Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore (Empress Theodora #1)

Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore
By: Stella Duffy
Release Date: September 27, 2011
Publisher: Penguin Group
Series: Empress Theodora
Rating: 1 out 5
Summary: Roman historian Procopius publicly praised Theodora of Constantinople for her piety---while secretly detailing her salacious stage act and maligning her as ruthless and power hungry. So who was this woman who rose from humble beginnings as a dancer to become the empress of Rome and a saint in the Orthodox Church? Award-winning novelist Stella Duffy vividly recreates the life and times of a woman who left her mark on one of the ancient world's most powerful empires. Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore is a sexy, captivating novel that resurrects an extraordinary, little-known figure from the dusty pages of history.



Review: It tells the story of Theodora, before and after she became one of the most powerful women in the Byzantine Empire. In the novel, she explains how her mother offered her and two other sisters to the Blue faction at age five.

In those days, being an actress meant you could not marry, and you also could not own property. During her relationship with Hecebolus, she was his mistress, but nothing more. She did everything a typical wife would do, but she lacked the title. When Theodora sought a priest who could try to have her sins forgiven and the laws changed for her to marry, she searched for the right priest to represent her in court. As the story progresses, Theodora meets Justinian and begins the path to becoming the Empress.

I think I expected more from this book since it is not a biography or memoir, but a historical fiction novel. Though the narrative style summarized Theodora's life events, the author explained poorly what was going on. My knowledge of the early church and the end of the Roman Empire is very limited, so I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of these topics.

Rather than showing Theodora's life and what made her the powerful woman she was, the story reads like a biography and tells her story. This story disappointed me.