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.
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99. Marathon and the Rise of Greece
98. Darius the Great: Ruling from India to the Mediterranean
97. Cyrus the Great: Building the First Superpower
96. Empires of Iran
95. The History of Putin's War
Welcome to the Empire Club
94. The Bloody History of Russia & Ukraine
93. Murdering the Romanovs: The End of a Dynasty
92. Killing Rasputin
91. Lenin and The Rise of the Bolsheviks
90. The Russian Revolution: Overthrowing the Tsar
89. The Final Act of the Great Game
88. The Russo-Japanese War: Asia Strikes Back
87. Tolstoy: War and the Russian Empire
86. Crushing the Khans: Russia Seizes the Centre of the World
85. The Russian Conquest of America
84. A Tale of Two Nurses: Seacole & Nightingale
83. The Charge of the Light Brigade
82. Crimea: The War on Repeat
81. The Graveyard of Empires
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