Theodora: Empress of Byzantium (Mark Magowan Books) by Paolo Cesaretti Page A
Authors: Paolo Cesaretti
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to the infamous mime actress but to Licinia-Eudoxia (daughter and heir to Theodosius II, Emperor of the East, and his scholarly wife Athenais-Eudocia), who in 437 married Valentinian III, Emperor of the West, and was acclaimed Savior of the East and Joy of the West. 9
Undoubtedly, a face such as that of the Milan sculpture could “win the hearts” of men. And though it may not be Theodora’s face, we could legitimately infer that it resembles her. Maybe one day, with the help of computer graphics, we will be able to turn Ravenna’s imperial mosaic into a 3-D reconstruction of young Theodora’s face.
Soon Theodora began to care for her face and body, in order to preserve and enhance her beauty and maybe to perfect it. In the years spent in the theater and at the palace, she did not let a day go by without looking after her beauty. Thermal baths, massages, face masks, and skin treatments were daily activities. During her stage career she would frequent the cosmetic shops annexed to the bathing establishments of the city. The baths were probably an ideal place for making new acquaintances (to fuel her lusts and passions, according to her critics); later, as her career progressed, she would follow her beauty regime in the privacy of home.
Her lifelong familiarity with bath establishments and makeup, and her habit of caring for her body daily, explain why an imperial statue to her was erected near the Arcadian baths of Constantinople, and why the baths of Carthage were called “Theodorian.” These habits emphasize the fact that she was among the last to hold an ancient attitudetoward the body, at a time when the world was turning toward medieval customs. (But as we shall see later, she herself contributed in no small way, as empress, to that evolution toward the medieval.)
Both when she was young and when she was at the palace, sleep was a necessary complement to her beauty treatments. Sleep revived her soul as well as the muscles of her face, which got such a lot of exercise in her work as a mime. And sleep took her to the oneiric dimension that was so meaningful in that epoch, especially to those who, like the girl of the Hippodrome and the Kynêgion, might have been familiar with unorthodox, even esoteric disciplines such as astrology or the interpretation of dreams. Baths and rest were also important to her because they offered moments for reflection about herself and those around her. She did not even like to receive visits in the morning, and she was not bothered by the fact that some criticized her morning extravagance. She knew only too well that a woman such as she, whether an actress or an empress, could show herself in public only if she looked perfect.
She was criticized for lacking self-discipline also when it came to food: apparently, she willingly “partook of all manner of food and drink,” 10 a reproach informed by coarse ideas about people of humble birth who finally had more than a subsistence diet. Furthermore, archaic taboos about food survived: taboos, for example, about women drinking wine. Some extreme conservatives could have objected that in drinking wine a woman took into her body an unacceptable vital principle other than that socially acceptable vital principle, her legitimate husband’s seed. But it might have been that Theodora simply had a petite, high-energy body that quickly burned all the calories she took in. Her culinary whims led her to quality rather than quantity. She did not like fowl or condiments, but seemed to enjoy small, sugary, high-calorie treats such as sweets made of figs and roses, dates, nuts, grapes, cookies, and “Persian-style” sorbets.
Often, women procurers who hoped to introduce lusty new admirers to Theodora would contact the masseuses and makeup women who pampered her face and body. But Theodora enjoyed total protection,and the reply was always the same: They admire her?—let them come to the theater and pay to admire her over and over again. And there
Undoubtedly, a face such as that of the Milan sculpture could “win the hearts” of men. And though it may not be Theodora’s face, we could legitimately infer that it resembles her. Maybe one day, with the help of computer graphics, we will be able to turn Ravenna’s imperial mosaic into a 3-D reconstruction of young Theodora’s face.
Soon Theodora began to care for her face and body, in order to preserve and enhance her beauty and maybe to perfect it. In the years spent in the theater and at the palace, she did not let a day go by without looking after her beauty. Thermal baths, massages, face masks, and skin treatments were daily activities. During her stage career she would frequent the cosmetic shops annexed to the bathing establishments of the city. The baths were probably an ideal place for making new acquaintances (to fuel her lusts and passions, according to her critics); later, as her career progressed, she would follow her beauty regime in the privacy of home.
Her lifelong familiarity with bath establishments and makeup, and her habit of caring for her body daily, explain why an imperial statue to her was erected near the Arcadian baths of Constantinople, and why the baths of Carthage were called “Theodorian.” These habits emphasize the fact that she was among the last to hold an ancient attitudetoward the body, at a time when the world was turning toward medieval customs. (But as we shall see later, she herself contributed in no small way, as empress, to that evolution toward the medieval.)
Both when she was young and when she was at the palace, sleep was a necessary complement to her beauty treatments. Sleep revived her soul as well as the muscles of her face, which got such a lot of exercise in her work as a mime. And sleep took her to the oneiric dimension that was so meaningful in that epoch, especially to those who, like the girl of the Hippodrome and the Kynêgion, might have been familiar with unorthodox, even esoteric disciplines such as astrology or the interpretation of dreams. Baths and rest were also important to her because they offered moments for reflection about herself and those around her. She did not even like to receive visits in the morning, and she was not bothered by the fact that some criticized her morning extravagance. She knew only too well that a woman such as she, whether an actress or an empress, could show herself in public only if she looked perfect.
She was criticized for lacking self-discipline also when it came to food: apparently, she willingly “partook of all manner of food and drink,” 10 a reproach informed by coarse ideas about people of humble birth who finally had more than a subsistence diet. Furthermore, archaic taboos about food survived: taboos, for example, about women drinking wine. Some extreme conservatives could have objected that in drinking wine a woman took into her body an unacceptable vital principle other than that socially acceptable vital principle, her legitimate husband’s seed. But it might have been that Theodora simply had a petite, high-energy body that quickly burned all the calories she took in. Her culinary whims led her to quality rather than quantity. She did not like fowl or condiments, but seemed to enjoy small, sugary, high-calorie treats such as sweets made of figs and roses, dates, nuts, grapes, cookies, and “Persian-style” sorbets.
Often, women procurers who hoped to introduce lusty new admirers to Theodora would contact the masseuses and makeup women who pampered her face and body. But Theodora enjoyed total protection,and the reply was always the same: They admire her?—let them come to the theater and pay to admire her over and over again. And there
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