What did Theodora say to Justinian?
Abigail Rogers
Updated on March 12, 2026
Simply so, what was the message of Theodora's speech?
Justinian and his officials, unable to control the crowd prepared to flee, but Theodora spoke up and gave a moving speech about the greater significance of the life of someone who died as a ruler, over that of someone who lived but was nothing.
Secondly, what is the Justinian Code? Code of Justinian, Latin Codex Justinianus, formally Corpus Juris Civilis (“Body of Civil Law”), collections of laws and legal interpretations developed under the sponsorship of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I from 529 to 565 ce. Strictly speaking, the works did not constitute a new legal code.
Likewise, what did Theodora do before she married Justinian?
Before she married Justinian, the nephew of Emperor Justin (r. 518-527 CE), in 525 CE, Theodora left the sands of the Hippodrome to travel to North Africa as the mistress of a medium-level civil servant.
How did Theodora rise to power?
A farmer's son from present-day Serbia, Justinian moved to the capital to work for his uncle Justin, and to help in his rise to power and eventual ascension to the throne. When Emperor Justin I died in 527, Theodora was crowned empress of Rome, in the same coronation ceremony as her husband.