Teodora: tanssijatar ja keisarinna (Finnish Edition) [Finnish]

By Charles Diehl

Before she wore the imperial crown, Theodora performed as a mime actress and dancer; later, she helped govern an empire. This historical biography traces that extraordinary transformation while refusing to separate the Byzantine empress from the contested evidence surrounding her. Against the charged political world of Constantinople, her rise becomes a study in power, gender and the making of reputation. Court politics here extend far beyond ceremony. Theodora emerges as an active co-ruler beside Justinianus, exerting influence over administration, diplomacy, law, military affairs and religious policy. The Nika revolt provides one vivid test of imperial authority, while factional conflict and palace intrigue expose the coercive machinery behind rule. Her protection of religious dissidents and association with reforms affecting women, opposition to prostitution and charitable institutions reveal one side of her government; ruthlessness, vengeance and coercion reveal another. Religious division sharpens every struggle for influence, as imperial policy confronts the dispute between Chalcedonian orthodoxy and monophysitism. Rather than accepting hostile legend as fact, the narrative weighs historical evidence against the gossip that shaped Theodora's reputation, creating a more complex portrait of ambition and authority. Neither vindication nor condemnation, this empress biography examines how a woman from the theatre became a formidable political presence-and why accounts of her life remain inseparable from the interests of those who recorded it. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: Finnish
• ISBN: 9378416896
• ISBN13: 9789378416897
• Release Date: January 2027
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 132 Pages
• Weight: 0.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.3" x 6.0"