"Theodora's is a tale of a woman of exceptional talent who overcame immense obstacles to achieve incredible power, which she exercised without ever forgetting where she had come from. In Theodora: Actress, Empress, Saint, David Potter penetrates the highly biased accounts of her found in the writings of her contemporaries and takes advantage of the latest research on early Byzantium to craft a modern, well-rounded, and engaging narrative of Theodora's...

"In the sixth century CE the East Roman (or "Byzantine") Emperor Justinian presided over nearly four decades of remarkable change. From his capital of Constantinople, he directed armies to re-conquer territories that had been lost to Roman control in the fifth century, while also taking on the neighboring superpower of Persia. Most histories of Justinian's reign focus on these military exploits, and on the unprecedented persecution of religious and...