theodora: actress, empress, whore

Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore, part of the BlogHer Book Club, is a fascinating read. Author Stella Duffy paints a vivid portrait of a woman who lived in a turbulent world, who managed to make her way from the lowest part of Byzantine society to its ultimate height — as the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, and ultimately declared a Christian saint.

by Nick in exsilio

Duffy's Theodora is strong physically - a master of her body and breath. She has been taught by the eunuch Menander from a very young age to be a dancer and actress, and ultimately, a whore — as all actresses were expected to be at the time in Constantinople society. Staying close to the facts of Theodora's life, which are dramatic enough, Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore fleshes out an amazing woman and an amazing life. The reader may realize that some of the most outlandish events in the novel are straight out of Theodora's life and based in fact:

Her father was a bear trainer and after his death her mother paraded her three daughters in the Hippodrome, trying to win the support of Constantinople's Blue faction. Theodora became an actress and dancer and ultimately, whore. She would perform for high society at private banquets. One of her most infamous numbers, "Leda and the Swan," was basically a striptease where was covered with barley and had trained geese peck it away, revealing her nude form underneath. She fell in love with the Syrian Hecebolus and moved to Africa with him wen he was appointed the governor of the Libyan Pentapolis. But she was eventually discarded by Hecebolus and she made her way to Egypt, Alexandria. There she  came under the influence of the bishop Timothy and experienced a conversion.

Duffy paints Theodora as a rebel. She never wants to be part of the chorus, she wants to stand out, be a star. When she has achieved great fame, both on and off stage, she sees an opportunity with the handsome young Hecebolus who will take her away from her life on stage and as a prostitute. When that relationship falls apart Theodora, through a long and winding road finds herself in the desert, with a group of religious ascetics, and finds faith. Her new associates send her back home to Constantinople to spy in the name of her religion with the ultimate goal of getting close to the nephew of Emperor Justin, the quiet and bookish Justinian.

by Richard Brown

It must have been tough to construct a narrative about someone who lived so long ago, with a life lived in such extremes. Although I may not have completely bought Duffy's characterization of Theodora, I still really enjoyed reading Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore. Her depiction of Constantinople and the various life paths open to women (all not surprisingly, rather bleak and extremely limited) was really involving.

Theodora is a person who triumphed in her life, no matter how buffeted by circumstance she may have been. After her father's death, she was forced into working at a very young age, and into prostitution. My only hesitation with Duffy's version would be that Theodora, for such a willful and strong personality, continually finds herself being pushed around and manipulated, sometimes physically abused, by all the men in her life. Her first mentor and trainer Menander literally whacks her into shape. First love Hecebelos tells her to quit her career and come with him — and she does. She is just a possession of his until he tires of her. Bishop Timothy is using her to advance his religious cause. But it's not just men who use Theodora. She falls into an affair with one of Timothy's agents, Macedonia, a forceful woman who even pushes her temporarily back into whoring.

Theodora acquiesces, even after she has had her revelation in the desert and renounced her former life and ways. Her constant malleability seemed to be less a strength than a weakness of character, and it diluted her spiritual conversion for me, which was supposed to be the character's turning point, coming at a central, pivotal part of of the narrative. The only truly sympathetic male character in the novel was Justinian. He also happens to be the only character who doesn't completely manipulate her, which does help make the outlandishness of their true romance more believable.

Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore brings to life a woman who lived on many levels of early Christian society. Duffy is supposed to be working on adapting her novel for HBO, which could also be very interesting, indeed.

Full disclosure:


I have been compensated for this BlogHer Book Club review, but all the opinions expressed on my blog and in this review are my own.

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