February 2009
The Emperor And The Prostitute: Justinian And Theodora
The Most Notorious Couple In The History Of Byzantium,
and The Art They Inspired
FDFAS Chairman Peter Duffy with lecturer Geri Parlby
The emperor in question was Justinian and the erstwhile prostitute his wife Theodora. Together they were responsible for some of the wondrous buildings in Byzantium which Justinian ruled for some three decades of the 6th Century AD.
By the time they met, Theodora, then aged fifteen, had already had quite a life. She had opened and successfully run a brothel near the Hippodrome in Constantinople, had run away with a Patrician lord, escaped his cruelty, apparently converted to Christianity and was back in the brothel where, it is said, she sat modestly in her room spinning when Justinian, aged forty found her, wooed her and married her.
They were a curious couple. He cruel and cowardly with a penchant for cutting off heads but also ambitious with the decided aim of clawing back areas of the Roman empire which had been lost. He later rewarded the General who achieved this ambition for him by putting out his eyes so that he was reduced to begging.
She was altogether different. Beautiful but tough. A real power behind the throne. So it was that when Constantinople was virtually destroyed by warring factions in the city she stood up to them and, with the aid of the aforesaid General, saved the day.
This gave Justinian the opportunity to rebuild the city just how he wanted and what buildings they were - simple on the outside – stunning on the inside. The wondrous mosaics were brought stunningly to life by the brilliance of Geri Parlby’s photographs. The glittering gold tessera seemingly dancing across the screen and setting off the rich colours of all the other motifs and portraits. And, as he started so he went on even after the death of his young wife. Newly recaptured Ravenna had a new church with even more mosaics - one of the most memorable being the interior of a dome covered in cobalt tessera and ablaze with gold stars. Stunning.
As final memorial to his wife, and after chopping off the heads of six architects who could not make his ideas work, an impressive monastery was built on the slopes of Mount Sinai. Inside are yet more amazing mosaics.
The lecture was both erudite and highly amusing and Geri Parlby’s wonderful photographs were brought to sparkling life by the use of the newly-purchased computer, projector and Power Point.
Copy by Vicky Jackson
Picture by Graham Parlett