Theodora Shows Grit
The medieval world is not known for rags-to-riches stories, but Theodora (500-548) broke the mold and climbed her way to the top.
Born into relatively low status in Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire, through her grit and determination, she rose to the highest seat in the land: the throne of the Empress of Rome.
Theodora’s father was the bear keeper in the circus at Constantinople and her mother was an actress. When her father died, her mother pushed Theodora and her sisters to join her on the stage.
At this time, an actress was a very dubious profession, and usually included sex work, but was relatively well paid, earning 5-6x what a day laborer would make. By age 15, Theodora was a very popular comic actress in the Hippodrome and a teenage prostitute. Yes, she started life in rough circumstances, but she persevered through unimaginable hardships.
Chariot racing was the biggest sport in the Roman Empire. Imagine the popularity of all the football teams playing today (kicking or tackle, depending on your preference) and then smoosh all of that fan support across the globe into just two teams: the Blues and the Greens. Theodora was a huge supporter of the Blues, as was Justinian, nephew of the emperor.
Their meet-cute was at a race in the Hippodrome, and they hit it off despite him being 20 years older than her. Soon they got the emperor to change the law so that men of senatorial rank could marry women who had left the theatrical profession and “embraced an honorable life.”
Justinian and Theodora were married in 525, then crowned emperor and empress in 527 after Justinian’s uncle died. This was the happy montage in the romcom, so you just know disaster is around the corner.
In 532, the people of Constantinople were angry across a wide range of issues: religious tension, social unrest, economic hardships, and as ever, politics. So Justinian decided to go for the “bread and circuses” approach and announced a huge chariot race.
The crowd was riled up, and instead of cheering for either Blues or Greens, they began shouting “Nika!”, or victory. This turned into a week-long riot which burned half the city down.
The terrified Justinian was about to jump on a ship filled with gold and begin a life in exile, but Theodora gave a passionate speech that changed his mind.
“All will die one day. But one who has worn the crown can never be made a fugitive. The royal purple makes a fine burial shroud.”
Having climbed her way up the ladder to the imperial palace, she wasn’t going anywhere. Justinian found his courage. First, he used his gold to bribe the Blues to chill out. Then he ordered his general Belisarius to charge into the hippodrome with the army and slaughter the Greens. And you thought you were a big fan of your team.
After surviving the riot, the two were firmly in power. Theodora was Justinian’s closest advisor, fully involved with legal matters, meeting with foreign ambassadors, and generally running things. Theodora’s name appears in most of the legislation passed during the period. When Justinian was sick with plague in 542, Theodora stepped in and held the empire together, maybe even preventing a civil war.
Were the senators and other aristocrats happy that this former commoner was in charge? Of course not! Theodora ruffled feathers of the elite all the time while pursuing her agenda. Theodora was a proto-feminist, pushing forward laws to help women and girls, regulating prostitution, and booting brothel-keepers out of Constantinople.
Theodora died of illness in 548, and Justinian never remarried. He lived for 17 more years, but produced much less legislation after her death, showing how important Theodora was to running the empire.
After 20 years on the throne, nobody remembered Theodora’s humble beginnings. They saw her as what she had been for two decades: the most powerful woman in the world. She started life wrapped in rags but was buried in the purple shroud reserved for royals.
Theodora had a tough upbringing, and it must have instilled grit and determination in her. At an incredibly tense time during the Nika riots, when everything was on the line, the highborn aristocrats around her panicked, but Theodora held firm and survived the day.
You will undoubtedly face hardships in your career. There may be a time when you face an “everything comes down to this” kind of crisis. In that moment what will you do? You can draw upon your strength and fight. You can determine that “discretion is the better part of valor” and flee. But you’ll have to decide. And that takes grit.
As important as that all-important moment might be, it’s not just about the moment. Grit is about perseverance. Day in and day out. If you’re passionate about a goal, you’ve got to get up every morning and deal with whatever obstacles life throws in your path that day, fight through them, hit the hay, then come back again tomorrow and fight through the new obstacles the new day brings.
Persistence beats intelligence, and it kicks the stuffing out of privilege. So figure out what you want to do, and then get out there and work at it, day after day, when it’s fun and when it’s no fun, because that’s the only way you’ll make it happen. You got grit too. Go for it.
