The Feminine Side of the Roman Empire - Book Review

If you cringed at the violence in Gladiator but find yourself interested a society ruled by Emperors and the theatricality of the Coliseum, Theodora by Stella Duffy should be on your must-read list.

I wrote earlier this week about truth, so I have to honestly admit historical fiction is slightly wasted on me.  I love reading it, but I’m so easily drawn into the world the author creates, and my own historical knowledge is perhaps not what it should be, so the line between what is actual history and what is fiction is blurred to the point of not existing for me.

According to my serious historical research (Wikipedia, thank you very much,) combined with notes on the book’s cover, Theodora was an actress, an Empress of the Roman Empire, and a saint in the Orthodox Church.  She may or may not have been the most powerful woman in Roman history, and like all powerful woman, there are many rumors surrounding her rise to power.

Theodora’s tagline is “Actress, Empress, Whore,” so I can’t say that many of the plot points are unexpected as Theodora rises from a young, poor, child actress in Constantinople to heights unimagined for a girl in her position.

What I found most interesting as I read Theodora was the way she used her strengths to her advantage within a system that didn’t necessarily value them.  She wasn’t classically beautiful nor a particularly gifted singer or dancer, which should have relegated her to a small, uneventful life. 

However, she used her intelligence to craft comedic timing and to understand the dynamic between people, which seems to be her most important skill throughout the book.

Her story is woven amongst the intrigue of Roman politics and religious conflict, but I found her character’s inner growth to be the most compelling part of Theodora.

While I’m not sure where the line between history and fiction is drawn in Stella Duffy’s novel, I can definitely recommend reading Theodora if you’re interested in a story about a woman’s rise to power through channels that should never had led her anywhere but the inside of a man’s bedroom.

Join the discussion about Theodora or read more about Stella Duffy, as the BlogHer Book Club reads Theodora!

I was compensated for this review by BlogHer, which included a copy of Theodora, provided by Penguin Books. All opinions expressed are my own and were not influenced in any way.

reading with Grandpa

NOT historical fiction, though it is about a dinosaur bone