to introduce his “perfect woman” to Byzantine society. Her own repentance resulted in women leaning towards repenting themselves which is exactly what Justinian

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