" First rate popular history/biography, evoking the Byzantine empire at its peak. A remarkable story in an entertaining, informative book." — The Wall Street JournalThis is the biography of a Byzantine courtesan who rose from the gutter to the throne of an empire. It is a romantic and improbable story, and Theodora is an extraordinary woman, indeed. Her background and her many actions were scandalous, but she had qualities of gre...