LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Theodora: Byzantine Empress
built 615 days ago
The main source of information on Theodora, wife of the Byzantine emperor Justinian is Procopius of Caesarea, the official historian. He... presents two very different views - in his "De Aedificiis", the authorised history of Justinian's building programme, he portrays a pious woman, too lovely to ever be accurately portrayed in painting or statue, and in his "Anekdota" a wanton, lascivious whore who delighted in intrigue - although even here he concedes she was attractive. There is probably some accuracy in both accounts, although the "Anekdota" is decidedly malicious.
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Empress Theodora's place setting uses Byzantine iconography and mosaics to convey her important role in building the Byzantine Empire. The mosaic tile in Empress Theodora's plate recalls the most well recognized image of Theodora—the mosaic from the apse in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy. This mosaic portrays Theodora and Justinian in full imperial regalia and sets the color scheme of gold, green, and purple for both the plate and the runner.
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Many that came to Saint Stephen's found Theodora's relics easily accessible for even pilgrims to view and many were touched and/ or healed by Theodora's oil. The deranged and posessed (George and Theodore in vita) were brought to be annointed with the oil in hopes of a cure. The blind and physically ill or crippled could see and walk again due to the faith, prayers and assistance of Theodora's oil. This oil ... contributed to heretics denouncing their unorthodox ways and taking on the belief of God. The icon (eikon) was viewed as an essential element of the cult of a Byzantine saint. Within a month of her death,when it was sought that an icon in Theodora's likeness would benefit the church, a painter named John was commissioned.
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Byzantine Empress