Podcasts about empress theodora

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In part one, Theodora escaped poverty and exploitation and rose through the ranks of Byzantine society. When she marries the love of her life, Justinian, and he gets the bump to Emperor, she rises even higher – to co-ruler – and uses her newfound power to fight for women's rights. Theodora has everything she's ever wanted – status, love, and the ability to make change. But when riots threaten to topple her reign, she'll resort to ruthless measures to hold on to her new life.Be the first to know about Wondery's newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletterListen to Even The Royals on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/even-the-royals/ now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Empress Theodora was a true rags to riches story. She rose from humble circus performer all the way to the top of the royal food chain through wit, charm, and sheer gutsiness. As a child, she dreams of a more glamorous life – but climbing the ladder is tough, particularly during the Byzantine era. And the higher she goes, the more people try to knock her down. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

From 527 to 565 AD, Emperor Justinian I and his Empress Theodora ruled over the Byzantine Empire in Constantinople. Together, they reshaped the Mediterranean world, weathering political upheaval, wars of conquest, and an outbreak of bubonic plague. In this first installment of a multi-part series, we explore the early years of New Rome's greatest power couple. Rising from a disreputable background in the brothels of Constantinople, the actress-turned-informant Theodora catches the eye of Prince Justinian, heir to the Byzantine throne... SOURCES: Bridge, Antony. Theodora: Portrait in a Byzantine Landscape. Potter, David. Theodora: Actress, Empress, Saint.  Parnell, David Alan. Belisarius & Antonina: Love and War in the Age of Justinian Hughes, Bettany. Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities.  Sarris, Peter. Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint.  Cesaretti, Paolo. Theodora: Empress of Byzantium. Procopius. The Secret History.  Phillips, Robin. West, Jeff. Who in the World Was The Acrobatic Empress?  Norwich, John Julius. Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy Evans, James Allan. The Empress Theodora: Partner of Justinian.  Holmes, Nick. Justinian's Empire: Triumph and Tragedy Charles Rivers Editors. Justinian the Great: The Life and Legacy of the Byzantine Emperor. Captivating History. The Byzantine Empire. 2018 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our special Off The Shelf Books guest this morning is Douglas Burton. Douglas is a storyteller who pens fiction with strong women characters. He is also an avid historian, a pairing that powers him to be a remarkably talented writer of historical fiction! “Far Away Bird” was his debut novel, focusing on the Byzantine Empress Theodora. The novel won several awards, including gold medals for the IBPA's Best New Voice in Fiction, Readers' Favorite Historical Personage, and eLit's Best Historical Fiction eBook. Douglas' next book, The Heroine's Labyrinth: Archetypal Designs in Heroine-Led Fiction, is a work of nonfiction. Tune in to learn what inspired Douglas to write "Far Away Bird" and why he always knew the story would be a trilogy. Off The Shelf Books podcast listeners will discover when to expect second book in the trilogy to hit the book market. This is a fun, engaging, insightful show that readers love gaining valuable and entertaining information from! Listen in!

Chariot racing was a dangerous and violent sport at the best of times, but on 13th January, 532, a hooligan-led protest at the Hippodrome of Constantinople - known as ‘the Nika rebellion' - ultimately lead to over 30,000 deaths and the destruction of half the City.  Upon hearing his wife urge him that ‘royalty is a good burial shroud', the Emperor Justinian reportedly decided to slaughter his own people to maintain his position of power. Yet, despite this, he was ultimately deemed to have earned his epithet: ‘The Great'.  In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly unearth the tradition of ‘curse tablets'; explain why Empress Theodora switched allegiances from the ‘greens' to the ‘blues'; and reveal how a eunuch wielding gold coins helped to stabilise the Byzantine empire… Further Reading: • ‘Overview of the Nika Revolt' (ThoughtCo, 2019): https://www.thoughtco.com/the-nika-revolt-1788557 • Deadly Moments in History - The Nika Riots (Invicta, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm9mscL2qHU • ‘12 Historic Little Known Rebellions with Tragic and Bloody Ends' (History Collection, 2017): https://historycollection.com/12-historic-little-known-rebellions-tragic-bloody-ends/9/ ‘Why am I hearing a rerun?' Each Thursday and Friday we repeat stories from our archive of 800+ episodes, so we can maintain the quality of our independent podcast and bring you fresh, free content every Monday-Wednesday…  … But

Based on the work of Robyn Bee, In 7 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.Theodora believed. Her faith ran deeply. It was not worn as some gesture of heretical mockery. That cross, like her body, were symbols of her devotion to God. She made love, shared herself with others as an act of worship. Her every moan, a prayer; her every cry, an exultation to her creator. The font between her legs, the sweetest sort of holy water.It was no sin to revel in what God had given her.“Ah, my soldier,” she panted, collapsing onto her hands. “You are a worthy distraction.”The Empress finished her bath not long after; taking a few minutes to scrub vigorously at her skin, her expression curled into one of satisfied contentment. We traveled with her back to her inner chambers, standing outside while an army of maids moved in to help her get dressed.I stood numbly at Helena’s side, my guts twisting around as if I’d taken a knife. I hated myself; both for what I’d done and what I hadn’t let myself do. She was my Empress, yet I couldn’t get the sight of her naked body out of head. Or, how I’d watched her impale herself again and again on that golden phallus; rivulets of her own moisture trickling down the shaft of it.“You surprised me again, you know,” Helena said into the silence.Her voice drew me back into the real world, letting me blink my thoughts clear. I tilting my head to find her eyes considering me.“In the baths,” she clarified. “Your restraint.”Right. She’d been there. She’d seen me, my nakedness, My cheeks suddenly, burned scarlet and I couldn’t meet her gaze.She laughed, a deep sound rich with textures, which somehow made me feel even more uncomfortable.“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ve seen many others, and been a lot closer to a fair bit of them. Although, yours was particularly nice,”She trailed off, her voice still on the edge of laughter."Restraint?” I managed to croak out, looking for a way out of this. “What restraint?”“You know what I mean,” Helena said. “The Empress practically begged you for more. Most men, and many women I’ve met wouldn’t have hesitated to jump in. But you didn’t, and I can’t really figure out why.”I let out a long breath, breathing back in through my nose. I caught the whiff of oiled-steel, and was talking before I really knew it.“Honestly? I don’t even know. She’s the Empress for God’s sake, not some camp follower. And besides, she’s married. I know the world is way different here but, I don’t know. It just felt wrong, I guess.”“I told you that neither she nor the Emperor care about that,” Helena said.“I know. But a good woman isn’t supposed to be like that.”“And just how is a good woman supposed to be?”It was a sign about how lost I was in my own confusion that I missed the flint in her voice and the sudden stiffness of her frame. I just kept talking, my eyes down onto my out-stretched hands.“I don’t know that anymore either. My mother always said that good, happy women were,” I let out another long breath and shook my head. "Not like this. Not so, I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter.”I back towards her with a shaky grin. “I guess all I do know is I shouldn’t be the one deciding any of this anyway.”Silence fell between us for a time. I listened to the commotion of the Empress’ preparations, keeping an eye on the empty hallway. It was Helena that eventually spoke again.“And what about me? Am I a good, proper woman?”“No,” I said, meeting the challenge in her gaze. I let my lip quirk into a wry smile. “But Helena, you might just be the sanest person here.”Her lips parted in a wide smile, and the deep green of her eyes brightened just a little. She laughed, and I felt an all-together different sort of warmth rise through me.Training with Helena.My little lion.Your letter has been an answer from God. I feared for you when I heard about the army’s defeat at the hands of those barbaric Persians. But God is good, and I knew that He would not let you fall to those heathens. I do not know when, or where this letter will find you, but just know that I love you and that your dedication to your career fills me with pride.I know too, that your father would say the same. What man wouldn’t? To see their son follow so closely in his own footsteps.I let out a breath, leaning back, away from my little desk. This was the last letter I’d received from my mother; the message waiting for me when I’d arrived in Constantinople back at the end of May. It was nearly September now.I’d put this off enough, I told myself. I had blank parchment, quill and inkpot. I had to write to her. I had to tell her that I was still alright; that I was in the capital. That I was working in the Imperial Palace.That I’d left the Legion.My head fell into my hands. I closed my eyes, and tried to will them open an instant later. I needed to do this. I needed to tell her. I was a soldier for God’s sake, I could write a letter to my own fucking mother.A minute passed, and then two. And then, luckily, there was a knock at my door before I could really start hating myself.I just about leapt from my desk, opening the door to find Helena standing there.“Morning!” She said with a wide smile. “You ready?”“Helena,” I said. “Ready? What, uh. I, for, ?”I trailed off unable to figure out what I’d actually wanted to say. Helena stood in my doorway without her armor, without much of anything really.Her neck and shoulders were bare; her warm bronze skin flowing down to the swell of her chest. The shape of it was hidden, however, lashed tight by a winding strip of cloth. Her stomach was naked, the muscles flexing with every breath she took.My eyes traveled down the tightness of her navel, to the loincloth wrapped snuggly around the curve of her hips. It was short, doing nothing more than swaddle the place where her legs flowed into each other. I followed the endless, sculpted smoothness of her legs down, tracing every swell and divot. I lingered for a time of the strip of cloth looped around one thigh, wondering at its arcane purpose before I arrived at her sandaled feet.“Like what you see?” I could hear the smirk in her voice, and I looked up to find her eyes alight beneath the free-falling curls of her copper hair.“Yes” I instantly replied, the words springing out of me without bothering to stop by my brain.She snorted, a faint flush of color creeping up her naked skin. “Come on, get out of that. We’re going for a run.”“A run, ?” My eyes flicked back down to the shape of her thighs. My mind finally seemed to judder back into motion, and heat seared up my body as I realized what I was doing.“A run!” I said, tearing my eyes away from her. “Yes. Sorry. Yes. I’ll be ready.”I still hadn’t moved, my eyes flailing about wildly for a place to rest. Helena laughed, and I took that as permission to settle back on her grinning face.“Sorry,” I said. “You, uh, took me by surprise.”“I can see that,” she said. “Now, take that off. We need to go before it gets too hot.”“Ah, right,” I said. “Give me a moment.”“Sure,” she said. “I’ll meet you down in the Hippodrome, then.”I nodded. She turned, moving away and giving me a view of her back. My eyes slid down the smooth arch of her spine until they reached the curved, firmness of her hips. Her loin-cloth was tight, looping around her waist and between her legs. It left much of her rounded behind visible, each hump jiggling faintly as she walked.I was mesmerized by the sway of her hips; of the rhythmic bouncing of her cheeks. Of the muscles shifting beneath the flesh of her naked thighs. But most of all, by the way her ass completely devoured the strip of cloth down its center.I heard her make a small sound, and looked up to find her peeking back at me from over one shoulder. I flushed, and saw her lips curl into another smile. She turned her attention forward once more, reaching down to that loop around her thigh and using it to tie back her hair.I swear, in the final few steps before she rounded the corner, the swing of her hips took on an extra snap.I stared after her for a while after she’d disappeared. I’d grown used to the sight of her in armor; the shape of her body masked by the protective steel. Women didn’t wear armor; and so, despite the beauty of her features, I’d somehow convinced myself that Helena wasn’t one.I wouldn’t forget that again. Not now that I had the sight of the swaying, curving femininity of her waist locked tightly in my mind. I knew that I would never forget that first glimpse of her. I’d carry it with me, along with the way her eyes had danced when she’d smiled.Grand HippodromeConstantinople’s Grand Hippodrome was one the great wonders of the world. It was huge, the U-shaped track built directly into the western wall of the Imperial Palace. From the Emperor’s box, Justinian, and the hundred thousand others that could squeeze themselves into the surrounding grandstands, could watch the thunder of the chariot races that were the center of life within the capital.The seats were empty now. Though I remembered well, when I’d jogged through at the end of my own race, the way the sands had shaken with each one of the crowd’s roars and cheers.Helena and I started to run after a few minutes of stretching. We ran the circuit of the charioteers, doing lap after lap around the low, obelisk framed wall that divided the track in two. She was a good runner, better than good. Her breathing was steady, her long legs devouring mile after mile of the sandy track.We ran in silence mostly; each of us focusing on the breath in our lungs, the sun on our naked backs and the sand beneath out feet. I quickly fell back into my old rhythm, my head emptying itself of everything but the run. Slowly, as one hour slipped past, and then two, I felt that calm settle deeper into me. My thoughts, my confusions and my doubts from the past couple of weeks; all of it started to clear. This was something I knew. Something that I was good at. I focused on that, anchoring myself to the joy of doing something I loved; in the company of someone who seemed to love it too.By the time we stopped, I actually felt like myself again.It was near midday when we stopped, guzzling water from a waiting barrel. In the hours since we’d arrived, a unit of Excubitors had started drilling nearby. They attacked wooden posts with heavy training swords; another group falling in and out of formation beneath the heavy batons of their officers.I watched them while we rested, noting a much heavier focus on marching and formation drills, rather than actual combat. It wasn’t what I was used to, but it would serve.“Let’s go train with them,” I said, speaking loudly over the shouts of the officers. “I haven’t practiced in weeks.”Helena, her skin flushed a healthy pink from the long run, didn’t meet my gaze. “Ah, you go. I’ll just run some more; I think.”I frowned. “Come on, we need the practice. Let’s get those guys at the posts to do some actual sparring.”She shook her head. “I can’t. Just go, Leo. I’ll do a few more laps before I go back in.”“Helena,” I said. “We’re the Empress’ Guard. We can train with them whether they like it or not.”Her face twisted. “Oh, they very much don’t like to train with a woman.”My frown deepened. “That doesn’t matter. You guard the Empress. They have to train you.”“You’d think so, right?” She laughed, a bitter sound. “Oh, they’re all happy to stare at me when I run, but as soon as I approach them with a training sword in my hand, everyone suddenly finds somewhere else they need to be. I just do what I can with the wooden posts.”I was getting angry. “That's nothing.”“It's the best I can do.”“It's not enough,” I answered.Her eyes flashed, but I turned away. I started towards the closest rack of training swords. “I’ll train you myself, then.”She caught me before I’d taken my third step. Her hand closed around my arm, whirling me around to face the anger in her wild, cypress green eyes.“Fuck you,” she hissed. “I don’t need your pity.”“Pity?” I wrenched my arm from her grip. “This isn’t about fucking pity. You’re Empress Theodora’s bodyguard. Our duty is to keep her safe. How the fuck are you going to do that if you can’t fight?”“I’m not a coward,” she said. “I won’t run.”I snorted. “So, what? Any idiot can take a knife to the gut. But what happens to our Empress after that?”She didn’t back away from me, but neither did she speak. So, I did.“You’re my shield mate, Helena. We stand beside each other. While we fight, your shield stays locked onto mine.” I slapped my hand loudly against my forearm, my voice rising.“We fight like Romans. We make a wall out of our shields and bodies. We let our enemies break themselves upon it, and we grind through them.”I was angry. I was angry at her for not trying. I was angry at the self-important guards who’d refused to teach her. And I was angry at myself, that I hadn’t noticed any of this sooner.“We sell our lives as dearly as possible.” I was roaring now, my voice hoarse. “That's our fucking duty. You, and all these shit-brained Excubitors have forgotten. But I haven’t. And I’m not going to die because my shield mate doesn’t know what the fuck she’s doing.”I grabbed her arm and spun her around, kicking her towards the rack of wooden swords and shields. “So, go get us some gear. We’re starting now.”Helena hesitated a moment, her back stiff and trembling. My fists were clenched, ready to meet her rage with my own. Though, the still rational part of me knew that it would be the end of us. I wouldn’t work with someone who let their pride get in the way of their duty.She didn’t, moving towards the nearest rack within another heartbeat.“Don’t forget the shields!” I shouted after her.Then, I let out a long breath, trying to unclench my muscles. She’d done right. Again. She didn’t deserve this. I noticed some of the Excubitors throwing looks my way. I’d evidently spoken louder than I ought to, because most glared at me furiously.I glared right back.One of them started to come towards me, a sneer painted onto his face. He was pretty; bare-chested as the rest of us, his muscles gleaming with oil. He swung his wooden sword in lazy arcs, his shield nearly dragging through the sand.“I don’t recognize you,” he said in a refined accent. “Are you here to train that woman?”I felt my hackles rise. I wasn’t going to let some tarted up parade ground soldier speak to me like I was some fucking dog. Even if he was probably some senator’s son.“We’re the Empress’ guard, boy,” I snapped. “Piss off.”The idiot’s face darkened. “Watch your mouth,” he said. “This place is for soldiers; not women and servants.”“Fuck off. I won’t tell you again.”But I knew he wouldn’t. He’d gone this far, in full view of his entire unit. He couldn’t let me win. And so, when his sneer shifted into a snarl and he swung his wooden blade across at me, I was ready.I caught the wooden sword in one fist, ignoring the pain that flared there. The idiot’s eyes widened. He tugged on it, trying to pull it out of my grip, but I swung my other fist into his nose before he could succeed.I smeared his nose across his face. He collapsed to the sand, screaming. The fool hadn’t even raised his shield.I kicked him in the stomach, wrenched the sword from his grip and ripped the shield from his other arm. I quickly looped my own limb through the too loose straps of the shield, cinching them tight with my teeth in time to see one of his friends charging at me.I rushed to meet him, tucking my shoulder into my shield and crushing it into him. I hit him like a battering ram. He went down, and I ground my heel into his stomach before facing the rest of them.“Come on!” I roared. I slammed the flat of my sword against the face of my shield. “Anyone else!?”Then, I slammed my sword onto it again, and again. The sound was deafening, though it was nothing compared to what it could be. To the thunder of tens of thousands on the battlefield.“Show me!” I screamed. “Show me who you are!”A few of the other Excubitors started towards me. I waited for them to come, slamming my sword into my shield and bellowing my anger into theirs.But these weren't Stratiotai. It had been generations since the Excubitors had gone to war. They knew nothing of blood, of death.But I did, and when they faltered, I did not. I kept beating my sword against my shield. And for the first time in God knew how long, the walls of the Hippodrome echoed with the rhythmic drum of the Legion at war.The very heartbeat of Rome.Helena joined me at some point. I let the sound die out when I was sure that no one else would come. I spat on the ground, my anger not at all burned away.“Leave that extra sword and shield here,” I told Helena, turning and striding to a clear space. “I’ve already got my own.”The sun was low in the sky when I finally called an end to our training. We shuffled through the halls of the Imperial Palace. I was exhausted, my muscles stretched and quivering. My head hurt; I was sun-scorched and hungry from the midday meal that we’d skipped.Yet, I felt good. Great even.“Leo,” Helena called.She was a few steps behind me, stopped at a junction with a corridor I didn’t recognize. Guilt flashed through me. She looked worse than I felt; her muscles taut and shaking beneath dirt and sweat crusted flesh. Bruises were already blooming all over, some scabbing over with dried blood.“Come this way,” she said, turning down the new hallway. “I want to show you something.”“What is it?”“You’ll see,” she said, disappearing from view.I hesitated a moment before forcing my aching body after her. I’d worked her too hard. I hadn’t been fair; us

Based on the work of Robyn Bee, In 7 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.Theodora believed. Her faith ran deeply. It was not worn as some gesture of heretical mockery. That cross, like her body, were symbols of her devotion to God. She made love, shared herself with others as an act of worship. Her every moan, a prayer; her every cry, an exultation to her creator. The font between her legs, the sweetest sort of holy water.It was no sin to revel in what God had given her.“Ah, my soldier,” she panted, collapsing onto her hands. “You are a worthy distraction.”The Empress finished her bath not long after; taking a few minutes to scrub vigorously at her skin, her expression curled into one of satisfied contentment. We traveled with her back to her inner chambers, standing outside while an army of maids moved in to help her get dressed.I stood numbly at Helena’s side, my guts twisting around as if I’d taken a knife. I hated myself; both for what I’d done and what I hadn’t let myself do. She was my Empress, yet I couldn’t get the sight of her naked body out of head. Or, how I’d watched her impale herself again and again on that golden phallus; rivulets of her own moisture trickling down the shaft of it.“You surprised me again, you know,” Helena said into the silence.Her voice drew me back into the real world, letting me blink my thoughts clear. I tilting my head to find her eyes considering me.“In the baths,” she clarified. “Your restraint.”Right. She’d been there. She’d seen me, my nakedness, My cheeks suddenly, burned scarlet and I couldn’t meet her gaze.She laughed, a deep sound rich with textures, which somehow made me feel even more uncomfortable.“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ve seen many others, and been a lot closer to a fair bit of them. Although, yours was particularly nice,”She trailed off, her voice still on the edge of laughter."Restraint?” I managed to croak out, looking for a way out of this. “What restraint?”“You know what I mean,” Helena said. “The Empress practically begged you for more. Most men, and many women I’ve met wouldn’t have hesitated to jump in. But you didn’t, and I can’t really figure out why.”I let out a long breath, breathing back in through my nose. I caught the whiff of oiled-steel, and was talking before I really knew it.“Honestly? I don’t even know. She’s the Empress for God’s sake, not some camp follower. And besides, she’s married. I know the world is way different here but, I don’t know. It just felt wrong, I guess.”“I told you that neither she nor the Emperor care about that,” Helena said.“I know. But a good woman isn’t supposed to be like that.”“And just how is a good woman supposed to be?”It was a sign about how lost I was in my own confusion that I missed the flint in her voice and the sudden stiffness of her frame. I just kept talking, my eyes down onto my out-stretched hands.“I don’t know that anymore either. My mother always said that good, happy women were,” I let out another long breath and shook my head. "Not like this. Not so, I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter.”I back towards her with a shaky grin. “I guess all I do know is I shouldn’t be the one deciding any of this anyway.”Silence fell between us for a time. I listened to the commotion of the Empress’ preparations, keeping an eye on the empty hallway. It was Helena that eventually spoke again.“And what about me? Am I a good, proper woman?”“No,” I said, meeting the challenge in her gaze. I let my lip quirk into a wry smile. “But Helena, you might just be the sanest person here.”Her lips parted in a wide smile, and the deep green of her eyes brightened just a little. She laughed, and I felt an all-together different sort of warmth rise through me.Training with Helena.My little lion.Your letter has been an answer from God. I feared for you when I heard about the army’s defeat at the hands of those barbaric Persians. But God is good, and I knew that He would not let you fall to those heathens. I do not know when, or where this letter will find you, but just know that I love you and that your dedication to your career fills me with pride.I know too, that your father would say the same. What man wouldn’t? To see their son follow so closely in his own footsteps.I let out a breath, leaning back, away from my little desk. This was the last letter I’d received from my mother; the message waiting for me when I’d arrived in Constantinople back at the end of May. It was nearly September now.I’d put this off enough, I told myself. I had blank parchment, quill and inkpot. I had to write to her. I had to tell her that I was still alright; that I was in the capital. That I was working in the Imperial Palace.That I’d left the Legion.My head fell into my hands. I closed my eyes, and tried to will them open an instant later. I needed to do this. I needed to tell her. I was a soldier for God’s sake, I could write a letter to my own fucking mother.A minute passed, and then two. And then, luckily, there was a knock at my door before I could really start hating myself.I just about leapt from my desk, opening the door to find Helena standing there.“Morning!” She said with a wide smile. “You ready?”“Helena,” I said. “Ready? What, uh. I, for, ?”I trailed off unable to figure out what I’d actually wanted to say. Helena stood in my doorway without her armor, without much of anything really.Her neck and shoulders were bare; her warm bronze skin flowing down to the swell of her chest. The shape of it was hidden, however, lashed tight by a winding strip of cloth. Her stomach was naked, the muscles flexing with every breath she took.My eyes traveled down the tightness of her navel, to the loincloth wrapped snuggly around the curve of her hips. It was short, doing nothing more than swaddle the place where her legs flowed into each other. I followed the endless, sculpted smoothness of her legs down, tracing every swell and divot. I lingered for a time of the strip of cloth looped around one thigh, wondering at its arcane purpose before I arrived at her sandaled feet.“Like what you see?” I could hear the smirk in her voice, and I looked up to find her eyes alight beneath the free-falling curls of her copper hair.“Yes” I instantly replied, the words springing out of me without bothering to stop by my brain.She snorted, a faint flush of color creeping up her naked skin. “Come on, get out of that. We’re going for a run.”“A run, ?” My eyes flicked back down to the shape of her thighs. My mind finally seemed to judder back into motion, and heat seared up my body as I realized what I was doing.“A run!” I said, tearing my eyes away from her. “Yes. Sorry. Yes. I’ll be ready.”I still hadn’t moved, my eyes flailing about wildly for a place to rest. Helena laughed, and I took that as permission to settle back on her grinning face.“Sorry,” I said. “You, uh, took me by surprise.”“I can see that,” she said. “Now, take that off. We need to go before it gets too hot.”“Ah, right,” I said. “Give me a moment.”“Sure,” she said. “I’ll meet you down in the Hippodrome, then.”I nodded. She turned, moving away and giving me a view of her back. My eyes slid down the smooth arch of her spine until they reached the curved, firmness of her hips. Her loin-cloth was tight, looping around her waist and between her legs. It left much of her rounded behind visible, each hump jiggling faintly as she walked.I was mesmerized by the sway of her hips; of the rhythmic bouncing of her cheeks. Of the muscles shifting beneath the flesh of her naked thighs. But most of all, by the way her ass completely devoured the strip of cloth down its center.I heard her make a small sound, and looked up to find her peeking back at me from over one shoulder. I flushed, and saw her lips curl into another smile. She turned her attention forward once more, reaching down to that loop around her thigh and using it to tie back her hair.I swear, in the final few steps before she rounded the corner, the swing of her hips took on an extra snap.I stared after her for a while after she’d disappeared. I’d grown used to the sight of her in armor; the shape of her body masked by the protective steel. Women didn’t wear armor; and so, despite the beauty of her features, I’d somehow convinced myself that Helena wasn’t one.I wouldn’t forget that again. Not now that I had the sight of the swaying, curving femininity of her waist locked tightly in my mind. I knew that I would never forget that first glimpse of her. I’d carry it with me, along with the way her eyes had danced when she’d smiled.Grand HippodromeConstantinople’s Grand Hippodrome was one the great wonders of the world. It was huge, the U-shaped track built directly into the western wall of the Imperial Palace. From the Emperor’s box, Justinian, and the hundred thousand others that could squeeze themselves into the surrounding grandstands, could watch the thunder of the chariot races that were the center of life within the capital.The seats were empty now. Though I remembered well, when I’d jogged through at the end of my own race, the way the sands had shaken with each one of the crowd’s roars and cheers.Helena and I started to run after a few minutes of stretching. We ran the circuit of the charioteers, doing lap after lap around the low, obelisk framed wall that divided the track in two. She was a good runner, better than good. Her breathing was steady, her long legs devouring mile after mile of the sandy track.We ran in silence mostly; each of us focusing on the breath in our lungs, the sun on our naked backs and the sand beneath out feet. I quickly fell back into my old rhythm, my head emptying itself of everything but the run. Slowly, as one hour slipped past, and then two, I felt that calm settle deeper into me. My thoughts, my confusions and my doubts from the past couple of weeks; all of it started to clear. This was something I knew. Something that I was good at. I focused on that, anchoring myself to the joy of doing something I loved; in the company of someone who seemed to love it too.By the time we stopped, I actually felt like myself again.It was near midday when we stopped, guzzling water from a waiting barrel. In the hours since we’d arrived, a unit of Excubitors had started drilling nearby. They attacked wooden posts with heavy training swords; another group falling in and out of formation beneath the heavy batons of their officers.I watched them while we rested, noting a much heavier focus on marching and formation drills, rather than actual combat. It wasn’t what I was used to, but it would serve.“Let’s go train with them,” I said, speaking loudly over the shouts of the officers. “I haven’t practiced in weeks.”Helena, her skin flushed a healthy pink from the long run, didn’t meet my gaze. “Ah, you go. I’ll just run some more; I think.”I frowned. “Come on, we need the practice. Let’s get those guys at the posts to do some actual sparring.”She shook her head. “I can’t. Just go, Leo. I’ll do a few more laps before I go back in.”“Helena,” I said. “We’re the Empress’ Guard. We can train with them whether they like it or not.”Her face twisted. “Oh, they very much don’t like to train with a woman.”My frown deepened. “That doesn’t matter. You guard the Empress. They have to train you.”“You’d think so, right?” She laughed, a bitter sound. “Oh, they’re all happy to stare at me when I run, but as soon as I approach them with a training sword in my hand, everyone suddenly finds somewhere else they need to be. I just do what I can with the wooden posts.”I was getting angry. “That's nothing.”“It's the best I can do.”“It's not enough,” I answered.Her eyes flashed, but I turned away. I started towards the closest rack of training swords. “I’ll train you myself, then.”She caught me before I’d taken my third step. Her hand closed around my arm, whirling me around to face the anger in her wild, cypress green eyes.“Fuck you,” she hissed. “I don’t need your pity.”“Pity?” I wrenched my arm from her grip. “This isn’t about fucking pity. You’re Empress Theodora’s bodyguard. Our duty is to keep her safe. How the fuck are you going to do that if you can’t fight?”“I’m not a coward,” she said. “I won’t run.”I snorted. “So, what? Any idiot can take a knife to the gut. But what happens to our Empress after that?”She didn’t back away from me, but neither did she speak. So, I did.“You’re my shield mate, Helena. We stand beside each other. While we fight, your shield stays locked onto mine.” I slapped my hand loudly against my forearm, my voice rising.“We fight like Romans. We make a wall out of our shields and bodies. We let our enemies break themselves upon it, and we grind through them.”I was angry. I was angry at her for not trying. I was angry at the self-important guards who’d refused to teach her. And I was angry at myself, that I hadn’t noticed any of this sooner.“We sell our lives as dearly as possible.” I was roaring now, my voice hoarse. “That's our fucking duty. You, and all these shit-brained Excubitors have forgotten. But I haven’t. And I’m not going to die because my shield mate doesn’t know what the fuck she’s doing.”I grabbed her arm and spun her around, kicking her towards the rack of wooden swords and shields. “So, go get us some gear. We’re starting now.”Helena hesitated a moment, her back stiff and trembling. My fists were clenched, ready to meet her rage with my own. Though, the still rational part of me knew that it would be the end of us. I wouldn’t work with someone who let their pride get in the way of their duty.She didn’t, moving towards the nearest rack within another heartbeat.“Don’t forget the shields!” I shouted after her.Then, I let out a long breath, trying to unclench my muscles. She’d done right. Again. She didn’t deserve this. I noticed some of the Excubitors throwing looks my way. I’d evidently spoken louder than I ought to, because most glared at me furiously.I glared right back.One of them started to come towards me, a sneer painted onto his face. He was pretty; bare-chested as the rest of us, his muscles gleaming with oil. He swung his wooden sword in lazy arcs, his shield nearly dragging through the sand.“I don’t recognize you,” he said in a refined accent. “Are you here to train that woman?”I felt my hackles rise. I wasn’t going to let some tarted up parade ground soldier speak to me like I was some fucking dog. Even if he was probably some senator’s son.“We’re the Empress’ guard, boy,” I snapped. “Piss off.”The idiot’s face darkened. “Watch your mouth,” he said. “This place is for soldiers; not women and servants.”“Fuck off. I won’t tell you again.”But I knew he wouldn’t. He’d gone this far, in full view of his entire unit. He couldn’t let me win. And so, when his sneer shifted into a snarl and he swung his wooden blade across at me, I was ready.I caught the wooden sword in one fist, ignoring the pain that flared there. The idiot’s eyes widened. He tugged on it, trying to pull it out of my grip, but I swung my other fist into his nose before he could succeed.I smeared his nose across his face. He collapsed to the sand, screaming. The fool hadn’t even raised his shield.I kicked him in the stomach, wrenched the sword from his grip and ripped the shield from his other arm. I quickly looped my own limb through the too loose straps of the shield, cinching them tight with my teeth in time to see one of his friends charging at me.I rushed to meet him, tucking my shoulder into my shield and crushing it into him. I hit him like a battering ram. He went down, and I ground my heel into his stomach before facing the rest of them.“Come on!” I roared. I slammed the flat of my sword against the face of my shield. “Anyone else!?”Then, I slammed my sword onto it again, and again. The sound was deafening, though it was nothing compared to what it could be. To the thunder of tens of thousands on the battlefield.“Show me!” I screamed. “Show me who you are!”A few of the other Excubitors started towards me. I waited for them to come, slamming my sword into my shield and bellowing my anger into theirs.But these weren't Stratiotai. It had been generations since the Excubitors had gone to war. They knew nothing of blood, of death.But I did, and when they faltered, I did not. I kept beating my sword against my shield. And for the first time in God knew how long, the walls of the Hippodrome echoed with the rhythmic drum of the Legion at war.The very heartbeat of Rome.Helena joined me at some point. I let the sound die out when I was sure that no one else would come. I spat on the ground, my anger not at all burned away.“Leave that extra sword and shield here,” I told Helena, turning and striding to a clear space. “I’ve already got my own.”The sun was low in the sky when I finally called an end to our training. We shuffled through the halls of the Imperial Palace. I was exhausted, my muscles stretched and quivering. My head hurt; I was sun-scorched and hungry from the midday meal that we’d skipped.Yet, I felt good. Great even.“Leo,” Helena called.She was a few steps behind me, stopped at a junction with a corridor I didn’t recognize. Guilt flashed through me. She looked worse than I felt; her muscles taut and shaking beneath dirt and sweat crusted flesh. Bruises were already blooming all over, some scabbing over with dried blood.“Come this way,” she said, turning down the new hallway. “I want to show you something.”“What is it?”“You’ll see,” she said, disappearing from view.I hesitated a moment before forcing my aching body after her. I’d worked her too hard. I hadn’t been fair; us

Based on the work of Robyn Bee, In 7 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.Theodora believed. Her faith ran deeply. It was not worn as some gesture of heretical mockery. That cross, like her body, were symbols of her devotion to God. She made love, shared herself with others as an act of worship. Her every moan, a prayer; her every cry, an exultation to her creator. The font between her legs, the sweetest sort of holy water.It was no sin to revel in what God had given her.“Ah, my soldier,” she panted, collapsing onto her hands. “You are a worthy distraction.”The Empress finished her bath not long after; taking a few minutes to scrub vigorously at her skin, her expression curled into one of satisfied contentment. We traveled with her back to her inner chambers, standing outside while an army of maids moved in to help her get dressed.I stood numbly at Helena’s side, my guts twisting around as if I’d taken a knife. I hated myself; both for what I’d done and what I hadn’t let myself do. She was my Empress, yet I couldn’t get the sight of her naked body out of head. Or, how I’d watched her impale herself again and again on that golden phallus; rivulets of her own moisture trickling down the shaft of it.“You surprised me again, you know,” Helena said into the silence.Her voice drew me back into the real world, letting me blink my thoughts clear. I tilting my head to find her eyes considering me.“In the baths,” she clarified. “Your restraint.”Right. She’d been there. She’d seen me, my nakedness, My cheeks suddenly, burned scarlet and I couldn’t meet her gaze.She laughed, a deep sound rich with textures, which somehow made me feel even more uncomfortable.“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ve seen many others, and been a lot closer to a fair bit of them. Although, yours was particularly nice,”She trailed off, her voice still on the edge of laughter."Restraint?” I managed to croak out, looking for a way out of this. “What restraint?”“You know what I mean,” Helena said. “The Empress practically begged you for more. Most men, and many women I’ve met wouldn’t have hesitated to jump in. But you didn’t, and I can’t really figure out why.”I let out a long breath, breathing back in through my nose. I caught the whiff of oiled-steel, and was talking before I really knew it.“Honestly? I don’t even know. She’s the Empress for God’s sake, not some camp follower. And besides, she’s married. I know the world is way different here but, I don’t know. It just felt wrong, I guess.”“I told you that neither she nor the Emperor care about that,” Helena said.“I know. But a good woman isn’t supposed to be like that.”“And just how is a good woman supposed to be?”It was a sign about how lost I was in my own confusion that I missed the flint in her voice and the sudden stiffness of her frame. I just kept talking, my eyes down onto my out-stretched hands.“I don’t know that anymore either. My mother always said that good, happy women were,” I let out another long breath and shook my head. "Not like this. Not so, I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter.”I back towards her with a shaky grin. “I guess all I do know is I shouldn’t be the one deciding any of this anyway.”Silence fell between us for a time. I listened to the commotion of the Empress’ preparations, keeping an eye on the empty hallway. It was Helena that eventually spoke again.“And what about me? Am I a good, proper woman?”“No,” I said, meeting the challenge in her gaze. I let my lip quirk into a wry smile. “But Helena, you might just be the sanest person here.”Her lips parted in a wide smile, and the deep green of her eyes brightened just a little. She laughed, and I felt an all-together different sort of warmth rise through me.Training with Helena.My little lion.Your letter has been an answer from God. I feared for you when I heard about the army’s defeat at the hands of those barbaric Persians. But God is good, and I knew that He would not let you fall to those heathens. I do not know when, or where this letter will find you, but just know that I love you and that your dedication to your career fills me with pride.I know too, that your father would say the same. What man wouldn’t? To see their son follow so closely in his own footsteps.I let out a breath, leaning back, away from my little desk. This was the last letter I’d received from my mother; the message waiting for me when I’d arrived in Constantinople back at the end of May. It was nearly September now.I’d put this off enough, I told myself. I had blank parchment, quill and inkpot. I had to write to her. I had to tell her that I was still alright; that I was in the capital. That I was working in the Imperial Palace.That I’d left the Legion.My head fell into my hands. I closed my eyes, and tried to will them open an instant later. I needed to do this. I needed to tell her. I was a soldier for God’s sake, I could write a letter to my own fucking mother.A minute passed, and then two. And then, luckily, there was a knock at my door before I could really start hating myself.I just about leapt from my desk, opening the door to find Helena standing there.“Morning!” She said with a wide smile. “You ready?”“Helena,” I said. “Ready? What, uh. I, for, ?”I trailed off unable to figure out what I’d actually wanted to say. Helena stood in my doorway without her armor, without much of anything really.Her neck and shoulders were bare; her warm bronze skin flowing down to the swell of her chest. The shape of it was hidden, however, lashed tight by a winding strip of cloth. Her stomach was naked, the muscles flexing with every breath she took.My eyes traveled down the tightness of her navel, to the loincloth wrapped snuggly around the curve of her hips. It was short, doing nothing more than swaddle the place where her legs flowed into each other. I followed the endless, sculpted smoothness of her legs down, tracing every swell and divot. I lingered for a time of the strip of cloth looped around one thigh, wondering at its arcane purpose before I arrived at her sandaled feet.“Like what you see?” I could hear the smirk in her voice, and I looked up to find her eyes alight beneath the free-falling curls of her copper hair.“Yes” I instantly replied, the words springing out of me without bothering to stop by my brain.She snorted, a faint flush of color creeping up her naked skin. “Come on, get out of that. We’re going for a run.”“A run, ?” My eyes flicked back down to the shape of her thighs. My mind finally seemed to judder back into motion, and heat seared up my body as I realized what I was doing.“A run!” I said, tearing my eyes away from her. “Yes. Sorry. Yes. I’ll be ready.”I still hadn’t moved, my eyes flailing about wildly for a place to rest. Helena laughed, and I took that as permission to settle back on her grinning face.“Sorry,” I said. “You, uh, took me by surprise.”“I can see that,” she said. “Now, take that off. We need to go before it gets too hot.”“Ah, right,” I said. “Give me a moment.”“Sure,” she said. “I’ll meet you down in the Hippodrome, then.”I nodded. She turned, moving away and giving me a view of her back. My eyes slid down the smooth arch of her spine until they reached the curved, firmness of her hips. Her loin-cloth was tight, looping around her waist and between her legs. It left much of her rounded behind visible, each hump jiggling faintly as she walked.I was mesmerized by the sway of her hips; of the rhythmic bouncing of her cheeks. Of the muscles shifting beneath the flesh of her naked thighs. But most of all, by the way her ass completely devoured the strip of cloth down its center.I heard her make a small sound, and looked up to find her peeking back at me from over one shoulder. I flushed, and saw her lips curl into another smile. She turned her attention forward once more, reaching down to that loop around her thigh and using it to tie back her hair.I swear, in the final few steps before she rounded the corner, the swing of her hips took on an extra snap.I stared after her for a while after she’d disappeared. I’d grown used to the sight of her in armor; the shape of her body masked by the protective steel. Women didn’t wear armor; and so, despite the beauty of her features, I’d somehow convinced myself that Helena wasn’t one.I wouldn’t forget that again. Not now that I had the sight of the swaying, curving femininity of her waist locked tightly in my mind. I knew that I would never forget that first glimpse of her. I’d carry it with me, along with the way her eyes had danced when she’d smiled.Grand HippodromeConstantinople’s Grand Hippodrome was one the great wonders of the world. It was huge, the U-shaped track built directly into the western wall of the Imperial Palace. From the Emperor’s box, Justinian, and the hundred thousand others that could squeeze themselves into the surrounding grandstands, could watch the thunder of the chariot races that were the center of life within the capital.The seats were empty now. Though I remembered well, when I’d jogged through at the end of my own race, the way the sands had shaken with each one of the crowd’s roars and cheers.Helena and I started to run after a few minutes of stretching. We ran the circuit of the charioteers, doing lap after lap around the low, obelisk framed wall that divided the track in two. She was a good runner, better than good. Her breathing was steady, her long legs devouring mile after mile of the sandy track.We ran in silence mostly; each of us focusing on the breath in our lungs, the sun on our naked backs and the sand beneath out feet. I quickly fell back into my old rhythm, my head emptying itself of everything but the run. Slowly, as one hour slipped past, and then two, I felt that calm settle deeper into me. My thoughts, my confusions and my doubts from the past couple of weeks; all of it started to clear. This was something I knew. Something that I was good at. I focused on that, anchoring myself to the joy of doing something I loved; in the company of someone who seemed to love it too.By the time we stopped, I actually felt like myself again.It was near midday when we stopped, guzzling water from a waiting barrel. In the hours since we’d arrived, a unit of Excubitors had started drilling nearby. They attacked wooden posts with heavy training swords; another group falling in and out of formation beneath the heavy batons of their officers.I watched them while we rested, noting a much heavier focus on marching and formation drills, rather than actual combat. It wasn’t what I was used to, but it would serve.“Let’s go train with them,” I said, speaking loudly over the shouts of the officers. “I haven’t practiced in weeks.”Helena, her skin flushed a healthy pink from the long run, didn’t meet my gaze. “Ah, you go. I’ll just run some more; I think.”I frowned. “Come on, we need the practice. Let’s get those guys at the posts to do some actual sparring.”She shook her head. “I can’t. Just go, Leo. I’ll do a few more laps before I go back in.”“Helena,” I said. “We’re the Empress’ Guard. We can train with them whether they like it or not.”Her face twisted. “Oh, they very much don’t like to train with a woman.”My frown deepened. “That doesn’t matter. You guard the Empress. They have to train you.”“You’d think so, right?” She laughed, a bitter sound. “Oh, they’re all happy to stare at me when I run, but as soon as I approach them with a training sword in my hand, everyone suddenly finds somewhere else they need to be. I just do what I can with the wooden posts.”I was getting angry. “That's nothing.”“It's the best I can do.”“It's not enough,” I answered.Her eyes flashed, but I turned away. I started towards the closest rack of training swords. “I’ll train you myself, then.”She caught me before I’d taken my third step. Her hand closed around my arm, whirling me around to face the anger in her wild, cypress green eyes.“Fuck you,” she hissed. “I don’t need your pity.”“Pity?” I wrenched my arm from her grip. “This isn’t about fucking pity. You’re Empress Theodora’s bodyguard. Our duty is to keep her safe. How the fuck are you going to do that if you can’t fight?”“I’m not a coward,” she said. “I won’t run.”I snorted. “So, what? Any idiot can take a knife to the gut. But what happens to our Empress after that?”She didn’t back away from me, but neither did she speak. So, I did.“You’re my shield mate, Helena. We stand beside each other. While we fight, your shield stays locked onto mine.” I slapped my hand loudly against my forearm, my voice rising.“We fight like Romans. We make a wall out of our shields and bodies. We let our enemies break themselves upon it, and we grind through them.”I was angry. I was angry at her for not trying. I was angry at the self-important guards who’d refused to teach her. And I was angry at myself, that I hadn’t noticed any of this sooner.“We sell our lives as dearly as possible.” I was roaring now, my voice hoarse. “That's our fucking duty. You, and all these shit-brained Excubitors have forgotten. But I haven’t. And I’m not going to die because my shield mate doesn’t know what the fuck she’s doing.”I grabbed her arm and spun her around, kicking her towards the rack of wooden swords and shields. “So, go get us some gear. We’re starting now.”Helena hesitated a moment, her back stiff and trembling. My fists were clenched, ready to meet her rage with my own. Though, the still rational part of me knew that it would be the end of us. I wouldn’t work with someone who let their pride get in the way of their duty.She didn’t, moving towards the nearest rack within another heartbeat.“Don’t forget the shields!” I shouted after her.Then, I let out a long breath, trying to unclench my muscles. She’d done right. Again. She didn’t deserve this. I noticed some of the Excubitors throwing looks my way. I’d evidently spoken louder than I ought to, because most glared at me furiously.I glared right back.One of them started to come towards me, a sneer painted onto his face. He was pretty; bare-chested as the rest of us, his muscles gleaming with oil. He swung his wooden sword in lazy arcs, his shield nearly dragging through the sand.“I don’t recognize you,” he said in a refined accent. “Are you here to train that woman?”I felt my hackles rise. I wasn’t going to let some tarted up parade ground soldier speak to me like I was some fucking dog. Even if he was probably some senator’s son.“We’re the Empress’ guard, boy,” I snapped. “Piss off.”The idiot’s face darkened. “Watch your mouth,” he said. “This place is for soldiers; not women and servants.”“Fuck off. I won’t tell you again.”But I knew he wouldn’t. He’d gone this far, in full view of his entire unit. He couldn’t let me win. And so, when his sneer shifted into a snarl and he swung his wooden blade across at me, I was ready.I caught the wooden sword in one fist, ignoring the pain that flared there. The idiot’s eyes widened. He tugged on it, trying to pull it out of my grip, but I swung my other fist into his nose before he could succeed.I smeared his nose across his face. He collapsed to the sand, screaming. The fool hadn’t even raised his shield.I kicked him in the stomach, wrenched the sword from his grip and ripped the shield from his other arm. I quickly looped my own limb through the too loose straps of the shield, cinching them tight with my teeth in time to see one of his friends charging at me.I rushed to meet him, tucking my shoulder into my shield and crushing it into him. I hit him like a battering ram. He went down, and I ground my heel into his stomach before facing the rest of them.“Come on!” I roared. I slammed the flat of my sword against the face of my shield. “Anyone else!?”Then, I slammed my sword onto it again, and again. The sound was deafening, though it was nothing compared to what it could be. To the thunder of tens of thousands on the battlefield.“Show me!” I screamed. “Show me who you are!”A few of the other Excubitors started towards me. I waited for them to come, slamming my sword into my shield and bellowing my anger into theirs.But these weren't Stratiotai. It had been generations since the Excubitors had gone to war. They knew nothing of blood, of death.But I did, and when they faltered, I did not. I kept beating my sword against my shield. And for the first time in God knew how long, the walls of the Hippodrome echoed with the rhythmic drum of the Legion at war.The very heartbeat of Rome.Helena joined me at some point. I let the sound die out when I was sure that no one else would come. I spat on the ground, my anger not at all burned away.“Leave that extra sword and shield here,” I told Helena, turning and striding to a clear space. “I’ve already got my own.”The sun was low in the sky when I finally called an end to our training. We shuffled through the halls of the Imperial Palace. I was exhausted, my muscles stretched and quivering. My head hurt; I was sun-scorched and hungry from the midday meal that we’d skipped.Yet, I felt good. Great even.“Leo,” Helena called.She was a few steps behind me, stopped at a junction with a corridor I didn’t recognize. Guilt flashed through me. She looked worse than I felt; her muscles taut and shaking beneath dirt and sweat crusted flesh. Bruises were already blooming all over, some scabbing over with dried blood.“Come this way,” she said, turning down the new hallway. “I want to show you something.”“What is it?”“You’ll see,” she said, disappearing from view.I hesitated a moment before forcing my aching body after her. I’d worked her too hard. I hadn’t been fair; us

Cleopatra would have blushed in this Empress' presence.Based on the work of Robyn Bee, In 7 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.“I will die before I let them take the purple that robes me. For never will I see the day where those I meet do not call me Empress.”Leontius is stratiotai, a soldier of Rome's armies. He has lived a decade and more of war, staining his boots with the dirt of nations that have dared to raise their blades against the Empire. It's left him tired. So, when given a chance to step from the battlefield and into Constantinople's Imperial Palace, he takes it.Leontius enters the service of Empress Theodora, a woman unlike any other, who rose from the capital's meanest brothels to sit as co-ruler of the Mediterranean's mightiest Empire. But the city writhes in her grip. As embers of rebellion flare into conflagration, Leontius will find that there exists a life beyond what he has known. A path he sees reflected in the smile of a guardswoman with wild, cypress eyes.This is a story set in the Imperial court of the Byzantine Empire in the year 532 AD. It is the tale of a young soldier inducted into the guard of a very horny Empress.“Tell God that He made a mistake, dear father, when He only gave me three holes for pleasure.”I turned those words over in my head, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. I swear, those words had nearly killed my mother when she’d first heard them. She was a tough, tight-lipped seamstress that could heave a bolt of satin over one shoulder with one hand, while she slapped a lesson into me with the other.“What sort of woman would say that?” She’d rail, before clapping her hands over my ears. “Close yourself off to such things,” she’d warn me. “They are not for folks like us.”Those were for the people of the capital, where the streets teemed with prostitutes and silk covered actresses. Not for the goodly, simple folk of Rhodos and my mother’s shop.Despite myself, I felt my lip quirk into a small smile. Of course, the capital was exactly where I was. I stood and kept my eyes lowered until I’d made my way to the nearest window. I stared out into the afternoon sun, breathing deeply of the summer air that was heavy with the scent of nearly half a million people. Constantinople, golden capital of the Eastern Roman, Byzantine Empire and center of the world.I was looking out over the Hippodrome’s track and out into the thousands of domes and roofs of the city. There was no city quite like it in all the world, and even now, a month after having arrived, I still often got lost in its crooked streets.I heard a polite cough behind me, and I turned to find one of the armored guards nodding to the seat I had just vacated. Evidently, I was supposed to wait there.I gritted my teeth, but obeyed. They were just doing their jobs. It wasn’t their fault that I was nearly twitching with restless energy.I adjusted myself on the chair, shifting around in vain to try and find a comfortable position. In all fairness, my discomfort wasn’t the furniture’s fault either. This was, without a doubt, the finest chair I’d ever sat it. Its cushion was thick, held up by four intricately carved legs of scented wood.The rest of the small antechamber was just as luxurious. Everywhere I looked, I saw gold and marble and fine pottery. Even the large door, so diligently guarded by the two armored Excubitors, was carved and inlaid with gold.What in God’s name was I doing here? I was a soldier; my hands calloused by the sword. I was stratiotai, an infantry man. My place was in the shield wall, my sandals stained with the dirt of kingdoms that dared raise their blades against Rome.At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.I heard the muffled sound from behind the guarded door. It made me think back to my mother, to those words that she’d so hated to hear.“Three holes for pleasure,” I murmured to myself.I coughed, feeling heat rise to my cheeks. I shifted again on this damnable chair. What would my mother think if she could see me now? Her only son, her soldier, her little lion; invited to the Imperial Palace.I think that those words would be the first thing she thought of. I think that she would once again clap her hands to my ears so that I would hear no more from the woman that had so famously uttered them.This woman; she who’d been crowned Augusta. A woman who’d come from the flea ridden pallets of the city’s meanest brothel and had risen to command the wealth of half the world. A woman upon who’s words rested the fate of millions. The most powerful woman on earth; co-ruler of the Mediterranean’s mightiest empire and who’s beauty and ruthless intelligence were already being woven into legend.Theodora; Empress of Rome. The woman that I was to meet.The door guarded by the two Imperial Guards suddenly swung open. I leapt to my feet, my spine snapping into a salute.“Ouch,” I heard a woman laugh. “What do you think boys, is his back is straight enough?”The two Excubitors chuckled. I blinked, and found myself facing not the Empress, but a woman in the armor of a guard. The breastplate she wore was of plain, functional steel. She carried with her a heavy, iron-rimmed shield with a short-sword and dagger strapped to the belt at her waist.This was a stratiotai’s kit, standard issue amongst the Emperor’s legions. It was the twin of the one I’d worn nearly every day since my sixteenth birthday; right down to the helmet she held in the crook of her arm.She moved towards me, her hobnailed boots loud against the marble floor. My mind was blank and only a decade’s worth of military discipline kept my mouth from gaping open like the world’s largest fish.Woman weren’t soldiers. They couldn’t be soldiers.A woman’s place was married, tending to a home or shop or farm. From crib to hearth to crib to grave; my mother would say while pinching my cheek. A good woman could be happy nowhere else, she’d insisted.And yet, here one was, grinning at me with her emerald eyes.“Loosen up,” she said. “My back hurts just looking at you.”I obeyed the note of easy command in her voice, staring up and over her left shoulder as I would any Centurion.It was easier than trying to work through my confusion.I felt her eyes on me, taking note of the muscles beneath my light tunica. She swept her eyes down my arms and made an approved sound when she saw the callouses on my open palms. I felt her take note of my scars next, her eyes lingering on each one.My face flushed, my heart beating faster.I wasn’t used to being around women, at least not ones that I hadn’t paid for their company. They were hard to find in a legions camp. This guardswoman was strong, confident, and my awkwardness wasn’t helped by the fact that she was intensely beautiful.Her bright green eyes were the most striking, though it was far from the only thing that made her a rarity. Her hair was held back at her forehead by a band of cloth; a wave of copper-colored hair that curled down to her shoulders. And though her skin was bronzed by the summer sun, she had the sort of complexion that was rare to find in the capital since the loss of the Empire’s western provinces.“So, you’re the one who won the foot-race,” she said. “Leontius, right? I watched you come into the Hippodrome. You’ve got good form.”Was she a runner too? Judging from the lean muscles of her arms and legs, she very well could be. And why the hell not? Apparently, women could be soldiers here, why couldn’t they run naked with the rest of us in the athletic events?I heard the rising voice of my mother’s outrage in my head, but I pushed it and all my swirling confusion to the side. I was a soldier, and I knew how to deal with the dangers of the present before I worried about the future. And right now, the danger was that I’d been staring at this guard’s shapely thighs during a long moment of still stretching silence.“Ahem,” I cleared my throat, my face suddenly burning. “Thank you, sir!” I coughed again, “ma'am”She laughed; eyes sparkling. She had a deep, full-bellied laugh; one that thrummed through my chest and made my toes tingle.“Sir is fine,” she said. “For now. I know that you legion boys have a hard time with change.” She winked.“Ah, yes sir,” I swallowed. “Thank you, sir.”“Alright, then. Are you ready to meet your Empress?”“Yes, sir!” I said, snapping off another salute.She smirked, and led me through the open door and into the short hallway beyond. I followed her towards the door at the other end.“You won the Emperor’s foot-race,” she said. “And you’re a soldier; that means that the Emperor has granted you the chance to join the Empress’ Guard.”“Yes, sir.”I tried not to remember that race. I love to run, but that had been brutal. I’d run for almost an entire day, hammered by the summer sun, racing against the thousand others that had decided to sign up.But I’d won, and the Emperor, Justinian himself, had come down from the Imperial box to put the laurel upon my head. I don’t remember much of that day, though I’m sure that beneath the pain and intense dehydration I’d been proud. I had to have been.The guardswoman glanced over her shoulder at me. “It's just a chance; an interview. Remember that. The Empress has the final say.”My face must have flickered, because she spoke again. “You have a question, soldier?”“No, sir.”“Yes, you do,” she said. “Spit it out.”“Sorry, sir, it's just that I thought that it was the Emperor that chose his Excubitors.”Her lip quirked. “We’re not Excubitors. They guard the whole palace, and the Emperor, sure. Our duties are to the Empress, nobody else. That clear?”“Yes, sir!” I said, though of course, her answer had just raised a hundred more questions in me. “Clear as the giant’s foot.”I immediately cringed as the words slipped out. Now wasn’t the time for a damned joke! But to my relief, she laughed once again.“You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”We were at hallway’s only other door now, the one that presumably opened into the Empress’ chambers. She turned to regard me with an expression that made the heat rise to behind my neck.“Sorry, sir!” I said. “It's an expression from my home. God as my witness, I meant no offense.”“Your home,” she said. “Rhodes, right?”“I,” I blinked. "Yes, sir.”She grinned. “I knew that there was a reason I liked you. I’m from Lindos, on the eastern side of the island.”“Yes, sir. I know it.”I shoved that information into the same corner of my mind as my now screaming mother. I had family in Lindos, had visited it as a boy. To find out that we may have crossed paths once before was just too much.“I’m from Rhodos,” I said instead. “The city. Though I haven’t been back since I joined the legions.”“It’s been a long time for me as well,” she said.She reached for the ornate handle, pausing to look back at me.“A word of advice,” she said. “The Empress will not be what you expect. Obey her, and remember that while you’re in that room, you’re as responsible for her life as I am.”Without giving me a chance to respond, the armored woman threw open the door and marched me into Empress Theodora’s private chambers.Her sitting room was large, airy, kept cool by an open balcony and several wide windows. The walls were of stone, festooned with tapestry, art and the many other sort of golden things that the rich liked to collect. Beautifully carved wooden chairs, couches and divans were spread throughout the space.And lounging on one, a book held delicately in one hand; was the Empress Theodora.“Highness,” the guardswoman said. “Here’s the man that won the Emperor’s Race.”“Your Majesty,” I said. I dropped to my knees, keeping my eyes on the stone floor. “It would be an honor to serve you.”“Would it, now?” I heard her say in a voice that was tinged with a smile. “Stand up, solider. Let me get a good look at you.”I obeyed, keeping my eyes downcast. I heard the rustle of fabric.“How do you expect to guard me if you’re always looking at the floor?”I flushed, feeling the heat crawl up my neck. I hurriedly looked up, and I swear that for several long heartbeats, I couldn’t breathe.The beauty of the Emperor’s wife was spoken of everywhere her name was known. I had heard her described a thousand different ways; heard a hundred different versions of how she’d come to be named Augusta.Born on faraway Cyprus, she’d come to Constantinople as a child. Her father had trained bears for the circus, and when he’d died, her family had been doomed to the worst sort of poverty. She’d survived as many a young woman had; by trading her body for a roof and something to eat.She’d worked at a brothel, and later as an actress, which many said were the same sort of profession. Constantinople’s taverns were full of men who’d claim to have known her then. They’d wax about the times they’d had her, for one night or many. Others would reminisce about her time on stage, their eyes faraway as they’d recount the day they’d seen her dance clothed in nothing but a long, red-ribbon.I’d heard every story, though none could prepare me for the sight of her. She’d set her book down, her body still draped over the divan. She was young, I realized, barely past her third decade. She wore a thin, silky sort of dress, the material clinging to a figure that had retained its dancer’s strength.Her feet were bare, and she stood in one smooth motion. Her smile was pleased as she glided towards me, her curves tight against the cloth of her dress.Dark, intelligent eyes watched me from above a long neck. It swept of gracefully from her tight chest, a golden chain disappearing into the space that divided it. I wondered what was hidden there, safe and out of sight. How warm the gold must be, cradled against the smoothness of her skin.The Empress smirked. I wrenched my eyes back to the floor, mortified. What in God’s name was I doing? My face burned, and I was opening my mouth to stammer an apology when the Empress spoke.“I did not say that you could look away, soldier.”“A thousand apologies, my Empress,” I said.I lifted my gaze back up to hers with some difficulty. Her eyes were wrinkled in a smile. The rest of her skin was smooth, a warm brown that was a only a few shades lighter than the thick, wavy tresses of hair that cascaded down past her shoulders.She’d stopped an arms-length from me, examining me in the same manner as her guard had a few minutes before. My flush deepened.“Am I making you uncomfortable?”“N, No, your Majesty,” I managed to say.“Good,” her smile widened. “Because I am impressed with you, stratiotai Leontius. And that is without taking into account your victory in my husband’s race. You fought in Persia, did you not?”“Ah, yes, your Majesty. I fought in general Belisarius’ army.”“Indeed,” she said. “You shared in his great victory at Dara, and in his defeat at Callinicum a bare few months ago.”I did not want to remember those battles, that campaign against the Sassanid Persians; neither the baking sun and trenches of Dara or how their cavalry had swept through us at Callinicum.“Yes, your Majesty,” was all I said.“I’ve spoken to many of your fellow soldiers, since Belisarius and his army have trickled back to the capital. You are well regarded by your comrades.”I ducked my head, “thank you, your Majesty.”“A thoughtful man, they all say. One serious about his duty. You had few friends amongst your cohort, yet all respected you.” The Empress continued. “You enlisted at sixteen years of age. You’ve served a decade already, and I believe that you would have served another one if you’d not caught my husband’s attention.”I nodded, ignoring the twist in my stomach.“An exemplary man,” she said. “In most things.”The Empress started to move, circling me. She made a little sound with her throat. “He’s quite handsome as well, is he not?”“I thought so too, Highness,” the emerald-eyed guardswoman said.“Lean,” the Empress continued. “A runner, obviously. Well-muscled, though his shoulders are a little too small. I’m not sure about the beard either, though the jaw beneath looks strong.”“I rather like it, Highness. It's just a dusting of whiskers, but it suits him nicely.”“Yes, well, you’ve always liked them rather savage, Helena. Your Rhodian blood, no doubt.”The other woman, Helena, grinned. “He’s Rhodian too, Highness.”The Empress sniffed. “Figures. I suspect that he will be as uncivilized as you are, then.”Her smile made light of her words, though I was still incredibly uncomfortable. I sweated beneath the attention of the two beautiful women. I kept my back ramrod straight, knowing that I’d be squirming like a virgin at a brothel if I let myself relax.“Now,” the Empress said. “Lie down. On your back.”The order confused me. But she was my Empress, and so I obeyed; lowering myself onto my back, the stone cool through the linen of my tunica.She smiled down at me. “Your obedience is commendable, soldier. And fear not, you’re down there for a reason.”Cloth rustled and sighed, her bare feet making no sound at all as she stepped around me. She was beside my chest now, her large, dark eyes twinkling as she kept her gaze on my face. Inexplicably, I felt my cheeks redden. I averted my gaze.“Look at me,” I heard her snap.My eyes, wide with sudden panic, flew back to her face. Her smile was gone, replaced by a downward twist of her lips.“Your, Your Majesty.” I stammered, frozen, like a rabbit beneath the eagle’s shadow. “Forgive me. Please, I didn’t,”Her smile returned, softening her features and a better companion to the sparkle that had never left her eyes."Shush,” she said. “There’s nothing to forgive.

Cleopatra would have blushed in this Empress' presence.Based on the work of Robyn Bee, In 7 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.“I will die before I let them take the purple that robes me. For never will I see the day where those I meet do not call me Empress.”Leontius is stratiotai, a soldier of Rome's armies. He has lived a decade and more of war, staining his boots with the dirt of nations that have dared to raise their blades against the Empire. It's left him tired. So, when given a chance to step from the battlefield and into Constantinople's Imperial Palace, he takes it.Leontius enters the service of Empress Theodora, a woman unlike any other, who rose from the capital's meanest brothels to sit as co-ruler of the Mediterranean's mightiest Empire. But the city writhes in her grip. As embers of rebellion flare into conflagration, Leontius will find that there exists a life beyond what he has known. A path he sees reflected in the smile of a guardswoman with wild, cypress eyes.This is a story set in the Imperial court of the Byzantine Empire in the year 532 AD. It is the tale of a young soldier inducted into the guard of a very horny Empress.“Tell God that He made a mistake, dear father, when He only gave me three holes for pleasure.”I turned those words over in my head, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. I swear, those words had nearly killed my mother when she’d first heard them. She was a tough, tight-lipped seamstress that could heave a bolt of satin over one shoulder with one hand, while she slapped a lesson into me with the other.“What sort of woman would say that?” She’d rail, before clapping her hands over my ears. “Close yourself off to such things,” she’d warn me. “They are not for folks like us.”Those were for the people of the capital, where the streets teemed with prostitutes and silk covered actresses. Not for the goodly, simple folk of Rhodos and my mother’s shop.Despite myself, I felt my lip quirk into a small smile. Of course, the capital was exactly where I was. I stood and kept my eyes lowered until I’d made my way to the nearest window. I stared out into the afternoon sun, breathing deeply of the summer air that was heavy with the scent of nearly half a million people. Constantinople, golden capital of the Eastern Roman, Byzantine Empire and center of the world.I was looking out over the Hippodrome’s track and out into the thousands of domes and roofs of the city. There was no city quite like it in all the world, and even now, a month after having arrived, I still often got lost in its crooked streets.I heard a polite cough behind me, and I turned to find one of the armored guards nodding to the seat I had just vacated. Evidently, I was supposed to wait there.I gritted my teeth, but obeyed. They were just doing their jobs. It wasn’t their fault that I was nearly twitching with restless energy.I adjusted myself on the chair, shifting around in vain to try and find a comfortable position. In all fairness, my discomfort wasn’t the furniture’s fault either. This was, without a doubt, the finest chair I’d ever sat it. Its cushion was thick, held up by four intricately carved legs of scented wood.The rest of the small antechamber was just as luxurious. Everywhere I looked, I saw gold and marble and fine pottery. Even the large door, so diligently guarded by the two armored Excubitors, was carved and inlaid with gold.What in God’s name was I doing here? I was a soldier; my hands calloused by the sword. I was stratiotai, an infantry man. My place was in the shield wall, my sandals stained with the dirt of kingdoms that dared raise their blades against Rome.At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.I heard the muffled sound from behind the guarded door. It made me think back to my mother, to those words that she’d so hated to hear.“Three holes for pleasure,” I murmured to myself.I coughed, feeling heat rise to my cheeks. I shifted again on this damnable chair. What would my mother think if she could see me now? Her only son, her soldier, her little lion; invited to the Imperial Palace.I think that those words would be the first thing she thought of. I think that she would once again clap her hands to my ears so that I would hear no more from the woman that had so famously uttered them.This woman; she who’d been crowned Augusta. A woman who’d come from the flea ridden pallets of the city’s meanest brothel and had risen to command the wealth of half the world. A woman upon who’s words rested the fate of millions. The most powerful woman on earth; co-ruler of the Mediterranean’s mightiest empire and who’s beauty and ruthless intelligence were already being woven into legend.Theodora; Empress of Rome. The woman that I was to meet.The door guarded by the two Imperial Guards suddenly swung open. I leapt to my feet, my spine snapping into a salute.“Ouch,” I heard a woman laugh. “What do you think boys, is his back is straight enough?”The two Excubitors chuckled. I blinked, and found myself facing not the Empress, but a woman in the armor of a guard. The breastplate she wore was of plain, functional steel. She carried with her a heavy, iron-rimmed shield with a short-sword and dagger strapped to the belt at her waist.This was a stratiotai’s kit, standard issue amongst the Emperor’s legions. It was the twin of the one I’d worn nearly every day since my sixteenth birthday; right down to the helmet she held in the crook of her arm.She moved towards me, her hobnailed boots loud against the marble floor. My mind was blank and only a decade’s worth of military discipline kept my mouth from gaping open like the world’s largest fish.Woman weren’t soldiers. They couldn’t be soldiers.A woman’s place was married, tending to a home or shop or farm. From crib to hearth to crib to grave; my mother would say while pinching my cheek. A good woman could be happy nowhere else, she’d insisted.And yet, here one was, grinning at me with her emerald eyes.“Loosen up,” she said. “My back hurts just looking at you.”I obeyed the note of easy command in her voice, staring up and over her left shoulder as I would any Centurion.It was easier than trying to work through my confusion.I felt her eyes on me, taking note of the muscles beneath my light tunica. She swept her eyes down my arms and made an approved sound when she saw the callouses on my open palms. I felt her take note of my scars next, her eyes lingering on each one.My face flushed, my heart beating faster.I wasn’t used to being around women, at least not ones that I hadn’t paid for their company. They were hard to find in a legions camp. This guardswoman was strong, confident, and my awkwardness wasn’t helped by the fact that she was intensely beautiful.Her bright green eyes were the most striking, though it was far from the only thing that made her a rarity. Her hair was held back at her forehead by a band of cloth; a wave of copper-colored hair that curled down to her shoulders. And though her skin was bronzed by the summer sun, she had the sort of complexion that was rare to find in the capital since the loss of the Empire’s western provinces.“So, you’re the one who won the foot-race,” she said. “Leontius, right? I watched you come into the Hippodrome. You’ve got good form.”Was she a runner too? Judging from the lean muscles of her arms and legs, she very well could be. And why the hell not? Apparently, women could be soldiers here, why couldn’t they run naked with the rest of us in the athletic events?I heard the rising voice of my mother’s outrage in my head, but I pushed it and all my swirling confusion to the side. I was a soldier, and I knew how to deal with the dangers of the present before I worried about the future. And right now, the danger was that I’d been staring at this guard’s shapely thighs during a long moment of still stretching silence.“Ahem,” I cleared my throat, my face suddenly burning. “Thank you, sir!” I coughed again, “ma'am”She laughed; eyes sparkling. She had a deep, full-bellied laugh; one that thrummed through my chest and made my toes tingle.“Sir is fine,” she said. “For now. I know that you legion boys have a hard time with change.” She winked.“Ah, yes sir,” I swallowed. “Thank you, sir.”“Alright, then. Are you ready to meet your Empress?”“Yes, sir!” I said, snapping off another salute.She smirked, and led me through the open door and into the short hallway beyond. I followed her towards the door at the other end.“You won the Emperor’s foot-race,” she said. “And you’re a soldier; that means that the Emperor has granted you the chance to join the Empress’ Guard.”“Yes, sir.”I tried not to remember that race. I love to run, but that had been brutal. I’d run for almost an entire day, hammered by the summer sun, racing against the thousand others that had decided to sign up.But I’d won, and the Emperor, Justinian himself, had come down from the Imperial box to put the laurel upon my head. I don’t remember much of that day, though I’m sure that beneath the pain and intense dehydration I’d been proud. I had to have been.The guardswoman glanced over her shoulder at me. “It's just a chance; an interview. Remember that. The Empress has the final say.”My face must have flickered, because she spoke again. “You have a question, soldier?”“No, sir.”“Yes, you do,” she said. “Spit it out.”“Sorry, sir, it's just that I thought that it was the Emperor that chose his Excubitors.”Her lip quirked. “We’re not Excubitors. They guard the whole palace, and the Emperor, sure. Our duties are to the Empress, nobody else. That clear?”“Yes, sir!” I said, though of course, her answer had just raised a hundred more questions in me. “Clear as the giant’s foot.”I immediately cringed as the words slipped out. Now wasn’t the time for a damned joke! But to my relief, she laughed once again.“You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”We were at hallway’s only other door now, the one that presumably opened into the Empress’ chambers. She turned to regard me with an expression that made the heat rise to behind my neck.“Sorry, sir!” I said. “It's an expression from my home. God as my witness, I meant no offense.”“Your home,” she said. “Rhodes, right?”“I,” I blinked. "Yes, sir.”She grinned. “I knew that there was a reason I liked you. I’m from Lindos, on the eastern side of the island.”“Yes, sir. I know it.”I shoved that information into the same corner of my mind as my now screaming mother. I had family in Lindos, had visited it as a boy. To find out that we may have crossed paths once before was just too much.“I’m from Rhodos,” I said instead. “The city. Though I haven’t been back since I joined the legions.”“It’s been a long time for me as well,” she said.She reached for the ornate handle, pausing to look back at me.“A word of advice,” she said. “The Empress will not be what you expect. Obey her, and remember that while you’re in that room, you’re as responsible for her life as I am.”Without giving me a chance to respond, the armored woman threw open the door and marched me into Empress Theodora’s private chambers.Her sitting room was large, airy, kept cool by an open balcony and several wide windows. The walls were of stone, festooned with tapestry, art and the many other sort of golden things that the rich liked to collect. Beautifully carved wooden chairs, couches and divans were spread throughout the space.And lounging on one, a book held delicately in one hand; was the Empress Theodora.“Highness,” the guardswoman said. “Here’s the man that won the Emperor’s Race.”“Your Majesty,” I said. I dropped to my knees, keeping my eyes on the stone floor. “It would be an honor to serve you.”“Would it, now?” I heard her say in a voice that was tinged with a smile. “Stand up, solider. Let me get a good look at you.”I obeyed, keeping my eyes downcast. I heard the rustle of fabric.“How do you expect to guard me if you’re always looking at the floor?”I flushed, feeling the heat crawl up my neck. I hurriedly looked up, and I swear that for several long heartbeats, I couldn’t breathe.The beauty of the Emperor’s wife was spoken of everywhere her name was known. I had heard her described a thousand different ways; heard a hundred different versions of how she’d come to be named Augusta.Born on faraway Cyprus, she’d come to Constantinople as a child. Her father had trained bears for the circus, and when he’d died, her family had been doomed to the worst sort of poverty. She’d survived as many a young woman had; by trading her body for a roof and something to eat.She’d worked at a brothel, and later as an actress, which many said were the same sort of profession. Constantinople’s taverns were full of men who’d claim to have known her then. They’d wax about the times they’d had her, for one night or many. Others would reminisce about her time on stage, their eyes faraway as they’d recount the day they’d seen her dance clothed in nothing but a long, red-ribbon.I’d heard every story, though none could prepare me for the sight of her. She’d set her book down, her body still draped over the divan. She was young, I realized, barely past her third decade. She wore a thin, silky sort of dress, the material clinging to a figure that had retained its dancer’s strength.Her feet were bare, and she stood in one smooth motion. Her smile was pleased as she glided towards me, her curves tight against the cloth of her dress.Dark, intelligent eyes watched me from above a long neck. It swept of gracefully from her tight chest, a golden chain disappearing into the space that divided it. I wondered what was hidden there, safe and out of sight. How warm the gold must be, cradled against the smoothness of her skin.The Empress smirked. I wrenched my eyes back to the floor, mortified. What in God’s name was I doing? My face burned, and I was opening my mouth to stammer an apology when the Empress spoke.“I did not say that you could look away, soldier.”“A thousand apologies, my Empress,” I said.I lifted my gaze back up to hers with some difficulty. Her eyes were wrinkled in a smile. The rest of her skin was smooth, a warm brown that was a only a few shades lighter than the thick, wavy tresses of hair that cascaded down past her shoulders.She’d stopped an arms-length from me, examining me in the same manner as her guard had a few minutes before. My flush deepened.“Am I making you uncomfortable?”“N, No, your Majesty,” I managed to say.“Good,” her smile widened. “Because I am impressed with you, stratiotai Leontius. And that is without taking into account your victory in my husband’s race. You fought in Persia, did you not?”“Ah, yes, your Majesty. I fought in general Belisarius’ army.”“Indeed,” she said. “You shared in his great victory at Dara, and in his defeat at Callinicum a bare few months ago.”I did not want to remember those battles, that campaign against the Sassanid Persians; neither the baking sun and trenches of Dara or how their cavalry had swept through us at Callinicum.“Yes, your Majesty,” was all I said.“I’ve spoken to many of your fellow soldiers, since Belisarius and his army have trickled back to the capital. You are well regarded by your comrades.”I ducked my head, “thank you, your Majesty.”“A thoughtful man, they all say. One serious about his duty. You had few friends amongst your cohort, yet all respected you.” The Empress continued. “You enlisted at sixteen years of age. You’ve served a decade already, and I believe that you would have served another one if you’d not caught my husband’s attention.”I nodded, ignoring the twist in my stomach.“An exemplary man,” she said. “In most things.”The Empress started to move, circling me. She made a little sound with her throat. “He’s quite handsome as well, is he not?”“I thought so too, Highness,” the emerald-eyed guardswoman said.“Lean,” the Empress continued. “A runner, obviously. Well-muscled, though his shoulders are a little too small. I’m not sure about the beard either, though the jaw beneath looks strong.”“I rather like it, Highness. It's just a dusting of whiskers, but it suits him nicely.”“Yes, well, you’ve always liked them rather savage, Helena. Your Rhodian blood, no doubt.”The other woman, Helena, grinned. “He’s Rhodian too, Highness.”The Empress sniffed. “Figures. I suspect that he will be as uncivilized as you are, then.”Her smile made light of her words, though I was still incredibly uncomfortable. I sweated beneath the attention of the two beautiful women. I kept my back ramrod straight, knowing that I’d be squirming like a virgin at a brothel if I let myself relax.“Now,” the Empress said. “Lie down. On your back.”The order confused me. But she was my Empress, and so I obeyed; lowering myself onto my back, the stone cool through the linen of my tunica.She smiled down at me. “Your obedience is commendable, soldier. And fear not, you’re down there for a reason.”Cloth rustled and sighed, her bare feet making no sound at all as she stepped around me. She was beside my chest now, her large, dark eyes twinkling as she kept her gaze on my face. Inexplicably, I felt my cheeks redden. I averted my gaze.“Look at me,” I heard her snap.My eyes, wide with sudden panic, flew back to her face. Her smile was gone, replaced by a downward twist of her lips.“Your, Your Majesty.” I stammered, frozen, like a rabbit beneath the eagle’s shadow. “Forgive me. Please, I didn’t,”Her smile returned, softening her features and a better companion to the sparkle that had never left her eyes."Shush,” she said. “There’s nothing to forgive.

Cleopatra would have blushed in this Empress' presence.Based on the work of Robyn Bee, In 7 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.“I will die before I let them take the purple that robes me. For never will I see the day where those I meet do not call me Empress.”Leontius is stratiotai, a soldier of Rome's armies. He has lived a decade and more of war, staining his boots with the dirt of nations that have dared to raise their blades against the Empire. It's left him tired. So, when given a chance to step from the battlefield and into Constantinople's Imperial Palace, he takes it.Leontius enters the service of Empress Theodora, a woman unlike any other, who rose from the capital's meanest brothels to sit as co-ruler of the Mediterranean's mightiest Empire. But the city writhes in her grip. As embers of rebellion flare into conflagration, Leontius will find that there exists a life beyond what he has known. A path he sees reflected in the smile of a guardswoman with wild, cypress eyes.This is a story set in the Imperial court of the Byzantine Empire in the year 532 AD. It is the tale of a young soldier inducted into the guard of a very horny Empress.“Tell God that He made a mistake, dear father, when He only gave me three holes for pleasure.”I turned those words over in my head, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. I swear, those words had nearly killed my mother when she’d first heard them. She was a tough, tight-lipped seamstress that could heave a bolt of satin over one shoulder with one hand, while she slapped a lesson into me with the other.“What sort of woman would say that?” She’d rail, before clapping her hands over my ears. “Close yourself off to such things,” she’d warn me. “They are not for folks like us.”Those were for the people of the capital, where the streets teemed with prostitutes and silk covered actresses. Not for the goodly, simple folk of Rhodos and my mother’s shop.Despite myself, I felt my lip quirk into a small smile. Of course, the capital was exactly where I was. I stood and kept my eyes lowered until I’d made my way to the nearest window. I stared out into the afternoon sun, breathing deeply of the summer air that was heavy with the scent of nearly half a million people. Constantinople, golden capital of the Eastern Roman, Byzantine Empire and center of the world.I was looking out over the Hippodrome’s track and out into the thousands of domes and roofs of the city. There was no city quite like it in all the world, and even now, a month after having arrived, I still often got lost in its crooked streets.I heard a polite cough behind me, and I turned to find one of the armored guards nodding to the seat I had just vacated. Evidently, I was supposed to wait there.I gritted my teeth, but obeyed. They were just doing their jobs. It wasn’t their fault that I was nearly twitching with restless energy.I adjusted myself on the chair, shifting around in vain to try and find a comfortable position. In all fairness, my discomfort wasn’t the furniture’s fault either. This was, without a doubt, the finest chair I’d ever sat it. Its cushion was thick, held up by four intricately carved legs of scented wood.The rest of the small antechamber was just as luxurious. Everywhere I looked, I saw gold and marble and fine pottery. Even the large door, so diligently guarded by the two armored Excubitors, was carved and inlaid with gold.What in God’s name was I doing here? I was a soldier; my hands calloused by the sword. I was stratiotai, an infantry man. My place was in the shield wall, my sandals stained with the dirt of kingdoms that dared raise their blades against Rome.At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.I heard the muffled sound from behind the guarded door. It made me think back to my mother, to those words that she’d so hated to hear.“Three holes for pleasure,” I murmured to myself.I coughed, feeling heat rise to my cheeks. I shifted again on this damnable chair. What would my mother think if she could see me now? Her only son, her soldier, her little lion; invited to the Imperial Palace.I think that those words would be the first thing she thought of. I think that she would once again clap her hands to my ears so that I would hear no more from the woman that had so famously uttered them.This woman; she who’d been crowned Augusta. A woman who’d come from the flea ridden pallets of the city’s meanest brothel and had risen to command the wealth of half the world. A woman upon who’s words rested the fate of millions. The most powerful woman on earth; co-ruler of the Mediterranean’s mightiest empire and who’s beauty and ruthless intelligence were already being woven into legend.Theodora; Empress of Rome. The woman that I was to meet.The door guarded by the two Imperial Guards suddenly swung open. I leapt to my feet, my spine snapping into a salute.“Ouch,” I heard a woman laugh. “What do you think boys, is his back is straight enough?”The two Excubitors chuckled. I blinked, and found myself facing not the Empress, but a woman in the armor of a guard. The breastplate she wore was of plain, functional steel. She carried with her a heavy, iron-rimmed shield with a short-sword and dagger strapped to the belt at her waist.This was a stratiotai’s kit, standard issue amongst the Emperor’s legions. It was the twin of the one I’d worn nearly every day since my sixteenth birthday; right down to the helmet she held in the crook of her arm.She moved towards me, her hobnailed boots loud against the marble floor. My mind was blank and only a decade’s worth of military discipline kept my mouth from gaping open like the world’s largest fish.Woman weren’t soldiers. They couldn’t be soldiers.A woman’s place was married, tending to a home or shop or farm. From crib to hearth to crib to grave; my mother would say while pinching my cheek. A good woman could be happy nowhere else, she’d insisted.And yet, here one was, grinning at me with her emerald eyes.“Loosen up,” she said. “My back hurts just looking at you.”I obeyed the note of easy command in her voice, staring up and over her left shoulder as I would any Centurion.It was easier than trying to work through my confusion.I felt her eyes on me, taking note of the muscles beneath my light tunica. She swept her eyes down my arms and made an approved sound when she saw the callouses on my open palms. I felt her take note of my scars next, her eyes lingering on each one.My face flushed, my heart beating faster.I wasn’t used to being around women, at least not ones that I hadn’t paid for their company. They were hard to find in a legions camp. This guardswoman was strong, confident, and my awkwardness wasn’t helped by the fact that she was intensely beautiful.Her bright green eyes were the most striking, though it was far from the only thing that made her a rarity. Her hair was held back at her forehead by a band of cloth; a wave of copper-colored hair that curled down to her shoulders. And though her skin was bronzed by the summer sun, she had the sort of complexion that was rare to find in the capital since the loss of the Empire’s western provinces.“So, you’re the one who won the foot-race,” she said. “Leontius, right? I watched you come into the Hippodrome. You’ve got good form.”Was she a runner too? Judging from the lean muscles of her arms and legs, she very well could be. And why the hell not? Apparently, women could be soldiers here, why couldn’t they run naked with the rest of us in the athletic events?I heard the rising voice of my mother’s outrage in my head, but I pushed it and all my swirling confusion to the side. I was a soldier, and I knew how to deal with the dangers of the present before I worried about the future. And right now, the danger was that I’d been staring at this guard’s shapely thighs during a long moment of still stretching silence.“Ahem,” I cleared my throat, my face suddenly burning. “Thank you, sir!” I coughed again, “ma'am”She laughed; eyes sparkling. She had a deep, full-bellied laugh; one that thrummed through my chest and made my toes tingle.“Sir is fine,” she said. “For now. I know that you legion boys have a hard time with change.” She winked.“Ah, yes sir,” I swallowed. “Thank you, sir.”“Alright, then. Are you ready to meet your Empress?”“Yes, sir!” I said, snapping off another salute.She smirked, and led me through the open door and into the short hallway beyond. I followed her towards the door at the other end.“You won the Emperor’s foot-race,” she said. “And you’re a soldier; that means that the Emperor has granted you the chance to join the Empress’ Guard.”“Yes, sir.”I tried not to remember that race. I love to run, but that had been brutal. I’d run for almost an entire day, hammered by the summer sun, racing against the thousand others that had decided to sign up.But I’d won, and the Emperor, Justinian himself, had come down from the Imperial box to put the laurel upon my head. I don’t remember much of that day, though I’m sure that beneath the pain and intense dehydration I’d been proud. I had to have been.The guardswoman glanced over her shoulder at me. “It's just a chance; an interview. Remember that. The Empress has the final say.”My face must have flickered, because she spoke again. “You have a question, soldier?”“No, sir.”“Yes, you do,” she said. “Spit it out.”“Sorry, sir, it's just that I thought that it was the Emperor that chose his Excubitors.”Her lip quirked. “We’re not Excubitors. They guard the whole palace, and the Emperor, sure. Our duties are to the Empress, nobody else. That clear?”“Yes, sir!” I said, though of course, her answer had just raised a hundred more questions in me. “Clear as the giant’s foot.”I immediately cringed as the words slipped out. Now wasn’t the time for a damned joke! But to my relief, she laughed once again.“You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”We were at hallway’s only other door now, the one that presumably opened into the Empress’ chambers. She turned to regard me with an expression that made the heat rise to behind my neck.“Sorry, sir!” I said. “It's an expression from my home. God as my witness, I meant no offense.”“Your home,” she said. “Rhodes, right?”“I,” I blinked. "Yes, sir.”She grinned. “I knew that there was a reason I liked you. I’m from Lindos, on the eastern side of the island.”“Yes, sir. I know it.”I shoved that information into the same corner of my mind as my now screaming mother. I had family in Lindos, had visited it as a boy. To find out that we may have crossed paths once before was just too much.“I’m from Rhodos,” I said instead. “The city. Though I haven’t been back since I joined the legions.”“It’s been a long time for me as well,” she said.She reached for the ornate handle, pausing to look back at me.“A word of advice,” she said. “The Empress will not be what you expect. Obey her, and remember that while you’re in that room, you’re as responsible for her life as I am.”Without giving me a chance to respond, the armored woman threw open the door and marched me into Empress Theodora’s private chambers.Her sitting room was large, airy, kept cool by an open balcony and several wide windows. The walls were of stone, festooned with tapestry, art and the many other sort of golden things that the rich liked to collect. Beautifully carved wooden chairs, couches and divans were spread throughout the space.And lounging on one, a book held delicately in one hand; was the Empress Theodora.“Highness,” the guardswoman said. “Here’s the man that won the Emperor’s Race.”“Your Majesty,” I said. I dropped to my knees, keeping my eyes on the stone floor. “It would be an honor to serve you.”“Would it, now?” I heard her say in a voice that was tinged with a smile. “Stand up, solider. Let me get a good look at you.”I obeyed, keeping my eyes downcast. I heard the rustle of fabric.“How do you expect to guard me if you’re always looking at the floor?”I flushed, feeling the heat crawl up my neck. I hurriedly looked up, and I swear that for several long heartbeats, I couldn’t breathe.The beauty of the Emperor’s wife was spoken of everywhere her name was known. I had heard her described a thousand different ways; heard a hundred different versions of how she’d come to be named Augusta.Born on faraway Cyprus, she’d come to Constantinople as a child. Her father had trained bears for the circus, and when he’d died, her family had been doomed to the worst sort of poverty. She’d survived as many a young woman had; by trading her body for a roof and something to eat.She’d worked at a brothel, and later as an actress, which many said were the same sort of profession. Constantinople’s taverns were full of men who’d claim to have known her then. They’d wax about the times they’d had her, for one night or many. Others would reminisce about her time on stage, their eyes faraway as they’d recount the day they’d seen her dance clothed in nothing but a long, red-ribbon.I’d heard every story, though none could prepare me for the sight of her. She’d set her book down, her body still draped over the divan. She was young, I realized, barely past her third decade. She wore a thin, silky sort of dress, the material clinging to a figure that had retained its dancer’s strength.Her feet were bare, and she stood in one smooth motion. Her smile was pleased as she glided towards me, her curves tight against the cloth of her dress.Dark, intelligent eyes watched me from above a long neck. It swept of gracefully from her tight chest, a golden chain disappearing into the space that divided it. I wondered what was hidden there, safe and out of sight. How warm the gold must be, cradled against the smoothness of her skin.The Empress smirked. I wrenched my eyes back to the floor, mortified. What in God’s name was I doing? My face burned, and I was opening my mouth to stammer an apology when the Empress spoke.“I did not say that you could look away, soldier.”“A thousand apologies, my Empress,” I said.I lifted my gaze back up to hers with some difficulty. Her eyes were wrinkled in a smile. The rest of her skin was smooth, a warm brown that was a only a few shades lighter than the thick, wavy tresses of hair that cascaded down past her shoulders.She’d stopped an arms-length from me, examining me in the same manner as her guard had a few minutes before. My flush deepened.“Am I making you uncomfortable?”“N, No, your Majesty,” I managed to say.“Good,” her smile widened. “Because I am impressed with you, stratiotai Leontius. And that is without taking into account your victory in my husband’s race. You fought in Persia, did you not?”“Ah, yes, your Majesty. I fought in general Belisarius’ army.”“Indeed,” she said. “You shared in his great victory at Dara, and in his defeat at Callinicum a bare few months ago.”I did not want to remember those battles, that campaign against the Sassanid Persians; neither the baking sun and trenches of Dara or how their cavalry had swept through us at Callinicum.“Yes, your Majesty,” was all I said.“I’ve spoken to many of your fellow soldiers, since Belisarius and his army have trickled back to the capital. You are well regarded by your comrades.”I ducked my head, “thank you, your Majesty.”“A thoughtful man, they all say. One serious about his duty. You had few friends amongst your cohort, yet all respected you.” The Empress continued. “You enlisted at sixteen years of age. You’ve served a decade already, and I believe that you would have served another one if you’d not caught my husband’s attention.”I nodded, ignoring the twist in my stomach.“An exemplary man,” she said. “In most things.”The Empress started to move, circling me. She made a little sound with her throat. “He’s quite handsome as well, is he not?”“I thought so too, Highness,” the emerald-eyed guardswoman said.“Lean,” the Empress continued. “A runner, obviously. Well-muscled, though his shoulders are a little too small. I’m not sure about the beard either, though the jaw beneath looks strong.”“I rather like it, Highness. It's just a dusting of whiskers, but it suits him nicely.”“Yes, well, you’ve always liked them rather savage, Helena. Your Rhodian blood, no doubt.”The other woman, Helena, grinned. “He’s Rhodian too, Highness.”The Empress sniffed. “Figures. I suspect that he will be as uncivilized as you are, then.”Her smile made light of her words, though I was still incredibly uncomfortable. I sweated beneath the attention of the two beautiful women. I kept my back ramrod straight, knowing that I’d be squirming like a virgin at a brothel if I let myself relax.“Now,” the Empress said. “Lie down. On your back.”The order confused me. But she was my Empress, and so I obeyed; lowering myself onto my back, the stone cool through the linen of my tunica.She smiled down at me. “Your obedience is commendable, soldier. And fear not, you’re down there for a reason.”Cloth rustled and sighed, her bare feet making no sound at all as she stepped around me. She was beside my chest now, her large, dark eyes twinkling as she kept her gaze on my face. Inexplicably, I felt my cheeks redden. I averted my gaze.“Look at me,” I heard her snap.My eyes, wide with sudden panic, flew back to her face. Her smile was gone, replaced by a downward twist of her lips.“Your, Your Majesty.” I stammered, frozen, like a rabbit beneath the eagle’s shadow. “Forgive me. Please, I didn’t,”Her smile returned, softening her features and a better companion to the sparkle that had never left her eyes."Shush,” she said. “There’s nothing to forgive.

fWotD Episode 2635: Thekla (daughter of Theophilos) Welcome to Featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia’s finest articles.The featured article for Monday, 22 July 2024 is Thekla (daughter of Theophilos).Thekla (Greek: Θέκλα; early 820s or 830s – after 870), Latinized as Thecla, was a princess of the Amorian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire. The daughter and eldest child of Byzantine emperor Theophilos and empress Theodora, she was proclaimed augusta in the late 830s. After Theophilos's death in 842 and her mother becoming regent for Thekla's younger brother Michael III, Thekla was associated with the regime as co-empress alongside Theodora and Michael.Thekla was deposed by Michael III, possibly alongside her mother, in 856 and consigned to a convent in Constantinople. Some time later, she allegedly returned to imperial affairs and became the mistress of Michael III's friend and co-emperor Basil I. After Basil murdered Michael in 867 and took power as the sole emperor, Thekla was neglected as his mistress and she took another lover, John Neatokometes. Once Basil found out about the affair, Thekla fell out of favor, was beaten and had her property confiscated.Thekla was born on an uncertain date, as calculating her date of birth depends on the year her parents married, estimated to be either c. 820/821, or 830. Thus she was born in either the early 820s or the early 830s. The historian Warren Treadgold gives her a birth date of c. 831, and the historian Juan Signes Codoñer of spring 822. She is presented by contemporary sources as the eldest child of Byzantine emperor Theophilos and empress Theodora; but, some historians, such as John Bagnell Bury and Ernest Walter Brooks, have argued that her sister Maria was the eldest on the basis that she is the only one of the daughters to have been engaged, and generally the eldest married first. She was named after Theophilos's mother, Thekla. Thekla had six siblings: the four sisters Anna, Anastasia, Pulcheria, and Maria, whom Theophilos took great pride in, and the two brothers Constantine and Michael. Constantine, who shortly after birth had been proclaimed co-emperor by their father, drowned in a palace cistern as an infant.In the 830s, the eldest sisters Thekla, Anna, and Anastasia were all proclaimed augustae, an honorific title sometimes granted to women of the imperial family. This event was commemorated through the issue of an unusual set of coins that depicted Theophilos, Theodora, and Thekla on one side and Anna and Anastasia on the other. Although Theophilos was a staunch iconoclast, and thus opposed the veneration of icons, Thekla was taught to venerate them in secret by her mother and Theophilos's step-mother Euphrosyne. Theophilos built a palace for Thekla and her sisters at ta Karianou. Shortly before his death, Theophilos worked to betroth Thekla to Louis II, the heir to the Carolingian Empire, to unite the two empires against the threat they faced from continued Arab invasions. Such a match would also have been advantageous for Louis II's father Lothair I, who was engaged in a civil war against his brothers. Because of Lothair's defeat at the Battle of Fontenoy in 841 and Theophilos's death in 842, the marriage never happened.After Theophilos's death on 20 January 842, Empress Theodora became regent for Thekla's young brother, the three-year-old Michael III. In practical terms, Theodora ruled in her own right and is often recognized as an empress regnant by modern scholars, although the eunuch Theoktistos held much power. Coins issued in the first year of Theodora's reign depict Theodora alone on the obverse and Michael III together with Thekla on the reverse. The only one of the three given a title is Theodora (as Theodora despoina, "the Lady Theodora"). Thekla was associated with imperial power as co-empress alongside Theodora and Michael; this reality is indicated by her depiction in coins, where she is shown as larger than Michael. An imperial seal, also from Theodora's early reign, titles not only Michael but also Theodora and Thekla as "Emperors of the Romans". This may suggest that Theodora viewed her daughter, just as she did her son, as a potential future heir. The numismatist Philip Grierson comments that dated documents from the time of the coins' minting prove that she was "formally associated with Theodora and Michael in the government of the Empire." However, the historian George Ostrogorsky states that Thekla does not appear to have been interested in government affairs. Thekla fell heavily ill in 843, and is said to have been cured later by visiting the Theotokos monastery in Constantinople; for curing Thekla, Theodora issued a chrysobull to the monastery.On 15 March 856, Theodora's reign officially ended with Michael III being proclaimed sole emperor. In 857 or 858 Theodora was expelled from the imperial palace and confined to a convent in Gastria, in Constantinople; the monastery had been converted from a house by her maternal grandmother, Theoktiste, likely during the reign of Theophilos. Thekla and the other sisters were either expelled and placed in the same convent at the same time, or had already been there for some time. Whether they were ordained as nuns is uncertain: they may have actually been ordained, or it may only have been intended. In one version of the narrative, they were confined to the palace at ta Karianou in November 858, possibly in a semi-monastical setting. Another version claims they were immediately placed in the Monastery of Gastria. The most common narrative states that Theodora was confined to the monastery with Pulcheria, while Thekla, and her other sisters Anna and Anastasia, were first kept at the palace at ta Karianou, but shortly thereafter moved to the Monastery of Gastria and shorn as nuns. Theodora may have been released from the convent around 863. According to the tradition of Symeon Logothete, a 10th-century Byzantine historian, Thekla was also released and used by Michael III to attempt to make a political deal. He states that in around 865, Michael had married his long-time lover Eudokia Ingerina to his friend and co-emperor Basil I, in order to mask the continued relationship of Michael and Eudokia. Some historians, such as Cyril Mango, believe that Michael did so after impregnating Eudokia, to ensure that the child would be born legitimate. However, Symeon's neutrality is disputed, and other contemporary sources do not speak of this conspiracy, leading several prominent Byzantists, such as Ostrogorsky and Nicholas Adontz to dismiss this narrative.According to Symeon, Michael also offered Thekla to Basil as a mistress, perhaps to keep his attention away from Eudokia, a plan which Thekla had allegedly consented to. Thus Thekla, who Treadgold states was 35 at the time, became Basil's mistress in early 866, according to Symeon's narrative. The historian William Greenwalt speculates on the reasons that drove Thekla to agree to this relationship: resentment for having been unmarried for so long, Basil's imposing physical stature, or political gain. After Basil murdered Michael III in 867 and seized power for himself, Symeon further writes that Thekla then became neglected and took another lover, John Neatokometes, sometime after 870. When Basil found out about the affair, he had John beaten and consigned to a monastery. Thekla was also beaten and her considerable riches were confiscated. Mango, who supports the theory of the alleged affairs, commented that Basil would already have had good reason to dislike Neatokometes, as the man had attempted to warn Michael of his impending murder, but believes the best explanation for Basil's response is that "Thekla had previously occupied some place in his life", as a mistress. The De Ceremoniis, a 10th-century Byzantine book on courtly protocol and history, states that she was buried in the Monastery of Gastria, where she had been confined earlier, in a sarcophagus with her mother and her sisters Anastasia and Pulcheria.Codoñer, Juan Signes (2016) [2014]. The Emperor Theophilos and the East, 829–842: Court and Frontier in Byzantium during the Last Phase of Iconoclasm. Oxford: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7546-6489-5.Garland, Lynda (1999). Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium AD 527–1204. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-14688-7.Greenwalt, William S. (2002). "Thecla". In Commire, Anne (ed.). Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Vol. 15: Sul–Vica. Waterford: Yorkin Publications. ISBN 0-7876-4074-3.Grierson, Philip (1973). Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, 3: Leo III to Nicephorus III, 717–1081. Washington, D. C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. ISBN 978-0-88402-045-5.Herrin, Judith (2002) [2001]. Women in Purple: Rulers of Medieval Byzantium. London: Phoenix Press. ISBN 1-84212-529-X.Herrin, Judith (2013). Unrivalled Influence: Women and Empire in Byzantium. Oxford: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-15321-6.Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (ODB). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.Lilie, Ralph-Johannes; Ludwig, Claudia; Pratsch, Thomas; Zielke, Beate (1998–2013). Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit (in German). Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter.Mango, Cyril (1973). "Eudocia Ingerina, the Normans, and the Macedonian Dynasty". Zbornika Radova Vizantoloskog Instituta. 14–15. ISSN 0584-9888.Ostrogorsky, George (1956). History of the Byzantine State. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-813-51198-6.Ringrose, Kathryn M. (2008). "Women and Power at the Byzantine Court". In Walthall, Anne (ed.). Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520254435.Treadgold, Warren (1975). "The Problem of the Marriage of the Emperor Theophilus". Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies. 16: 325–341. ISSN 2159-3159.Treadgold, Warren (1997). A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-2630-6.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:30 UTC on Monday, 22 July 2024.For the full current version of the article, see Thekla (daughter of Theophilos) on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Ayanda.

He was born to wealthy parents in Syracuse of Sicily. He entered monastic life and in time became a priest in the service of Patriarch Nikephoros. Because of his great and well-known zeal for the holy icons, he was cruelly persecuted by a succession of iconoclast emperors. Around 815, he was sent as an ambassador to Rome on behalf of the Patriarch, who had been exiled by the Emperor Leo the Armenian. When he returned to Constantinople upon Leo's death, he was immediately exiled and imprisoned by Leo's successor, Michael the Stutterer. Upon Michael's death he was freed for a short time, but soon the Emperor Theophilus had him exiled to an island where, says the Prologue, "he spent seven years in prison with two common robbers, in damp conditions, without light and without sufficient food, as if in a grave." When the pious Empress Theodora restored the Empire to Orthodoxy, he was freed and elevated to Patriarch of Constantinople. On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we commemorate the restoration of the Holy Icons by Theodora and Methodios. Despite many attacks by heretics while he was Patriarch, he served faithfully and reposed in peace.

He was born to wealthy parents in Syracuse of Sicily. He entered monastic life and in time became a priest in the service of Patriarch Nikephoros. Because of his great and well-known zeal for the holy icons, he was cruelly persecuted by a succession of iconoclast emperors. Around 815, he was sent as an ambassador to Rome on behalf of the Patriarch, who had been exiled by the Emperor Leo the Armenian. When he returned to Constantinople upon Leo's death, he was immediately exiled and imprisoned by Leo's successor, Michael the Stutterer. Upon Michael's death he was freed for a short time, but soon the Emperor Theophilus had him exiled to an island where, says the Prologue, "he spent seven years in prison with two common robbers, in damp conditions, without light and without sufficient food, as if in a grave." When the pious Empress Theodora restored the Empire to Orthodoxy, he was freed and elevated to Patriarch of Constantinople. On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we commemorate the restoration of the Holy Icons by Theodora and Methodios. Despite many attacks by heretics while he was Patriarch, he served faithfully and reposed in peace.

This week, we're delving into Empress Theodora's early life and rise to power as empress of the Byzantine era. From her breathtaking performances as a prostitute to her love-at-first-sight romance with Justinian as a young guard, we gather that Theodora was one hell of a woman, regardless of Prokopios' distaste for her. Check out our Kickstarter! Also, check out Gals and Goblins podcast here, and check out their TikTok and other cool content here! They've been gracious enough to share the pod and Kickstarter with their audience, and we're sharing the love - their actual play is goofy, lighthearted, and fun to listen to on commutes, in the kitchen, or while pruning your garden of poisonous plants you're planing to use to poison your evil overlord. Join our discord community! Check out our Tumblr for even more! Support us on patreon! Check out our merch! The Beastiary Challenge! Socials: Tumblr Website Twitter Instagram Facebook Citations & References: The Secret History and another version

The Empress Theodora is often unfairly remembered for the salacious stories that have been told about her when she was forced to work in a brothel. She was far more than that. She used her power to improve the fortunes of women who were unfortunate enough to go through the same shocking situation as her. She helped rebuild the Hagia Sophia and turn it into the largest and most beautiful building in the 6th century world. She assisted Justinian's foreign campaigns that sought to restore the glory of the Roman Empire. In short, she was remarkable. Listen as William and Anita are joined by Peter Sarris for the final time, as they discuss the extraordinary story of Theodora as Empress of the Roman Empire. For bonus episodes, ad-free listening, reading lists, book discounts, a weekly newsletter, and a chat community. Sign up at https://empirepod.supportingcast.fm/ Twitter: @Empirepoduk Email: empirepoduk@gmail.com Goalhangerpodcasts.com Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis Producer: Callum Hill Exec Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Placed by her mother into a brothel when she was just a child, Theodora was born into the most brutal of worlds. It was a Constantinople riven with division, whether due to theology or circus factions it was always ready to boil over. As befitting a Christian saint, Theodora managed to rise above all of this; she escaped working in a brothel, became the model of a reformed woman, and married the future emperor, Justinian. Then, in 527, when he was declared Emperor, Theodora was brought forward and revealed as Empress of the Roman Empire. Listen as William and Anita are once again joined by Peter Sarris to discuss this tale of star-crossed lovers and how it facilitated the improbable rise of Theodora. For bonus episodes, ad-free listening, reading lists, book discounts, a weekly newsletter, and a chat community. Sign up at https://empirepod.supportingcast.fm/ Twitter: @Empirepoduk Email: empirepoduk@gmail.com Goalhangerpodcasts.com Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis Producer: Callum Hill Exec Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

St Empress Theodora, Defender of Icons  (Feb 11)Reference materials for this episode: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/02/11/100504-righteous-theodora-wife-of-emperor-theophilus-the-iconoclasthttps://www.oca.org/fs/paschal-cyclehttps://orthodoxwiki.org/Sunday_of_Orthodoxyhttps://orthodoxwiki.org/Seventh_Ecumenical_Councilhttps://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3819.htm - degree & canons of the councilhttp://ww1.antiochian.org/sundayoforthodoxyScripture citations for this episode:Exodus 13:3-10 - celebrating passover in the present tenseThe Christian Saints Podcast is a joint production of Generative sounds & Paradosis Pavilion with oversight from Fr Symeon KeesParadosis Pavilion - https://youtube.com/@paradosispavilion9555https://www.instagram.com/christiansaintspodcasthttps://twitter.com/podcast_saintshttps://www.facebook.com/christiansaintspodcasthttps://www.threads.net/@christiansaintspodcastIconographic images used by kind permission of Nicholas Papas, who controls distribution rights of these imagesPrints of all of Nick's work can be found at Saint Demetrius Press - http://www.saintdemetriuspress.comAll music in these episodes is a production of Generative Soundshttps://generativesoundsjjm.bandcamp.comDistribution rights of this episode & all music contained in it are controlled by Generative SoundsCopyright 2021 - 2023

Welcome back - Coucou everyone! Trigger warning: sexual abuse, rape For our first episode back from our summer break, we go to Türkiye to discuss a woman who came from the bottom and rose all the way to the top! Theodora's enigmatic nature and beauty won the hearts of many men, however the most impressive part is her feminist legislation that was passed years ahead of it's time (or right on time, if you ask us). Cat then tells us about the history of Lokum or Turkish Delight. So grab your kavfe (coffee) or çay (tea) and come with us to Türkiye! Don't forget to follow us on Instagram & Tiktok :) Main topic sources: 10 Facts about Theodora Theodora Encyclopedia Britannica Nika Riots Wiki Minitopic sources: Turkish Delight from Narnia | 3 Versions & Its History Recommendations: Kate's recommendation - Early Bird show (YouTube) Cat's recommendation - Caudalie Vinoperfect serum Cover art and logo by Kate Walker Mixed and edited by Catherine Roehre Theme song by Lumehill Thank you all - ciao! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/europhile/support

This episode is all about passion. What happens when a curiosity takes on a life of its own? How do you juggle a passion project with a full-time job? What are the benefits to working alone? How do you determine a project has chops? We speak with Christine Laskowski, who recently launched an independent passion project, T&J, a podcast devoted to 6th century Byzantium and the greatest recorded love story on earth, between Empress Theodora and her husband, the Emperor Justinian.Laskowski is a Berlin-based, multimedia journalist with 15 years of reporting, music and storytelling experience from around the world. Her video and audio work has appeared on CBS News, NPR, FiveThirtyEight, and Vox/Netflix. Two years ago, she pitched and then supervised the first TikTok news account for the German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle. http://christinelaskowski.com/Christine_Laskowski/Home.htmlvimeo.com/christinelaskowski @laskowski_chttps://tandj.buzzsprout.com/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

“There's a lot of severed heads at this villa!” The great TV sensation of the summer returns on The Rest Is History, as Tom and Dominic are once again joined by Tom's daughter Katy, to navigate an incredibly competitive field of islanders, and crown the successors to last year's winners, Empress Theodora and Stanley Baldwin. Can Catherine Howard remain more loyal to Sir William Hamilton than she was to Henry VIII? Will Charles II and another byzantine Empress, Zoe, win it all? Or can the frightful, bloodthirsty duo of Peter the Great and Poppaea Sabina claim the throne for themselves? Will Admiral Horatio Nelson or Labour grandee Tony Benn make it to the final? Listen and find out now! *The Rest Is History Live Tour 2023*: Tom and Dominic are back on tour this autumn! See them live in London, New Zealand, and Australia! Buy your tickets here: restishistorypod.com Twitter:  @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is part 22 of the Early Church History class. This episode aims to wrap up our early church history class. We'll cover relics and pilgrimage, emperors Zeno and Justinian, as well as the theological battles that continued to rage in the 5th and 6th centuries. Unsurprisingly the christological controversy of the 5th century did not come to an end when the emperor endorsed the Council of Chalcedon of 451 that declared Jesus to have two natures "unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, and inseparably." In addition to covering the Second Council of Constantinople of 553, we'll also briefly consider how the dual natures doctrine continued to foment division resulting in the Third Council of Constantinople in 681 and the Second Council of Nicea in 787. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59zyj9dMH4k&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2lk3B0I7Pa77hfwKJm1SRI&index=22 —— Links —— More Restitutio resources on Christian history See other classes here Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here —— Notes —— Byzantine Beginnings 293 Diocletian initiated the division between east and west with his tetrarchy. 330 Constantine built a “New Rome” on the cite of old Byzantium, naming it Constantinople. Constantine's mother, Helena, initiated the pilgrimage movement. 381 Egeria wrote a travelogue to her friends that influenced later pilgrimages. Helena also sent Constantine relics of the true cross. 397 Martin of Tours died, leaving behind his cloak, which became a famous relic. Fifth Century Developments Theodosius I (r. 379-392) had outlawed pagan sacrifices and endorsed Trinitarian Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. Arian Germanic tribes moved into the western Roman Empire and began taking territory. 378 Visigoths win at Adrianople. 410 Alaric sacked Rome. 455 Vandals sacked Rome. 476 Odoacer deposes the last Roman Augustus. 493 Theodoric and the Ostrogoths took Italy. Zeno's Henotikon 451 Chalcedon affirmed the dyophysite position (two natures in one person). 488 Byzantine Emperor Zeno attempted to reconcile monophysites and dyophysites by condemning Eutyches and Nestorius and approving Cyril's 12 anathemas (Henotikon). Chalcedon remained controversial with Christianity now split into several groups: Arian Germanic kingdoms, monophysites (Egypt and Ethiopia), Chalcedonian dyophysites (Rome & Constantinople), and Nestorian dyophysites (Syria and Persia). Justinian (482-565) 525 Justinian married Theodora and became co-emperor with Justin. 527 Justinian became the sole emperor. 528 He initiated legal reforms under John the Cappadocian and Tribonian. 532 Nika riots 537 He finished Hagia Sophia, whispering, “O Solomon, I have surpassed you!” 555 He had retaken much of the Roman Empire, including Italy, North Africa, and part of Spain. More Christology Councils 553 Justinian called for the Second Council of Constantinople. Condemned the 3 chapters Condemned Nestorius Condemned Origen of Alexandria 681 Third Council of Constantinople Condemned monotheletism, concluding that Jesus had 2 wills that never conflict. 787 Second Council of Nicaea Iconoclasts were fighting with iconodules. Some considered icons Nestorian while others called them Monophysite. Affirmed veneration of icons. 843 Iconaclasm controversy broke out. Empress Theodora upheld the ruling of Nicaea II. Review In 293, Diocletian split the administration of the Roman Empire into east and west, appointing an Augustus in each. In 330, Constantine founded Constantinople in the old town of Byzantium, making it his administrative capital. While the west fell to Germanic Arians and the Huns, the Roman Empire in the east continued until 1453. Byzantine emperors played barbarian warlords off each other in an attempt to keep them from taking Constantinople. From the fourth century onwards, Byzantines embraced relics and pilgrimages to holy places. Byzantine emperor Justinian made a lasting impact on law via the work of Tribonian to identify, harmonize, and codify Roman law. Justinian succeeded, mostly due to the military genius of Belisarius, to retake northern Africa, Italy, and part of Spain. Justinian built and improved several churches, the most notable of which was his renovation of the Hagia Sophia. In 553, the Second Council of Constantinople condemned three writings critical of Cyril of Alexandria to reunite with the Egyptian and Syrian churches, but ultimately failed. In 681, the Third Council of Constantinople condemned monothelitism, affirming that Christ had two wills. In 787, the Second Council of Nicaea affirmed the veneration of icons, denying icons either were too monophysite or Nestorian.

Tuesday of the 11th Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Silverius; became pope in 536, but Empress Theodora tried to get him deposed; he was accused of conspiring with the Goths and exiled; he was allowed to return to Rome, but was then sent to the island of Palmaria, where he was persuaded to abdicate; he died in 537 Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 6/20/23 Gospel: Matthew 5:43-48

He was born to wealthy parents in Syracuse of Sicily. He entered monastic life and in time became a priest in the service of Patriarch Nikephoros. Because of his great and well-known zeal for the holy icons, he was cruelly persecuted by a succession of iconoclast emperors. Around 815, he was sent as an ambassador to Rome on behalf of the Patriarch, who had been exiled by the Emperor Leo the Armenian. When he returned to Constantinople upon Leo's death, he was immediately exiled and imprisoned by Leo's successor, Michael the Stutterer. Upon Michael's death he was freed for a short time, but soon the Emperor Theophilus had him exiled to an island where, says the Prologue, "he spent seven years in prison with two common robbers, in damp conditions, without light and without sufficient food, as if in a grave." When the pious Empress Theodora restored the Empire to Orthodoxy, he was freed and elevated to Patriarch of Constantinople. On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we commemorate the restoration of the Holy Icons by Theodora and Methodios. Despite many attacks by heretics while he was Patriarch, he served faithfully and reposed in peace.

He was born to wealthy parents in Syracuse of Sicily. He entered monastic life and in time became a priest in the service of Patriarch Nikephoros. Because of his great and well-known zeal for the holy icons, he was cruelly persecuted by a succession of iconoclast emperors. Around 815, he was sent as an ambassador to Rome on behalf of the Patriarch, who had been exiled by the Emperor Leo the Armenian. When he returned to Constantinople upon Leo's death, he was immediately exiled and imprisoned by Leo's successor, Michael the Stutterer. Upon Michael's death he was freed for a short time, but soon the Emperor Theophilus had him exiled to an island where, says the Prologue, "he spent seven years in prison with two common robbers, in damp conditions, without light and without sufficient food, as if in a grave." When the pious Empress Theodora restored the Empire to Orthodoxy, he was freed and elevated to Patriarch of Constantinople. On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we commemorate the restoration of the Holy Icons by Theodora and Methodios. Despite many attacks by heretics while he was Patriarch, he served faithfully and reposed in peace.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily Newsbrief for Friday, January 13th, 2023. Happy Friday ladies and gentleman! Let’s go ahead and finish the week strong by starting with a little on this day in history! On this day in history: January 13th: 532 Nika riots begin in Constantinople, a revolt against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I that leaves half the city burned and thousands dead. The riots were prompted by the failed execution of chariot racing supporters and only stopped after Empress Theodora refused to flee, forcing her husband to act decisively. 1908 Henri Farman becomes the first person to fly an observed circuit of more than 1km, winning the Grand Prix d'Aviation 1930 "Mickey Mouse" comic strip 1st appears 1943 Adolf Hitler declares "Total War" against the Allies 1976 Sarah Caldwell is 1st woman to conduct at NYC Metropolitan Opera House as she led orchestra in a performance of "La Traviata" 2000 Microsoft chairman Bill Gates steps aside as chief executive and promotes company president Steve Ballmer to the position How about some famous birthdays? Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patrick Dempsey, Orlando Bloom, and Liam Hemsworth all share a birthday on January 13th. Club Membership Plug: (1/9) Ladies and gentleman, now is the time to sign up for a club membership at fightlaughfeast.com! You’ve heard it all before, new year, new you! Well that’s true for our club portal… This year, CrossPolitic will be dropping EXCLUSIVE content into our club portal, that you won’t be able to find ANYWHERE else. Some of this content will include a Bible study series with Pastor Toby, a special with New Saint Andrew’s President, Ben Merkle, our backstage content, and probably stuff that Gabe hasn’t told myself or Knox about! So again, head on over to fightlaughfeast.com to get signed up today! That’s fightlaughfeast.com. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-spars-classified-documents-garage-fox-news-peter-doocy Biden spars over classified documents in garage with Fox News' Peter Doocy President Biden sparred with Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy on Thursday, following revelations that a second batch of classified documents had been discovered at one of Biden's homes in Delaware. The White House Counsel's Office announced the discovery on Thursday, saying it had initiated a search of Biden's homes in Rehoboth Beach and Wilmington after news of the first stash broke this week and found documents in the Wilmington home's garage. Fox News presses Biden over classified docs in garage: 'What were you thinking?'- Play Video White House lawyers say they immediately contacted the DOJ when they discovered the documents this week. There has been no indication of what the documents contain or whether Biden or anyone else read them after he left office as vice president. The Wilmington documents are the second stash of Obama-era classified documents to be uncovered. The first collection was found at the Washington office of the Penn Biden Center, a Biden-aligned think tank. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/more-americans-id-as-republicans-than-democrats More Americans identify as Republicans than Democrats For the first time in decades, more people identify as Republicans than Democrats, a striking change that bolsters polls showing that the United States is a moderate-conservative nation. In the latest massive Gallup survey of 10,000 adults, 45% identified as Republicans and 44% as Democrats. That’s a tiny edge for sure, but it’s the first time the GOP has had the lead since former President George H.W. Bush launched the Gulf War in 1991. Gallup said: “A virtual tie in party identification and leaning represents one of the better outcomes for the Republican Party over the past three decades.” However, when the choice of independents is thrown in, more U.S. adults picked that label. “Since 2009, independent identification has grown and reached levels not seen before. Now, political independents (41%) greatly outnumber Republican (28%) and Democratic (28%) identifiers,” said Gallup on Thursday. In a related survey, the polling giant also said that America politically is a moderate-conservative nation. When asked to describe their political views, 47% of adults said moderate, 30% conservative, and 21% liberal. That survey also revealed that the Democrats are more liberal than ever. “After hovering near 50% in recent years, the percentage of Democrats who identify as politically liberal rose four percentage points in 2022 to 54%, a new high for this group,” said Gallup. https://www.based-politics.com/2023/01/11/these-5-states-lost-the-most-population-in-2022/ These 5 states lost the most population in 2022 Another year is in the books, which means there’s another year of data to analyze, too. And the Tax Foundation just published an interesting analysis shedding light on which states gained the most population in 2022—and which ones saw residents leave in droves. The analysis examined the time period between July 2021 and July 2022 and found overall US population growth was at 0.4%, but some states’ populations shrank while others grew. As it turns out, the state that gained the most population was Florida, which saw 1.9% population growth. Other states that gained 1% population include Idaho, South Carolina, Texas, South Dakota, Montana, Delaware, Arizona, North Carolina, Utah, Tennessee, Georgia, and Nevada. Meanwhile, the 5 states that lost the most population were: New York (-0.9%) Illinois (-0.8%) Louisiana (-0.8%) West Virginia (-0.6%) Hawaii (-0.5%) Noticing any trends yet? Generally speaking, the states losing population are blue states with high taxes and heavily restricted economies. On the other hand, the booming states, like Florida, South Carolina, and Texas, are red states with lower tax burdens and less-regulated economies. That’s just speculation, but it’s borne out in the data. “People move for many reasons,” the Tax Foundation explains. “Sometimes taxes are expressly part of the calculation. Often, they play an indirect role (by contributing to a broadly favorable economic environment). And other times, of course, they don’t factor in at all. The Census data and these industry studies cannot tell us exactly why each person moved, but there is no denying a very strong correlation between low-tax, low-cost states and population growth.” It really is becoming so glaring that even New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently admitted their state needs to address its population drain—months after telling Republicans to “get out.” As twitter user Jim Stinson tweeted: If you tell people to leave, they will. If you over-regulate them and overtax them, they will leave faster. https://www.dailywire.com/news/out-of-left-field-uscs-school-of-social-work-bans-the-word-field-because-its-racist-apparently USC’s School Of Social Work Bans The Word ‘Field’ Because It’s Racist, Apparently Have you ever aspired to be the best in your field? Did you ever refer to doing a job outside of the office as “field work?” Well, if you answered yes to any of those questions, then you may unwittingly be promoting racism and bigotry — according to the University of Southern California School of Social Work. It seems wokeness knows no bounds — which is entirely the point of those who promote it. They have no limit in their zeal to assert power and are willing to coerce you into following along with their plan. On January 9, the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work sent an email to faculty, staff, and students notifying them that the department has new speech code guidelines in order to ensure “inclusive language and practice.” “Specifically, we have decided to remove the term ‘field,’ from our curriculum and practice and replace it with ‘practicum,'” the letter explained. What is so egregious about the word “field”? Well, according to the brainiacs out on the West Coast, it is offensive to black and immigrants everywhere. “Language can be powerful, and phrases such as ‘going into the field’ or ‘fieldwork’ may have connotations for descendants of slavery and immigrant workers that are not benign,” according to the letter. If a word isn’t “benign” that would mean it is malignant. Per the letter sent around, the word “field” is so malevolent that merely using it promotes “white supremacy, anti-immigrant and anti-blackness ideologies.” So, the school is beginning to put its words into action by banning the term altogether. In doing so, of course, they are unwittingly revealing their own racism by implying that only black people and immigrants work in “fields.” It doesn’t need to be said, but of course, every civilization on earth has had “fields” in one form or another and somebody who worked there. https://humanevents.com/2023/01/11/italian-mp-giorgia-meloni-mimics-desantis-sends-migrants-to-left-run-cities?utm_campaign=64487 Italian PM Giorgia Meloni Pulls a DeSantis, Sends Migrants to Left-Run Cities The government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is facing a fierce backlash from their left-wing detractors after directing NGO ships carrying illegal migrants to ports in cities governed by pro-migration mayors, a move immediately compared to a policy ordered by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, As part of a recent security decree, authorities are now redirecting vessels that pick up migrants in the Mediterranean to ports located farther away from the search and rescue area, frequently opting for cities governed by leftist mayors. the decree has been met with opposition from the left-leaning Democratic Party and the mayors of the affected cities, both of whom argue the measures are excessive and go against the supposed advantages of mass illegal migration. However, these concerns were rubbished by Wand Ferro, the undersecretary at Italy’s Interior Ministry, who said: “The left protests because NGO ships are finally disembarking in other regions of central Italy and no longer only in the South. Evidently, on the left, they would like to transform Calabria and Sicily into the refugee camp of Europe, a completely unacceptable prospect.” Ferro stated that the asylum centers in southern Italy have faced persistent strain for years and that the government's action to alleviate that pressure amount to a necessary response. She also dismissed the criticisms from NGOs who operate the migrant transport ships, pointing out that it is not unusual for these ships to keep refugees at sea for extended periods while waiting to pick up more migrants, adding that these ships have a tendency to take migrants to European ports instead of closer ports located in North Africa. “Perhaps the left suffers from a sort of NIMBY [not in my backyard] syndrome, preaching welcome as long as it is away from their backyard,” Ferro continued. However, NGOs who help facilitate these routes of illegal migration complained in a joint statement that the policy is hindering their efforts to save stranded migrants. “Among other rules, the Italian government requires civilian rescue ships to head to Italy after each rescue immediately," the statement reads. "This delays further lifesaving operations, as ships usually carry out multiple rescues over the course of several days." The policy of the Meloni conservative government, which came to power in last October's general election, immediately drew comparisons to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who last year sent illegal migrants to the wealthy, heavily liberal island enclave of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. The move sparked outrage from wealthy residents, with local authorities opting to activate the National Guard in order to have the individuals quickly removed. Armored Republic The Mission of Armored Republic is to Honor Christ by equipping Free Men with Tools of Liberty necessary to preserve God-given rights. In the Armored Republic there is no King but Christ. We are Free Craftsmen. Body Armor is a Tool of Liberty. We create Tools of Liberty. Free men must remain ever vigilant against tyranny wherever it appears. God has given us the tools of liberty needed to defend the rights He bestowed to us. Armored Republic is honored to offer you those Tools. Visit them, at ar500armor.com

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily Newsbrief for Friday, January 13th, 2023. Happy Friday ladies and gentleman! Let’s go ahead and finish the week strong by starting with a little on this day in history! On this day in history: January 13th: 532 Nika riots begin in Constantinople, a revolt against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I that leaves half the city burned and thousands dead. The riots were prompted by the failed execution of chariot racing supporters and only stopped after Empress Theodora refused to flee, forcing her husband to act decisively. 1908 Henri Farman becomes the first person to fly an observed circuit of more than 1km, winning the Grand Prix d'Aviation 1930 "Mickey Mouse" comic strip 1st appears 1943 Adolf Hitler declares "Total War" against the Allies 1976 Sarah Caldwell is 1st woman to conduct at NYC Metropolitan Opera House as she led orchestra in a performance of "La Traviata" 2000 Microsoft chairman Bill Gates steps aside as chief executive and promotes company president Steve Ballmer to the position How about some famous birthdays? Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patrick Dempsey, Orlando Bloom, and Liam Hemsworth all share a birthday on January 13th. Club Membership Plug: (1/9) Ladies and gentleman, now is the time to sign up for a club membership at fightlaughfeast.com! You’ve heard it all before, new year, new you! Well that’s true for our club portal… This year, CrossPolitic will be dropping EXCLUSIVE content into our club portal, that you won’t be able to find ANYWHERE else. Some of this content will include a Bible study series with Pastor Toby, a special with New Saint Andrew’s President, Ben Merkle, our backstage content, and probably stuff that Gabe hasn’t told myself or Knox about! So again, head on over to fightlaughfeast.com to get signed up today! That’s fightlaughfeast.com. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-spars-classified-documents-garage-fox-news-peter-doocy Biden spars over classified documents in garage with Fox News' Peter Doocy President Biden sparred with Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy on Thursday, following revelations that a second batch of classified documents had been discovered at one of Biden's homes in Delaware. The White House Counsel's Office announced the discovery on Thursday, saying it had initiated a search of Biden's homes in Rehoboth Beach and Wilmington after news of the first stash broke this week and found documents in the Wilmington home's garage. Fox News presses Biden over classified docs in garage: 'What were you thinking?'- Play Video White House lawyers say they immediately contacted the DOJ when they discovered the documents this week. There has been no indication of what the documents contain or whether Biden or anyone else read them after he left office as vice president. The Wilmington documents are the second stash of Obama-era classified documents to be uncovered. The first collection was found at the Washington office of the Penn Biden Center, a Biden-aligned think tank. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/more-americans-id-as-republicans-than-democrats More Americans identify as Republicans than Democrats For the first time in decades, more people identify as Republicans than Democrats, a striking change that bolsters polls showing that the United States is a moderate-conservative nation. In the latest massive Gallup survey of 10,000 adults, 45% identified as Republicans and 44% as Democrats. That’s a tiny edge for sure, but it’s the first time the GOP has had the lead since former President George H.W. Bush launched the Gulf War in 1991. Gallup said: “A virtual tie in party identification and leaning represents one of the better outcomes for the Republican Party over the past three decades.” However, when the choice of independents is thrown in, more U.S. adults picked that label. “Since 2009, independent identification has grown and reached levels not seen before. Now, political independents (41%) greatly outnumber Republican (28%) and Democratic (28%) identifiers,” said Gallup on Thursday. In a related survey, the polling giant also said that America politically is a moderate-conservative nation. When asked to describe their political views, 47% of adults said moderate, 30% conservative, and 21% liberal. That survey also revealed that the Democrats are more liberal than ever. “After hovering near 50% in recent years, the percentage of Democrats who identify as politically liberal rose four percentage points in 2022 to 54%, a new high for this group,” said Gallup. https://www.based-politics.com/2023/01/11/these-5-states-lost-the-most-population-in-2022/ These 5 states lost the most population in 2022 Another year is in the books, which means there’s another year of data to analyze, too. And the Tax Foundation just published an interesting analysis shedding light on which states gained the most population in 2022—and which ones saw residents leave in droves. The analysis examined the time period between July 2021 and July 2022 and found overall US population growth was at 0.4%, but some states’ populations shrank while others grew. As it turns out, the state that gained the most population was Florida, which saw 1.9% population growth. Other states that gained 1% population include Idaho, South Carolina, Texas, South Dakota, Montana, Delaware, Arizona, North Carolina, Utah, Tennessee, Georgia, and Nevada. Meanwhile, the 5 states that lost the most population were: New York (-0.9%) Illinois (-0.8%) Louisiana (-0.8%) West Virginia (-0.6%) Hawaii (-0.5%) Noticing any trends yet? Generally speaking, the states losing population are blue states with high taxes and heavily restricted economies. On the other hand, the booming states, like Florida, South Carolina, and Texas, are red states with lower tax burdens and less-regulated economies. That’s just speculation, but it’s borne out in the data. “People move for many reasons,” the Tax Foundation explains. “Sometimes taxes are expressly part of the calculation. Often, they play an indirect role (by contributing to a broadly favorable economic environment). And other times, of course, they don’t factor in at all. The Census data and these industry studies cannot tell us exactly why each person moved, but there is no denying a very strong correlation between low-tax, low-cost states and population growth.” It really is becoming so glaring that even New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently admitted their state needs to address its population drain—months after telling Republicans to “get out.” As twitter user Jim Stinson tweeted: If you tell people to leave, they will. If you over-regulate them and overtax them, they will leave faster. https://www.dailywire.com/news/out-of-left-field-uscs-school-of-social-work-bans-the-word-field-because-its-racist-apparently USC’s School Of Social Work Bans The Word ‘Field’ Because It’s Racist, Apparently Have you ever aspired to be the best in your field? Did you ever refer to doing a job outside of the office as “field work?” Well, if you answered yes to any of those questions, then you may unwittingly be promoting racism and bigotry — according to the University of Southern California School of Social Work. It seems wokeness knows no bounds — which is entirely the point of those who promote it. They have no limit in their zeal to assert power and are willing to coerce you into following along with their plan. On January 9, the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work sent an email to faculty, staff, and students notifying them that the department has new speech code guidelines in order to ensure “inclusive language and practice.” “Specifically, we have decided to remove the term ‘field,’ from our curriculum and practice and replace it with ‘practicum,'” the letter explained. What is so egregious about the word “field”? Well, according to the brainiacs out on the West Coast, it is offensive to black and immigrants everywhere. “Language can be powerful, and phrases such as ‘going into the field’ or ‘fieldwork’ may have connotations for descendants of slavery and immigrant workers that are not benign,” according to the letter. If a word isn’t “benign” that would mean it is malignant. Per the letter sent around, the word “field” is so malevolent that merely using it promotes “white supremacy, anti-immigrant and anti-blackness ideologies.” So, the school is beginning to put its words into action by banning the term altogether. In doing so, of course, they are unwittingly revealing their own racism by implying that only black people and immigrants work in “fields.” It doesn’t need to be said, but of course, every civilization on earth has had “fields” in one form or another and somebody who worked there. https://humanevents.com/2023/01/11/italian-mp-giorgia-meloni-mimics-desantis-sends-migrants-to-left-run-cities?utm_campaign=64487 Italian PM Giorgia Meloni Pulls a DeSantis, Sends Migrants to Left-Run Cities The government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is facing a fierce backlash from their left-wing detractors after directing NGO ships carrying illegal migrants to ports in cities governed by pro-migration mayors, a move immediately compared to a policy ordered by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, As part of a recent security decree, authorities are now redirecting vessels that pick up migrants in the Mediterranean to ports located farther away from the search and rescue area, frequently opting for cities governed by leftist mayors. the decree has been met with opposition from the left-leaning Democratic Party and the mayors of the affected cities, both of whom argue the measures are excessive and go against the supposed advantages of mass illegal migration. However, these concerns were rubbished by Wand Ferro, the undersecretary at Italy’s Interior Ministry, who said: “The left protests because NGO ships are finally disembarking in other regions of central Italy and no longer only in the South. Evidently, on the left, they would like to transform Calabria and Sicily into the refugee camp of Europe, a completely unacceptable prospect.” Ferro stated that the asylum centers in southern Italy have faced persistent strain for years and that the government's action to alleviate that pressure amount to a necessary response. She also dismissed the criticisms from NGOs who operate the migrant transport ships, pointing out that it is not unusual for these ships to keep refugees at sea for extended periods while waiting to pick up more migrants, adding that these ships have a tendency to take migrants to European ports instead of closer ports located in North Africa. “Perhaps the left suffers from a sort of NIMBY [not in my backyard] syndrome, preaching welcome as long as it is away from their backyard,” Ferro continued. However, NGOs who help facilitate these routes of illegal migration complained in a joint statement that the policy is hindering their efforts to save stranded migrants. “Among other rules, the Italian government requires civilian rescue ships to head to Italy after each rescue immediately," the statement reads. "This delays further lifesaving operations, as ships usually carry out multiple rescues over the course of several days." The policy of the Meloni conservative government, which came to power in last October's general election, immediately drew comparisons to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who last year sent illegal migrants to the wealthy, heavily liberal island enclave of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. The move sparked outrage from wealthy residents, with local authorities opting to activate the National Guard in order to have the individuals quickly removed. Armored Republic The Mission of Armored Republic is to Honor Christ by equipping Free Men with Tools of Liberty necessary to preserve God-given rights. In the Armored Republic there is no King but Christ. We are Free Craftsmen. Body Armor is a Tool of Liberty. We create Tools of Liberty. Free men must remain ever vigilant against tyranny wherever it appears. God has given us the tools of liberty needed to defend the rights He bestowed to us. Armored Republic is honored to offer you those Tools. Visit them, at ar500armor.com

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily Newsbrief for Friday, January 13th, 2023. Happy Friday ladies and gentleman! Let’s go ahead and finish the week strong by starting with a little on this day in history! On this day in history: January 13th: 532 Nika riots begin in Constantinople, a revolt against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I that leaves half the city burned and thousands dead. The riots were prompted by the failed execution of chariot racing supporters and only stopped after Empress Theodora refused to flee, forcing her husband to act decisively. 1908 Henri Farman becomes the first person to fly an observed circuit of more than 1km, winning the Grand Prix d'Aviation 1930 "Mickey Mouse" comic strip 1st appears 1943 Adolf Hitler declares "Total War" against the Allies 1976 Sarah Caldwell is 1st woman to conduct at NYC Metropolitan Opera House as she led orchestra in a performance of "La Traviata" 2000 Microsoft chairman Bill Gates steps aside as chief executive and promotes company president Steve Ballmer to the position How about some famous birthdays? Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patrick Dempsey, Orlando Bloom, and Liam Hemsworth all share a birthday on January 13th. Club Membership Plug: (1/9) Ladies and gentleman, now is the time to sign up for a club membership at fightlaughfeast.com! You’ve heard it all before, new year, new you! Well that’s true for our club portal… This year, CrossPolitic will be dropping EXCLUSIVE content into our club portal, that you won’t be able to find ANYWHERE else. Some of this content will include a Bible study series with Pastor Toby, a special with New Saint Andrew’s President, Ben Merkle, our backstage content, and probably stuff that Gabe hasn’t told myself or Knox about! So again, head on over to fightlaughfeast.com to get signed up today! That’s fightlaughfeast.com. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-spars-classified-documents-garage-fox-news-peter-doocy Biden spars over classified documents in garage with Fox News' Peter Doocy President Biden sparred with Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy on Thursday, following revelations that a second batch of classified documents had been discovered at one of Biden's homes in Delaware. The White House Counsel's Office announced the discovery on Thursday, saying it had initiated a search of Biden's homes in Rehoboth Beach and Wilmington after news of the first stash broke this week and found documents in the Wilmington home's garage. Fox News presses Biden over classified docs in garage: 'What were you thinking?'- Play Video White House lawyers say they immediately contacted the DOJ when they discovered the documents this week. There has been no indication of what the documents contain or whether Biden or anyone else read them after he left office as vice president. The Wilmington documents are the second stash of Obama-era classified documents to be uncovered. The first collection was found at the Washington office of the Penn Biden Center, a Biden-aligned think tank. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/more-americans-id-as-republicans-than-democrats More Americans identify as Republicans than Democrats For the first time in decades, more people identify as Republicans than Democrats, a striking change that bolsters polls showing that the United States is a moderate-conservative nation. In the latest massive Gallup survey of 10,000 adults, 45% identified as Republicans and 44% as Democrats. That’s a tiny edge for sure, but it’s the first time the GOP has had the lead since former President George H.W. Bush launched the Gulf War in 1991. Gallup said: “A virtual tie in party identification and leaning represents one of the better outcomes for the Republican Party over the past three decades.” However, when the choice of independents is thrown in, more U.S. adults picked that label. “Since 2009, independent identification has grown and reached levels not seen before. Now, political independents (41%) greatly outnumber Republican (28%) and Democratic (28%) identifiers,” said Gallup on Thursday. In a related survey, the polling giant also said that America politically is a moderate-conservative nation. When asked to describe their political views, 47% of adults said moderate, 30% conservative, and 21% liberal. That survey also revealed that the Democrats are more liberal than ever. “After hovering near 50% in recent years, the percentage of Democrats who identify as politically liberal rose four percentage points in 2022 to 54%, a new high for this group,” said Gallup. https://www.based-politics.com/2023/01/11/these-5-states-lost-the-most-population-in-2022/ These 5 states lost the most population in 2022 Another year is in the books, which means there’s another year of data to analyze, too. And the Tax Foundation just published an interesting analysis shedding light on which states gained the most population in 2022—and which ones saw residents leave in droves. The analysis examined the time period between July 2021 and July 2022 and found overall US population growth was at 0.4%, but some states’ populations shrank while others grew. As it turns out, the state that gained the most population was Florida, which saw 1.9% population growth. Other states that gained 1% population include Idaho, South Carolina, Texas, South Dakota, Montana, Delaware, Arizona, North Carolina, Utah, Tennessee, Georgia, and Nevada. Meanwhile, the 5 states that lost the most population were: New York (-0.9%) Illinois (-0.8%) Louisiana (-0.8%) West Virginia (-0.6%) Hawaii (-0.5%) Noticing any trends yet? Generally speaking, the states losing population are blue states with high taxes and heavily restricted economies. On the other hand, the booming states, like Florida, South Carolina, and Texas, are red states with lower tax burdens and less-regulated economies. That’s just speculation, but it’s borne out in the data. “People move for many reasons,” the Tax Foundation explains. “Sometimes taxes are expressly part of the calculation. Often, they play an indirect role (by contributing to a broadly favorable economic environment). And other times, of course, they don’t factor in at all. The Census data and these industry studies cannot tell us exactly why each person moved, but there is no denying a very strong correlation between low-tax, low-cost states and population growth.” It really is becoming so glaring that even New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently admitted their state needs to address its population drain—months after telling Republicans to “get out.” As twitter user Jim Stinson tweeted: If you tell people to leave, they will. If you over-regulate them and overtax them, they will leave faster. https://www.dailywire.com/news/out-of-left-field-uscs-school-of-social-work-bans-the-word-field-because-its-racist-apparently USC’s School Of Social Work Bans The Word ‘Field’ Because It’s Racist, Apparently Have you ever aspired to be the best in your field? Did you ever refer to doing a job outside of the office as “field work?” Well, if you answered yes to any of those questions, then you may unwittingly be promoting racism and bigotry — according to the University of Southern California School of Social Work. It seems wokeness knows no bounds — which is entirely the point of those who promote it. They have no limit in their zeal to assert power and are willing to coerce you into following along with their plan. On January 9, the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work sent an email to faculty, staff, and students notifying them that the department has new speech code guidelines in order to ensure “inclusive language and practice.” “Specifically, we have decided to remove the term ‘field,’ from our curriculum and practice and replace it with ‘practicum,'” the letter explained. What is so egregious about the word “field”? Well, according to the brainiacs out on the West Coast, it is offensive to black and immigrants everywhere. “Language can be powerful, and phrases such as ‘going into the field’ or ‘fieldwork’ may have connotations for descendants of slavery and immigrant workers that are not benign,” according to the letter. If a word isn’t “benign” that would mean it is malignant. Per the letter sent around, the word “field” is so malevolent that merely using it promotes “white supremacy, anti-immigrant and anti-blackness ideologies.” So, the school is beginning to put its words into action by banning the term altogether. In doing so, of course, they are unwittingly revealing their own racism by implying that only black people and immigrants work in “fields.” It doesn’t need to be said, but of course, every civilization on earth has had “fields” in one form or another and somebody who worked there. https://humanevents.com/2023/01/11/italian-mp-giorgia-meloni-mimics-desantis-sends-migrants-to-left-run-cities?utm_campaign=64487 Italian PM Giorgia Meloni Pulls a DeSantis, Sends Migrants to Left-Run Cities The government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is facing a fierce backlash from their left-wing detractors after directing NGO ships carrying illegal migrants to ports in cities governed by pro-migration mayors, a move immediately compared to a policy ordered by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, As part of a recent security decree, authorities are now redirecting vessels that pick up migrants in the Mediterranean to ports located farther away from the search and rescue area, frequently opting for cities governed by leftist mayors. the decree has been met with opposition from the left-leaning Democratic Party and the mayors of the affected cities, both of whom argue the measures are excessive and go against the supposed advantages of mass illegal migration. However, these concerns were rubbished by Wand Ferro, the undersecretary at Italy’s Interior Ministry, who said: “The left protests because NGO ships are finally disembarking in other regions of central Italy and no longer only in the South. Evidently, on the left, they would like to transform Calabria and Sicily into the refugee camp of Europe, a completely unacceptable prospect.” Ferro stated that the asylum centers in southern Italy have faced persistent strain for years and that the government's action to alleviate that pressure amount to a necessary response. She also dismissed the criticisms from NGOs who operate the migrant transport ships, pointing out that it is not unusual for these ships to keep refugees at sea for extended periods while waiting to pick up more migrants, adding that these ships have a tendency to take migrants to European ports instead of closer ports located in North Africa. “Perhaps the left suffers from a sort of NIMBY [not in my backyard] syndrome, preaching welcome as long as it is away from their backyard,” Ferro continued. However, NGOs who help facilitate these routes of illegal migration complained in a joint statement that the policy is hindering their efforts to save stranded migrants. “Among other rules, the Italian government requires civilian rescue ships to head to Italy after each rescue immediately," the statement reads. "This delays further lifesaving operations, as ships usually carry out multiple rescues over the course of several days." The policy of the Meloni conservative government, which came to power in last October's general election, immediately drew comparisons to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who last year sent illegal migrants to the wealthy, heavily liberal island enclave of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. The move sparked outrage from wealthy residents, with local authorities opting to activate the National Guard in order to have the individuals quickly removed. Armored Republic The Mission of Armored Republic is to Honor Christ by equipping Free Men with Tools of Liberty necessary to preserve God-given rights. In the Armored Republic there is no King but Christ. We are Free Craftsmen. Body Armor is a Tool of Liberty. We create Tools of Liberty. Free men must remain ever vigilant against tyranny wherever it appears. God has given us the tools of liberty needed to defend the rights He bestowed to us. Armored Republic is honored to offer you those Tools. Visit them, at ar500armor.com

Today we're telling you all about a true boss babe so strap in for the wild ride that is “The Secret History: A Novel of Empress Theodora” by Stephanie Thornton (aka Delaney's high school teacher!) If you like history and hot girls getting what they want, then is is the book for you

Empress Wu Zetian is the only woman in Chinese history to rule in her own name, but, similarly to Empress Theodora, her story is steeped in rumors, political agendas, and missing documents. There is no way for people today to truly know the truth of her story or the accuracy of her legacy. The legend paints her as a murderous, vindictive, power-hungry vixen. In recent years some historians have called for her to be recognized as a proto-feminist. A woman who “broke the glass ceiling” and rose higher than any female before or after her in Imperial China. Empress Wu was a woman far ahead of her time, but her legacy has been blighted and silenced over the centuries.Featured Guests: Jonathan Clements, a historian, professor, and TV presenter who specializes in the history of East Asia, and Mike Dash, a New York Times bestselling author and historian. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is the ultimate Cinderella story. A dashing Emperor falls in love with an actress and changes the law to make her his bride. Empress Theodora was born into a life on the stage and in sex work, but after her marriage to Emperor Justinian, she became the most powerful woman in the Byzantine Empire. But her name has been sullied by the salacious publication The Secret History by Prokopios in which she is depicted as the ultimate Wicked Woman.Featured Guests: Dr. Leslie Brubaker, an expert in Byzantine illuminated manuscripts, and award-winning author Stella Duffy who has written two novels about Theodora, Theodora and The Purple Shroud. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He was born to wealthy parents in Syracuse of Sicily. He entered monastic life and in time became a priest in the service of Patriarch Nikephoros. Because of his great and well-known zeal for the holy icons, he was cruelly persecuted by a succession of iconoclast emperors. Around 815, he was sent as an ambassador to Rome on behalf of the Patriarch, who had been exiled by the Emperor Leo the Armenian. When he returned to Constantinople upon Leo's death, he was immediately exiled and imprisoned by Leo's successor, Michael the Stutterer. Upon Michael's death he was freed for a short time, but soon the Emperor Theophilus had him exiled to an island where, says the Prologue, "he spent seven years in prison with two common robbers, in damp conditions, without light and without sufficient food, as if in a grave." When the pious Empress Theodora restored the Empire to Orthodoxy, he was freed and elevated to Patriarch of Constantinople. On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we commemorate the restoration of the Holy Icons by Theodora and Methodios. Despite many attacks by heretics while he was Patriarch, he served faithfully and reposed in peace.

He was born to wealthy parents in Syracuse of Sicily. He entered monastic life and in time became a priest in the service of Patriarch Nikephoros. Because of his great and well-known zeal for the holy icons, he was cruelly persecuted by a succession of iconoclast emperors. Around 815, he was sent as an ambassador to Rome on behalf of the Patriarch, who had been exiled by the Emperor Leo the Armenian. When he returned to Constantinople upon Leo's death, he was immediately exiled and imprisoned by Leo's successor, Michael the Stutterer. Upon Michael's death he was freed for a short time, but soon the Emperor Theophilus had him exiled to an island where, says the Prologue, "he spent seven years in prison with two common robbers, in damp conditions, without light and without sufficient food, as if in a grave." When the pious Empress Theodora restored the Empire to Orthodoxy, he was freed and elevated to Patriarch of Constantinople. On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we commemorate the restoration of the Holy Icons by Theodora and Methodios. Despite many attacks by heretics while he was Patriarch, he served faithfully and reposed in peace.

While our dear Gianna is returning from her Greece trip, we have a reissue of our Great Women Artists episode from March of 2021 in celebration of Women's History Month. In this week's episode, we are highlighting and celebrating five iconic women that we haven't talked about on the pod yet: Shirin Neshat, Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, Juliana Huxtable, Empress Theodora, and Rokudenashiko.Check out this episode of the Great Women Artists podcast where Katy Hessel interviews Shirin Neshat.https://www.thegreatwomenartists.com For 30% off your first three months at Zencastr, go to zencastr.com/pricing and enter promo code artpoptalk0.To receive 2 months of fee-free investing from Vinovest, go to zen.ai/artpoptalk.For all of Artpop Talk's resources, click HERE.

Chariot racing was a dangerous and violent sport at the best of times, but on 13th January, 532, a hooligan-led protest at the Hippodrome of Constantinople - known as ‘the Nika rebellion' - ultimately lead to over 30,000 deaths and the destruction of half the City. Upon hearing his wife urge him that ‘royalty is a good burial shroud', the Emperor Justinian reportedly decided to slaughter his own people to maintain his position of power. Yet, despite this, he was ultimately deemed to have earned his epithet: ‘The Great'. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly unearth the tradition of ‘curse tablets'; explain why Empress Theodora switched allegiances from the ‘greens' to the ‘blues'; and reveal how a eunuch wielding gold coins helped to stabilise the Byzantine empire…Further Reading:‘Overview of the Nika Revolt' (ThoughtCo, 2019): https://www.thoughtco.com/the-nika-revolt-1788557Deadly Moments in History - The Nika Riots (Invicta, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm9mscL2qHU‘12 Historic Little Known Rebellions with Tragic and Bloody Ends' (History Collection, 2017): https://historycollection.com/12-historic-little-known-rebellions-tragic-bloody-ends/9/For bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/RetrospectorsWe'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/RetrospectorsThe Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On 1 April 527 AD, an extraordinary event unfolded in the ancient city of Constantinople — known to the modern world as Instanbul. A 37 year old woman — a former actress and prostitute dressed in the imperial regalia of Rome — was crowned as empress of Byzantium — the Eastern branch and largest remnant […]

On 1 April 527 AD, an extraordinary event unfolded in the ancient city of Constantinople -- known to the modern world as Instanbul. A 37 year old woman -- a former actress and prostitute dressed in the imperial regalia of Rome -- was crowned as empress of Byzantium -- 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 and 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 empress. Her early life, her struggles and to separate the fact from the fiction. This is an original production brought to you by Daniel Mainwaring's Fascinating People, Fascinating Places Podcast. For more information visit the website www.DanielMainwaring.com Additional material provided by Dorsey Jackson - https://youtu.be/DxFyjYpKUVE of Dorsey Jackson Global at Compound City Covert art is a bust of Emperor Caligula, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek made by Louis Le Grand in March 2007 Made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-SA 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en). Audio effects and music Pixabay --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/daniel-mainwaring5/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/daniel-mainwaring5/support

“I am less interested in showing that the Medieval world was modern, than in showing how Medieval, in many ways, the modern world is.” That's Roland Betancourt, my guest today and a truly fascinating scholar of history, art, theology, sex and gender, liturgy and much more. We discuss his book Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages, including the history of the later Roman Empire, the “slut shaming” of Empress Theodora, the importance, today as much as 1,500 year ago of the Hagia Sophia, the fascinating lives and deaths of trans monks, the significance of Mary's consent to be the Mother of Christ, the messiness and ambiguity of human life, frailty and identity. (Note that there's inevitably some pretty adult content in this episode). Dialogues will be back on Jan 10th, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, Happy Holidays to all.  Roland Betancourt  Roland Betancourt is Professor of Art History at the University of California, Irvine. In the 2016-2017 academic year, he was the Elizabeth and J. Richardson Dilworth Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. See his faculty page here. We mostly discuss his book Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages) (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020)  More Betancourt Performing the Gospels in Byzantium: Sight, Sound, and Space in the Divine Liturgy (Cambridge University Press, 2021) See his edited volume Byzantium/Modernism: The Byzantine as Method in Modernity (Leiden: Brill, 2015). Also Sight, Touch, and Imagination in Byzantium (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018) "Why Sight Is Not Touch: Reconsidering the Tactility of Vision in Byzantium," Dumbarton Oaks Papers 70 (December 2016): 1-23. "Faltering Images: Failure and Error in Byzantine Lectionaries," Word & Image 32:1 (2016): 1-20. The Dialogues Team  Creator: Richard Reeves Artwork: George Vaughan Thomas Tech Support: Cameron Hauver-Reeves Music: "Remember" by Bencoolen (thanks for the permission, guys!)

Mackenzie Amara, Jungian analyst and psyche surfer, joins me to talk about primary producers, Empress Theodora, and our collective shadow.Want to help Cassettes grow? Become a patron at patreon.com/cassettespodcast and get full-length episodes with double the content, 48 hours early.Follow Cassettes on...Instagram: @cassettespodcastTwitter: @cassettes_podSpecial thanks to Chris Maier, who did the music. Find him here.GUEST LINKSMackenzie's Instagram: @theinkedshrinkMackenzie's Twitter: @theinkedshrinkMackenzie's website: mackenzieamara.comThe Trauma of Mystical Experience (essay)To learn from a psychedelic trip, explore the dreams that follow (essay)THINGS WE MENTIONEDShadowPersonaPsychological Types, Carl JungEmpress Theodora had huge nutsHeraclitus' FragmentsDepth Psychology and a New Ethic (Goodreads), Erich NeumannRichard Powers (novelist)Abraham Maslow and Self-Actualization (Youtube)★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

He was born to wealthy parents in Syracuse of Sicily. He entered monastic life and in time became a priest in the service of Patriarch Nikephoros. Because of his great and well-known zeal for the holy icons, he was cruelly persecuted by a succession of iconoclast emperors. Around 815, he was sent as an ambassador to Rome on behalf of the Patriarch, who had been exiled by the Emperor Leo the Armenian. When he returned to Constantinople upon Leo's death, he was immediately exiled and imprisoned by Leo's successor, Michael the Stutterer. Upon Michael's death he was freed for a short time, but soon the Emperor Theophilus had him exiled to an island where, says the Prologue, "he spent seven years in prison with two common robbers, in damp conditions, without light and without sufficient food, as if in a grave." When the pious Empress Theodora restored the Empire to Orthodoxy, he was freed and elevated to Patriarch of Constantinople. On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we commemorate the restoration of the Holy Icons by Theodora and Methodios. Despite many attacks by heretics while he was Patriarch, he served faithfully and reposed in peace.

He was born in 775 in Cappadocia. He became abbot of the Monastery of Dalmatus, where he fervently defended the icons against the attacks of the Emperor Leo the Armenian. He was exiled twice, first by Leo, then by Theophilus, but was finally freed by the Empress Theodora and again became abbot of the monastery, where he served until his repose.

He was born in 775 in Cappadocia. He became abbot of the Monastery of Dalmatus, where he fervently defended the icons against the attacks of the Emperor Leo the Armenian. He was exiled twice, first by Leo, then by Theophilus, but was finally freed by the Empress Theodora and again became abbot of the monastery, where he served until his repose.

He was born to wealthy parents in Syracuse of Sicily. He entered monastic life and in time became a priest in the service of Patriarch Nikephoros. Because of his great and well-known zeal for the holy icons, he was cruelly persecuted by a succession of iconoclast emperors. Around 815, he was sent as an ambassador to Rome on behalf of the Patriarch, who had been exiled by the Emperor Leo the Armenian. When he returned to Constantinople upon Leo's death, he was immediately exiled and imprisoned by Leo's successor, Michael the Stutterer. Upon Michael's death he was freed for a short time, but soon the Emperor Theophilus had him exiled to an island where, says the Prologue, "he spent seven years in prison with two common robbers, in damp conditions, without light and without sufficient food, as if in a grave." When the pious Empress Theodora restored the Empire to Orthodoxy, he was freed and elevated to Patriarch of Constantinople. On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we commemorate the restoration of the Holy Icons by Theodora and Methodios. Despite many attacks by heretics while he was Patriarch, he served faithfully and reposed in peace.

In this episode we discuss the life of Empress Theodora from SW to one of the most powerful women in the world. We discuss her life and impact on women's rights in celebration of Women's History Month.

Happy International Women’s Day! In this week's episode, we are highlighting and celebrating five iconic women that we haven’t talked about on the pod yet: Shirin Neshat, Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, Juliana Huxtable, Empress Theodora, and Rokudenashiko. Check out this episode of the Great Women Artists podcast where Katy Hessel interviews Shirin Neshat.https://www.thegreatwomenartists.com

Oh yes it's Ladies' Night And the Feelin's Right!C'mon, you know you sang along! But for real, this episode discusses some Excellent Ladies who crossed paths with the religious and political establishments of their days. Deliberately choosing women who were not canonized in the Western Church, we narrowed down our selections to some of the most impressive women in history.Lucrezia Borgia. Eleanor d'Acquitaine. Cousin Queens Elizabeth and Mary. Theodora and Marozia Theophylact. Empress Theodora. The Pontifical Commission on Birth Control. From actresses and courtesans to ruthless monarchs or contemporary wives and mothers, these are women who stood up and refused to be passive objects to the people that surrounded them. They left profound and lasting impacts on Western history and culture, and today we tell you a bit of their story.

For this week's Badass Women of History, Kendra and Gillian have been practicing their bear dancing moves and mosaic making skills as they examine the remarkable and influential life of Empress Theodora - co-ruler of the Byzantine Empire, and explore what she can teach us about creating our best lives and not letting social constraints get in our way. #byzantines #byzantineempire #justinian #bwoh Follow us on Instagram: @badasswomanofhistory and Facebook: @BWoHPodcast Badass Women of History The Podcast is produced by Industrial Sound & Magic.

In Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, 2020), Roland Betancourt reveals the fascinating, little-examined conversations in medieval thought and visual culture around matters of sexual and reproductive consent, bullying and slut-shaming, homosocial and homoerotic relationships, trans and nonbinary gender identities, and the depiction of racialized minorities. Betancourt explores these issues in the context of the Byzantine Empire, using sources from late antiquity and early Christianity up to the early modern period. Highlighting nuanced and strikingly modern approaches by medieval writers, philosophers, theologians, and doctors, the book offers a new history of gender, sexuality, and race. Weaving together art, literature, and an impressive array of texts, Betancourt investigates depictions of sexual consent in images of the Virgin Mary, tactics of sexual shaming in the story of Empress Theodora, narratives of transgender monks, portrayals of same-gender desire in images of the Doubting Thomas, and stereotypes of gender and ethnicity in representations of the Ethiopian Eunuch. He also gathers evidence from medical manuals detailing everything from surgical practices for late terminations of pregnancy to a host of procedures used to affirm a person's gender. Showing how understandings of gender, sexuality, and race have long been enmeshed, Byzantine Intersectionality offers a groundbreaking look at the culture of the medieval world.  Allison Leigh is Assistant Professor of Art History and the SLEMCO/LEQSF Regents Endowed Professor in Art & Architecture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her research explores European and Russian art of the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, 2020), Roland Betancourt reveals the fascinating, little-examined conversations in medieval thought and visual culture around matters of sexual and reproductive consent, bullying and slut-shaming, homosocial and homoerotic relationships, trans and nonbinary gender identities, and the depiction of racialized minorities. Betancourt explores these issues in the context of the Byzantine Empire, using sources from late antiquity and early Christianity up to the early modern period. Highlighting nuanced and strikingly modern approaches by medieval writers, philosophers, theologians, and doctors, the book offers a new history of gender, sexuality, and race. Weaving together art, literature, and an impressive array of texts, Betancourt investigates depictions of sexual consent in images of the Virgin Mary, tactics of sexual shaming in the story of Empress Theodora, narratives of transgender monks, portrayals of same-gender desire in images of the Doubting Thomas, and stereotypes of gender and ethnicity in representations of the Ethiopian Eunuch. He also gathers evidence from medical manuals detailing everything from surgical practices for late terminations of pregnancy to a host of procedures used to affirm a person’s gender. Showing how understandings of gender, sexuality, and race have long been enmeshed, Byzantine Intersectionality offers a groundbreaking look at the culture of the medieval world.  Allison Leigh is Assistant Professor of Art History and the SLEMCO/LEQSF Regents Endowed Professor in Art & Architecture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her research explores European and Russian art of the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, 2020), Roland Betancourt reveals the fascinating, little-examined conversations in medieval thought and visual culture around matters of sexual and reproductive consent, bullying and slut-shaming, homosocial and homoerotic relationships, trans and nonbinary gender identities, and the depiction of racialized minorities. Betancourt explores these issues in the context of the Byzantine Empire, using sources from late antiquity and early Christianity up to the early modern period. Highlighting nuanced and strikingly modern approaches by medieval writers, philosophers, theologians, and doctors, the book offers a new history of gender, sexuality, and race. Weaving together art, literature, and an impressive array of texts, Betancourt investigates depictions of sexual consent in images of the Virgin Mary, tactics of sexual shaming in the story of Empress Theodora, narratives of transgender monks, portrayals of same-gender desire in images of the Doubting Thomas, and stereotypes of gender and ethnicity in representations of the Ethiopian Eunuch. He also gathers evidence from medical manuals detailing everything from surgical practices for late terminations of pregnancy to a host of procedures used to affirm a person’s gender. Showing how understandings of gender, sexuality, and race have long been enmeshed, Byzantine Intersectionality offers a groundbreaking look at the culture of the medieval world.  Allison Leigh is Assistant Professor of Art History and the SLEMCO/LEQSF Regents Endowed Professor in Art & Architecture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her research explores European and Russian art of the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, 2020), Roland Betancourt reveals the fascinating, little-examined conversations in medieval thought and visual culture around matters of sexual and reproductive consent, bullying and slut-shaming, homosocial and homoerotic relationships, trans and nonbinary gender identities, and the depiction of racialized minorities. Betancourt explores these issues in the context of the Byzantine Empire, using sources from late antiquity and early Christianity up to the early modern period. Highlighting nuanced and strikingly modern approaches by medieval writers, philosophers, theologians, and doctors, the book offers a new history of gender, sexuality, and race. Weaving together art, literature, and an impressive array of texts, Betancourt investigates depictions of sexual consent in images of the Virgin Mary, tactics of sexual shaming in the story of Empress Theodora, narratives of transgender monks, portrayals of same-gender desire in images of the Doubting Thomas, and stereotypes of gender and ethnicity in representations of the Ethiopian Eunuch. He also gathers evidence from medical manuals detailing everything from surgical practices for late terminations of pregnancy to a host of procedures used to affirm a person's gender. Showing how understandings of gender, sexuality, and race have long been enmeshed, Byzantine Intersectionality offers a groundbreaking look at the culture of the medieval world.  Allison Leigh is Assistant Professor of Art History and the SLEMCO/LEQSF Regents Endowed Professor in Art & Architecture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her research explores European and Russian art of the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries.

In Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, 2020), Roland Betancourt reveals the fascinating, little-examined conversations in medieval thought and visual culture around matters of sexual and reproductive consent, bullying and slut-shaming, homosocial and homoerotic relationships, trans and nonbinary gender identities, and the depiction of racialized minorities. Betancourt explores these issues in the context of the Byzantine Empire, using sources from late antiquity and early Christianity up to the early modern period. Highlighting nuanced and strikingly modern approaches by medieval writers, philosophers, theologians, and doctors, the book offers a new history of gender, sexuality, and race. Weaving together art, literature, and an impressive array of texts, Betancourt investigates depictions of sexual consent in images of the Virgin Mary, tactics of sexual shaming in the story of Empress Theodora, narratives of transgender monks, portrayals of same-gender desire in images of the Doubting Thomas, and stereotypes of gender and ethnicity in representations of the Ethiopian Eunuch. He also gathers evidence from medical manuals detailing everything from surgical practices for late terminations of pregnancy to a host of procedures used to affirm a person’s gender. Showing how understandings of gender, sexuality, and race have long been enmeshed, Byzantine Intersectionality offers a groundbreaking look at the culture of the medieval world.  Allison Leigh is Assistant Professor of Art History and the SLEMCO/LEQSF Regents Endowed Professor in Art & Architecture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her research explores European and Russian art of the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries.

In Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, 2020), Roland Betancourt reveals the fascinating, little-examined conversations in medieval thought and visual culture around matters of sexual and reproductive consent, bullying and slut-shaming, homosocial and homoerotic relationships, trans and nonbinary gender identities, and the depiction of racialized minorities. Betancourt explores these issues in the context of the Byzantine Empire, using sources from late antiquity and early Christianity up to the early modern period. Highlighting nuanced and strikingly modern approaches by medieval writers, philosophers, theologians, and doctors, the book offers a new history of gender, sexuality, and race. Weaving together art, literature, and an impressive array of texts, Betancourt investigates depictions of sexual consent in images of the Virgin Mary, tactics of sexual shaming in the story of Empress Theodora, narratives of transgender monks, portrayals of same-gender desire in images of the Doubting Thomas, and stereotypes of gender and ethnicity in representations of the Ethiopian Eunuch. He also gathers evidence from medical manuals detailing everything from surgical practices for late terminations of pregnancy to a host of procedures used to affirm a person’s gender. Showing how understandings of gender, sexuality, and race have long been enmeshed, Byzantine Intersectionality offers a groundbreaking look at the culture of the medieval world.  Allison Leigh is Assistant Professor of Art History and the SLEMCO/LEQSF Regents Endowed Professor in Art & Architecture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her research explores European and Russian art of the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, 2020), Roland Betancourt reveals the fascinating, little-examined conversations in medieval thought and visual culture around matters of sexual and reproductive consent, bullying and slut-shaming, homosocial and homoerotic relationships, trans and nonbinary gender identities, and the depiction of racialized minorities. Betancourt explores these issues in the context of the Byzantine Empire, using sources from late antiquity and early Christianity up to the early modern period. Highlighting nuanced and strikingly modern approaches by medieval writers, philosophers, theologians, and doctors, the book offers a new history of gender, sexuality, and race. Weaving together art, literature, and an impressive array of texts, Betancourt investigates depictions of sexual consent in images of the Virgin Mary, tactics of sexual shaming in the story of Empress Theodora, narratives of transgender monks, portrayals of same-gender desire in images of the Doubting Thomas, and stereotypes of gender and ethnicity in representations of the Ethiopian Eunuch. He also gathers evidence from medical manuals detailing everything from surgical practices for late terminations of pregnancy to a host of procedures used to affirm a person’s gender. Showing how understandings of gender, sexuality, and race have long been enmeshed, Byzantine Intersectionality offers a groundbreaking look at the culture of the medieval world.  Allison Leigh is Assistant Professor of Art History and the SLEMCO/LEQSF Regents Endowed Professor in Art & Architecture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her research explores European and Russian art of the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, 2020), Roland Betancourt reveals the fascinating, little-examined conversations in medieval thought and visual culture around matters of sexual and reproductive consent, bullying and slut-shaming, homosocial and homoerotic relationships, trans and nonbinary gender identities, and the depiction of racialized minorities. Betancourt explores these issues in the context of the Byzantine Empire, using sources from late antiquity and early Christianity up to the early modern period. Highlighting nuanced and strikingly modern approaches by medieval writers, philosophers, theologians, and doctors, the book offers a new history of gender, sexuality, and race. Weaving together art, literature, and an impressive array of texts, Betancourt investigates depictions of sexual consent in images of the Virgin Mary, tactics of sexual shaming in the story of Empress Theodora, narratives of transgender monks, portrayals of same-gender desire in images of the Doubting Thomas, and stereotypes of gender and ethnicity in representations of the Ethiopian Eunuch. He also gathers evidence from medical manuals detailing everything from surgical practices for late terminations of pregnancy to a host of procedures used to affirm a person’s gender. Showing how understandings of gender, sexuality, and race have long been enmeshed, Byzantine Intersectionality offers a groundbreaking look at the culture of the medieval world.  Allison Leigh is Assistant Professor of Art History and the SLEMCO/LEQSF Regents Endowed Professor in Art & Architecture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her research explores European and Russian art of the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, 2020), Roland Betancourt reveals the fascinating, little-examined conversations in medieval thought and visual culture around matters of sexual and reproductive consent, bullying and slut-shaming, homosocial and homoerotic relationships, trans and nonbinary gender identities, and the depiction of racialized minorities. Betancourt explores these issues in the context of the Byzantine Empire, using sources from late antiquity and early Christianity up to the early modern period. Highlighting nuanced and strikingly modern approaches by medieval writers, philosophers, theologians, and doctors, the book offers a new history of gender, sexuality, and race. Weaving together art, literature, and an impressive array of texts, Betancourt investigates depictions of sexual consent in images of the Virgin Mary, tactics of sexual shaming in the story of Empress Theodora, narratives of transgender monks, portrayals of same-gender desire in images of the Doubting Thomas, and stereotypes of gender and ethnicity in representations of the Ethiopian Eunuch. He also gathers evidence from medical manuals detailing everything from surgical practices for late terminations of pregnancy to a host of procedures used to affirm a person’s gender. Showing how understandings of gender, sexuality, and race have long been enmeshed, Byzantine Intersectionality offers a groundbreaking look at the culture of the medieval world.  Allison Leigh is Assistant Professor of Art History and the SLEMCO/LEQSF Regents Endowed Professor in Art & Architecture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her research explores European and Russian art of the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, 2020), Roland Betancourt reveals the fascinating, little-examined conversations in medieval thought and visual culture around matters of sexual and reproductive consent, bullying and slut-shaming, homosocial and homoerotic relationships, trans and nonbinary gender identities, and the depiction of racialized minorities. Betancourt explores these issues in the context of the Byzantine Empire, using sources from late antiquity and early Christianity up to the early modern period. Highlighting nuanced and strikingly modern approaches by medieval writers, philosophers, theologians, and doctors, the book offers a new history of gender, sexuality, and race. Weaving together art, literature, and an impressive array of texts, Betancourt investigates depictions of sexual consent in images of the Virgin Mary, tactics of sexual shaming in the story of Empress Theodora, narratives of transgender monks, portrayals of same-gender desire in images of the Doubting Thomas, and stereotypes of gender and ethnicity in representations of the Ethiopian Eunuch. He also gathers evidence from medical manuals detailing everything from surgical practices for late terminations of pregnancy to a host of procedures used to affirm a person’s gender. Showing how understandings of gender, sexuality, and race have long been enmeshed, Byzantine Intersectionality offers a groundbreaking look at the culture of the medieval world.  Allison Leigh is Assistant Professor of Art History and the SLEMCO/LEQSF Regents Endowed Professor in Art & Architecture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her research explores European and Russian art of the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, 2020), Roland Betancourt reveals the fascinating, little-examined conversations in medieval thought and visual culture around matters of sexual and reproductive consent, bullying and slut-shaming, homosocial and homoerotic relationships, trans and nonbinary gender identities, and the depiction of racialized minorities. Betancourt explores these issues in the context of the Byzantine Empire, using sources from late antiquity and early Christianity up to the early modern period. Highlighting nuanced and strikingly modern approaches by medieval writers, philosophers, theologians, and doctors, the book offers a new history of gender, sexuality, and race. Weaving together art, literature, and an impressive array of texts, Betancourt investigates depictions of sexual consent in images of the Virgin Mary, tactics of sexual shaming in the story of Empress Theodora, narratives of transgender monks, portrayals of same-gender desire in images of the Doubting Thomas, and stereotypes of gender and ethnicity in representations of the Ethiopian Eunuch. He also gathers evidence from medical manuals detailing everything from surgical practices for late terminations of pregnancy to a host of procedures used to affirm a person’s gender. Showing how understandings of gender, sexuality, and race have long been enmeshed, Byzantine Intersectionality offers a groundbreaking look at the culture of the medieval world.  Allison Leigh is Assistant Professor of Art History and the SLEMCO/LEQSF Regents Endowed Professor in Art & Architecture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her research explores European and Russian art of the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

WARNING> An early Podcast... skip to Ep. 5 [next episode]This is Episode 4. Empress Theodora of the Romans. Some origin stories are so interesting that you can't really avoid retelling them. Imagine a pheasant, just another common farm labourer who goes on to become Roman Emperor. Or a imagine pheasant-turned soldier who becomes Emperor. Or even a slave who becomes Empress? Well, these actually happened. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Patrick Hotle a decorated and award winning historian and professor discusses the amazing and important history of the Byzantine Empire and the ancient city of Constantinople. He explains the division of the Roman Empire under Emperor Diocletian and establishment of the city of Constantinople by Emperor Constantine. The professor emphasizes the geographic and economic importance of the location of the Byzantine capital. The concept of "Nova Roma" and the difference between the Eastern and Western Roman Empires are emphasized. Hotle details the reign of Emperor Justinian including his territorial ambitions, building projects, and the establishment of the Justinian Code. He tells of General Belisarius's military conquests and his role in defeating the Nika Rebellion. The Empress Theodora, her history and her importance to Justinian are the focus of the second half of the discussion. Dr. Hotle explains the impact a divided empire had on Christianity, and how we are in debt to the Byzantines for preserving Greco-Roman culture. He completes the conversation with an description of the Hagia Sophia, the rise of Islam in the region, and the eventual fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. Istanbul, not Constantinople remains a cultural hub for Christians and Muslims alike.HOST: Rob MellonFEATURED BREW: Schnickelfritz Bavarian-Style Weissbier Ale (Urban Chestnut Brewing Company, St. Louis, MissouriMUSIC: Bones Fork

Far Away Bird: Return to Theodora with author Douglas A. BurtonIf you thought our favourite Texan was Beyonce, BOY do we have NEWS for YOU. You’re wrong: it’s Douglas Burton, the author of Far Away Bird - a narrative retelling of the life of Empress Theodora, from child to crown. And wow, is the book a wild ride. Today, we sat down with Doug to chat about Empress Theo and the many ways she shaped modern day life for all of us. We also discussed the way we tell stories about women, and how we tell stories of people whose lived experiences and cultural backgrounds are different to our own. Get your ears around it.Tell us more! Find out more about Doug here. You can pick up a hard copy of the book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, Books-a-Million, and Powells.Or grab it on your digital device through Kindle or B&N Nook.More of a listener? That’s fair - this is a podcast after all! Far Away Bird is also available as an audiobook Audible, Google Play, Amazon, Indiebound, Kobo and Walmart. About this podcast: Fierce Females of History is a dive into the stories of awesome women through history you should know about. A quick disclaimer: we’re journalists, not historians, but we do love our history. Tune in every week as one of our three hosts shares the story of one woman. Hosts: Talissa Bazaz (@talissabazaz)Erin Ramsay (@erin_ramsay)Lucy Dean (@lucyintheskywithcarbon)Follow us: Fierce Females of History is on Instagram: @fiercefemalespodcastGet in touch:Want to discuss history, wine, the Hulk’s penis or geese? Drop us a line here: fiercefemalesofhistory@gmail.comTheme music: Get Lo - LynneMusichttps://www.neosounds.com/songs/15504 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

He was born to wealthy parents in Syracuse of Sicily. He entered monastic life and in time became a priest in the service of Patriarch Nikephoros. Because of his great and well-known zeal for the holy icons, he was cruelly persecuted by a succession of iconoclast emperors. Around 815, he was sent as an ambassador to Rome on behalf of the Patriarch, who had been exiled by the Emperor Leo the Armenian. When he returned to Constantinople upon Leo's death, he was immediately exiled and imprisoned by Leo's successor, Michael the Stutterer. Upon Michael's death he was freed for a short time, but soon the Emperor Theophilus had him exiled to an island where, says the Prologue, "he spent seven years in prison with two common robbers, in damp conditions, without light and without sufficient food, as if in a grave." When the pious Empress Theodora restored the Empire to Orthodoxy, he was freed and elevated to Patriarch of Constantinople. On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we commemorate the restoration of the Holy Icons by Theodora and Methodios. Despite many attacks by heretics while he was Patriarch, he served faithfully and reposed in peace.

This episode best friends Megan and Milena cover three pioneers of 20th century vaccinations & sex worker, ruler, and art patron – Empress Theodora of the Byzantine Empire Dr. Leila Denmark | Pearl Kendrick Grace | Eldering Loney Gordon This episode Milena goes heavy on the science of bacteria that can kill us. Thankfully for […] The post Ep. 26 Sacrificing Orphans for Science & How to Thank Your Bear Trainer appeared first on My Favorite Feminists.

Empress Theodora: You say career progression, I say Empress Theodora. This multi-talented Byzantine ruler began her career by performing a pretty... unique set on stage with a goose and ended up ruling the Eastern Roman Empire with her husband. Oh, and she learnt how to weave and reform outdated concepts of marriage in the process. Eat your heart out, LinkedIn lovers.About this podcast: Fierce Females of History is a dive into the stories of awesome women through history you should know about. A quick disclaimer: we’re journalists, not historians, but we do love our history. Tune in every week as one of our three hosts shares the story of one woman. Hosts: Talissa Bazaz (@talissabazaz)Erin Ramsay (@erin_ramsay)Lucy Dean (@lucyintheskywithcarbon)Follow us: Fierce Females of History is on Instagram: @fiercefemalespodcastGet in touch:Want to discuss history, wine, the Hulk’s penis or geese? Drop us a line here: fiercefemalesofhistory@gmail.comTheme music: Get Lo - LynneMusichttps://www.neosounds.com/songs/15504Want to know more about Empress Theodora? We get it. That’s a serious CV she’s got. Here’s where Talissa got her info. Check out: 100 Nasty Women of History by Hannah JewellThis article published in the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/10/theodora-empress-from-the-brothelAnd this work by Mark Cartwright:https://www.ancient.eu/Empress_Theodora/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"May I never be deprived of this purple robe, and may I never see the day when those who meet me do not call me empress." So spoke Theodora, Empress of Rome. Born into the lowest class of society, Theodora rose to the pinnacle of the Byzantine Empire. But like many women who demand and receive power, her journey was a contentious one. Join Ash and Sarah as they explore the life of this controversial figure who was sanctified by one part of the Christian Church while being crowned the succubus of hell by others. There are also quite a few sexy bits - even involving geese. Bibliography Browning, R. (1987). Justinian and Theodora (Rev. ed.). London: Thames and Hudson. Evans, J. (2002). The Empress Theodora : Partner of Justinian. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press. Procopius, and Atwater, Richard. Secret History (1961). Print. Theis, L., Mullett, M., Grünbart, M., Fingarova, G., & Savage, M. (2014). Female founders in Byzantium and beyond (Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte ; Bd. 60/61). Köln ; Weimar ; Wien. Cesaretti, P. (2004). Theodora : Empress of Byzantium. New York: Vendome Press. Andrews, R. (2004). Theodora: Empress of Byzantium. Library Journal, 129(10), 148.

He was born to wealthy parents in Syracuse of Sicily. He entered monastic life and in time became a priest in the service of Patriarch Nikephoros. Because of his great and well-known zeal for the holy icons, he was cruelly persecuted by a succession of iconoclast emperors. Around 815, he was sent as an ambassador to Rome on behalf of the Patriarch, who had been exiled by the Emperor Leo the Armenian. When he returned to Constantinople upon Leo's death, he was immediately exiled and imprisoned by Leo's successor, Michael the Stutterer. Upon Michael's death he was freed for a short time, but soon the Emperor Theophilus had him exiled to an island where, says the Prologue, "he spent seven years in prison with two common robbers, in damp conditions, without light and without sufficient food, as if in a grave." When the pious Empress Theodora restored the Empire to Orthodoxy, he was freed and elevated to Patriarch of Constantinople. On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we commemorate the restoration of the Holy Icons by Theodora and Methodios. Despite many attacks by heretics while he was Patriarch, he served faithfully and reposed in peace.

Caroline talks about the lovers and literature of George Sand. Fiona does Empress Theodora of the Byzantine Empire. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

On this day, we remember how Empress Theodora restored the icons of Hagia Sophia in 842. We remember Melchior Klesl, b. 1552. The reading is a quote Jacques Ellul, "Holy Troublemakers." We’re a part of 1517 Podcasts, a network of shows dedicated to delivering Christ-centered content. Our podcasts cover a multitude of content, from Christian doctrine, apologetics, cultural engagement, and powerful preaching. Support the work of 1517 today.

Anna Cain Bianco introduces us to Theodora, sex worker, actor, and Empress of Byzantium Anna Cain Bianco is a NYC based comedian and museum consultant. You can catch her at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, doing standup around the city, or on Twitter @annacainbianco.

He was born to wealthy parents in Syracuse of Sicily. He entered monastic life and in time became a priest in the service of Patriarch Nikephoros. Because of his great and well-known zeal for the holy icons, he was cruelly persecuted by a succession of iconoclast emperors. Around 815, he was sent as an ambassador to Rome on behalf of the Patriarch, who had been exiled by the Emperor Leo the Armenian. When he returned to Constantinople upon Leo's death, he was immediately exiled and imprisoned by Leo's successor, Michael the Stutterer. Upon Michael's death he was freed for a short time, but soon the Emperor Theophilus had him exiled to an island where, says the Prologue, "he spent seven years in prison with two common robbers, in damp conditions, without light and without sufficient food, as if in a grave." When the pious Empress Theodora restored the Empire to Orthodoxy, he was freed and elevated to Patriarch of Constantinople. On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we commemorate the restoration of the Holy Icons by Theodora and Methodios. Despite many attacks by heretics while he was Patriarch, he served faithfully and reposed in peace.

Fetish World Podcast - Opulent Imperial Bedchamber This week Ivan and Irony chat about Empress Theodora and the Origin of Women’s Rights. https://douglasaburton.com/empress-theodora-and-the-origin-of-womens-rights/?fbclid=IwAR09EmvHiMsohA40YBOijpH7el-iotVGLJ1Pbp3PIznmzK4-JfhSIy6IaEw

Maura and Chloé discuss Empress Theodora.

He was born to wealthy parents in Syracuse of Sicily. He entered monastic life and in time became a priest in the service of Patriarch Nikephoros. Because of his great and well-known zeal for the holy icons, he was cruelly persecuted by a succession of iconoclast emperors. Around 815, he was sent as an ambassador to Rome on behalf of the Patriarch, who had been exiled by the Emperor Leo the Armenian. When he returned to Constantinople upon Leo's death, he was immediately exiled and imprisoned by Leo's successor, Michael the Stutterer. Upon Michael's death he was freed for a short time, but soon the Emperor Theophilus had him exiled to an island where, says the Prologue, "he spent seven years in prison with two common robbers, in damp conditions, without light and without sufficient food, as if in a grave." When the pious Empress Theodora restored the Empire to Orthodoxy, he was freed and elevated to Patriarch of Constantinople. On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we commemorate the restoration of the Holy Icons by Theodora and Methodios. Despite many attacks by heretics while he was Patriarch, he served faithfully and reposed in peace.

Zero to Hero. Just like that! The true story comedy podcast of the next generation. www.digitaltipjar.com/wetalkaboutdeadpeople www.patreon.com/wetalkaboutdeadpeople www.soundcloud.com/wetalkaboutdeadpeople www.facebook.com/wetalkaboutdeadpeople www.twitter.com/wtadppodcast https://open.spotify.com/show/2OJRFxh9MGNb9AhA4JuOeX https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/we-talk-about-dead-people/id1282606749?mt=2

"Empress Theodora," from Royal Saints: A coloring book with stories of saintly royalty throughout the history of Christianity (Draw Near Designs). Saints drawn by Marian Adams. Stories & Borders by Abigail Holt. Layout by Caroline Gann.

This week, we're pulling one from the vaults as Max and Allison discuss two women who changed the course of history. The first, a girl born to the bear keeper of Constantinople, climbed her way up to the pinnacle of society and became one of the most influential women in the history of the world; the second, a mythological figure from the dawn of creation, became the first demon when she refused to succumb to man: The Empress Theodora and Lilith. / This episode originally aired on April 4, 2016. / Intro and Ad Music provided by BenSound.com / Logo Art by Lauren Cierzan / Join the Conversation! thebitcheryofhistory.com / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Max: @QuirkyTitle Allison: @AHPowell91 / The Team: Janette Danielson (@Neddie94), Sydney Tannenbaum (@sydneyxmastree), and Jess Lee (@jessmlee).

Today, Anna takes the lead with the story of the eunuch general Narses! In this episode, we get an overview of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora, and then we see Narses make his first appearance in quelling the infamous Nika Riots. Finally, he heads to Italy to reconquer Rome. Be sure to support us on Patreon at www.patreon.com/deadideaspod to get your portrait drawn! Music and graphic design by Rachel Westhoff. Maps, pics, references and more at www.deadideas.net.

The idea of a powerful woman in the Middle Ages seems like an oxymoron. Females in this time are imagined to be damsels in distress, trapped in a high tower, and waiting for knights to rescue them, all while wearing traffic-cones for a hat. After rescue, their lives improved little. Their career choices were to be either a docile queen, housewife, or be burned at the stake for witchcraft. But what if this image of medieval women is a complete fiction? It turns out that it is. Powerful female rulers fill the Middle Ages. Anglo-Saxon queen Aethelflaed personally led armies into direct combat with Vikings in the 900s and saved England from foreign invasion. Byzantine Empress Theodora kept the empire from falling apart during the Nika Revolts and stopped her husband Justinian from fleeing Constantinople. Catherine of Siena almost single-handedly restored the papacy to Rome in the 1300s and navigated the brutal and male-dominated world of Italian politics.In this episode, part 1 of a 3-part series, I look at the lives of three extraordinarily powerful women in the Middle Ages. In particular I look at the lives of Empress Theodora of Byzantium, Aethelflaed of the Mercians (a proto-English kingdom), and Eleanor of Aquitaine, the most powerful landholder in Europe in the 12th century. We will explore how they managed to ascend the throne, what made their accomplishments so notable, and the impact they had on their respective societies after their deaths.

Empress Theodora began a prostitute in a brothel in the Eastern Roman Empire, but when she began performing on the stage, she quickly caught the eye of the Emperor, and he made her his co-regent.  She ruled so well she was made into a saint after she died.  Talk about a glow up! 

Allison Hendrick and Kimberlee Kelly discuss the origin of Valentine's Day, traditions from around the world, and two women who married for love when it was practically unheard of: Princess Mary Tudor and Empress Theodora.

Empress Theodora of the Byzantine Empire was a force to be reckoned with. Endlessly fascinating. So, pour yourself a sangria and listen as we dive into her story! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/queenshistorypodcast/support

This episode of CS is, “Crazy Stuff” because . . . we'll you'll see as we get into it.A short while back, we took at look at the Iconoclast Controversy that took place in the Eastern, Greek Orthodox church during the 8th & 9th Cs.While we understand the basic point of controversy between the icon-smashers, called iconoclasts, and the icon-supporters, the iconodules; the theology the iconodules used to support the on-going use of icons is somewhat complex.The iconoclasts considered the veneration of religious images as simple idolatry. The iconodules developed a theology that not only allowed, it encouraged the use of icons while avoiding the charge of idolatry. They said such images were to be respected; venerated even – but not worshiped. Though, for all practical purposes, in the minds of most worshipers, there was no real difference between veneration & the adoration of worship.The acceptance of icons as intrinsic to worship marked the entrance of a decidedly mystical slant that entered the Orthodox Church at this time, and has remained ever since. All of this was seen in the career of an author now known as PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS the Areopagite. He's called Pseudo-Dionysius because while we know his writings were produced in the early 6th C in Syria, they claim to have been written by the 1st C Dionysius mentioned in Acts 17 who came to faith when Paul preached on the Mars Hill in Athens.Pseudo-Dionysius' most famous works were titled The Divine Names, Mystical Theology, & The Celestial Hierarchy.  The Monophysite Christians of Alexandria were the first to draw inspiration from his work, supposing them to be genuine works of one of the Apostle Paul's disciples. The Byzantines followed suit & incorporated some of his ideas. Then, in 649 when Pope Gregory I and the Lateran Council accepted them as dating to the 1st C, they became more widely looked to as informing Christian theology.Pseudo-Dionysius' writings merged Christianity w/Neo-Platonism.  He saw the universe as divided into a hierarchy of spirits and believed the Church ought to be organized in a similar way as this spiritual hierarchy. Where Pseudo-Dionysius deviated from the Neo-Platonists was in his rejection of the idea that the goal of each human individual was to lose their individuality by re-uniting with the Creator. He went 180 degrees the other way and said it was the individual's goal to grow through mystical moments of revelation so that the person emerged into a divine state; more god-like than human. Pseudo-Dionysius taught that these mystical moments were bursts of revelation that brought enlightenment and advanced the soul's journey to a near-deity. But they weren't moments of revelation INTO divine knowledge so much as they were a stripping away of it. While early cults like the Docetists & Gnostics had made the acquisition of secret knowledge that imparted enlightenment the hallmark of their creed, Pseudo-Dionysius said knowledge stood in the way of enlightenment. The mind was a barrier to spiritual advancement, not a tool to attain it. He claimed the path to salvation, which he cast as “spiritual fulfillment,” proceeded through 3 stages—Purification, Illumination, and Union.First, the seeker needed to strip him/herself of all earthly and fleshly entanglements. Then by extreme forms of meditation in which the goal was to wipe the mind clean, the special moment would arrive when the person would achieve illumination & realize their union with the divine. If this sounds a bit like Gnosticism and the esoteric offerings of Eastern religion, that's because they are similar.This synthesis of Christianity & Neo-Platonist concepts had a huge impact on Byzantine theologies of mysticism and liturgy, on Western mystics, scholastics & Renaissance thinkers. Pseudo-Dionysius' writings were translated from Greek into Latin about 850.They were rejected as inconsistent with the Bible by the Protestant Reformers and exposed as 6th Century forgeries when scholars dug into their origin. But their emphasis on the mystical had already done its damage in the Eastern Church which continued to hold onto many of Pseudo-Dionysius' ideas. Even to this day, salvation in the Greek Orthodox Church means something rather different than it does in the Western Church, where it's conceived as redemption from sin and reconciliation to God. In the Eastern Church, salvation is regarded as a return to a process of spiritual transformation enhanced by the Church; it's priesthood, icons, and rituals, to a destiny that produces a being that is much more than human though not quite attaining to deity. The Eastern idea is that the Redeemed won't be God, but will be certainly be god-like.Now, this is an over-simplification, but may help make THE crucial distinction between the ways the Western and Eastern Churches understand salvation. The West sees the work of Christ primarily as Salvation FROM sin, while the East understands it as Salvation TO glory.  Again—that's a maybe gross reduction of the complex soteriology of the Eastern and Western theological traditions, but pretty accurate nonetheless. It's all in where the emphasis is placed.The Bible does say Adam and Eve were created in God's image. And we know Christ came to restore what they lost in the Fall. Certainly, the redeemed in glory will appear as glorious creatures that dwarf the shades humans are now. We are, as one musical artist sang – like ghosts on the earth, compared to the glory that was once Adam's & will be ours yet again. But in Greek Orthodox theology, salvation seems to be not just a restoration of what was lost so much as a promotion into something new; something even more glorious than the first man and woman enjoyed. Again, something above human if not quite divine.And the emphasis on the mystical in the Eastern Church is all about how to make that leap, that spiritual form of evolutionary advance.In 650, as Pseudo-Dionysius' views were being heavily imbibed in the East, a church leader named Constantine (obviously not the Emperor of the 4th C) resurrected some of the errors of the Gnostics. Constantine and his followers rejected the formal­ism of the Byzantine State church, claiming a desire to return to the simplicity of the Early Church.  We might respond; “Wait! In 650 they wanted to return to the dynamism of the early church? Isn't THAT the early church?  That was 1400 years ago!”Constantine based his beliefs on the Gospels and letters of Paul alone. He claimed an evil deity inspired the rest of the NT and all the Old. In a reprise of Gnosticism, he claimed this evil deity was the creator and god of this world. The true God of heaven was opposed to the physical universe; that material world was unalterably evil. In order to save people's spirits from the wickedness of the physical world, the true God sent an angel who appeared as a man named Jesus.A little history taught church leaders how to shut down Constantine's re-emergent Gnosticism. All they had to do was go back and read of the early church's struggle with the Gnostics and how all these ideas were old hat with no basis in Scripture. While a few church leaders did just that and waged an apologetic battle with Constantine's followers, the State Church persecuted & at times executed them.Constantine changed his name to Silas, one of the Apostle Paul's associates. After Constantine-Silas was stoned to death, the next leader of the sect took the name Titus, another of Paul's assistants. When he was burned to death, a third leader took the name Timothy. The next adopted the name Tychicus. All this lead to the sect being called the Paulicians.During the Iconoclast Contro­versy of the 8th C, the persecution of the Paulicians eased a bit. One of the Emperors may even have been a Paulician. But in the 9th C, the Empress Theodora ordered the Paulicians eradicated. Tens of thousands were killed, most in Armenia.In reaction, the Paulicians formed armies which proved quite capable in battle. So, unable to conquer them outright, the Byzantines offered them independence if they'd move to the troubled border w/the Slavs & Bulgars giving the Empire grief.The Paulicians ended up having a major religious impact on the Bulgars. These Bulgar-Paulicians became known as the Bogomils¸ named after their first leader. In the mid 10th C he taught that the first-born son of God was Satan. Because of Satan's pride, he was expelled from heaven. God then made a new heaven and earth, in which he placed Adam and Eve. Satan had sex with Eve which union produced Cain, the source of all evil among humans. Moses and John the Baptist, according to the Bogomils, were both servants of Satan. But God sent the Logos, his second Son, Jesus to save humanity from the control of Satan. Although Satan killed Jesus, his spiritual body was resurrected and returned to the right hand of God. Satan was in this way defeated; or so said Bogomilism.Some of our listeners may find all of this similar to another religious group headquartered today in a certain State of the US, that has great skiing during the winter and a capital located next to a large, salty inland sea. Turns out, Solomon was right; there really isn't anything new under the sun.The Bogomils adopted a rigidly ascetic life-style. They despised marriage, although they permitted it in the case of less-than-perfect believers. They condemned the eating of meat and the consumption of wine. They rejected baptism and communion as Satanic rituals  since they used material things.Bogomilism flourished in Bul­garia while it was an independent country in the 10th C, then again in the 13th. Bogomilian ideas spread to Western Europe where they influenced the Cathars and Albigensians. When the Turks destroyed the Bulgarian Empire in 1393, the Bogomils disappeared.The Paulicians continued in minor enclaves in Armenia all the way into the 19th C. It's possible that in some tiny corner of rural communities, Paulicianism continues to find adherents.And now you see why I chose to title this episode, “Crazy Stuff.”