Theodora: Portrait in a Byzantine Landscape

by Antony Bridge

Theodora was a Byzantine courtesan who rose from the gutter to the throne. As a story hers is as romantic and improbable as that of Cinderella; and yet it actually happened.

The Byzantines were a remarkable people, and they produced some remarkable women, but by any standards Theodora must rank as one of the most remarkable of them all. She has been slandered by her enemies, including one malicious historian and a host of churchmen, and some of the scandalous stories they told about her may have been partly true; nevertheless she also had great qualities, and it is time that the record was put straight.

If Theodora herself was a fascinating person, many of the people amongst whom she moved were little less so, and this account of her life and times is a pageant in which emperors and barbarian kings, popes and patriarchs, eunuchs of great merit and generals of genius, heretics and their orthodox opponents, charioteers and ladies of easy virtue, saints and sinners move in and out of the limelight in a thoroughly Byzantine fashion.

But this formality was sometimes totally disrupted by events. One of the worst riots in Byzantine history took place when Theodora had been on the throne for only a short time; during much of her reign there was war in Italy, marked by appalling suffering and barbarity; and towards the end of her life Constantinople was devastated by bubonic plague. Yet she triumphed over every adverse circumstance, rising from her humble beginnings as a dancing girl to become a great empress.

Antony Bridge’s artistic and theological background and lifelong interest in Byzantium fit him particularly well for the role of Theodora’s biographer, and he has produced a scholarly and entertaining book that will fascinate and delight readers with an interest in ancient history, as well as those who enjoy high quality biography.

Praise for Portrait in a Byzantine Landscape:
’Theodora (ca. 500–548) is a controversial and fascinating woman. Born to the lowest classes of Byzantine society, she became one of the most powerful women in world history … Anthony Bridge's biography does much to fairly represent the story of this remarkable woman and to provide a broader historical context to make sense of who she was and why she acted the way she did… The nuance of her character and the impact she had on Byzantine society and politics are deftly shown here’ - Amazon review

Anthony Bridge (1914−2007) was a successful artist who served as an intelligence officer during World War II. After the war he converted to Christianity (a process described in his book One Man’s Advent) and became an Anglican vicar, serving as the Dean of Guildford for 18 years. Bridge wrote several books, most with a focus on Middle Eastern history.

240 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 13, 2022

About the author

Antony Bridge won a scholarship to the Royal Academy Schoot of Art in 1932 and earned his living as an artist until he joined the army in 1939. After the war he resumed his career as a painter but in the early 1950s decided to enter the Church and was ordained in 1955. From 1958 to 1968 he was Vicar of Christ Church, Lancaster Gate. He became Dean of Guildford in 1968 and retired in 1986.