The Empress Theodora in Latin Sources (Chronicon of Victor of Tunnuna, Breviarium by Liberatus of Carthage and Liber Pontificalis) Cover Image

Postać cesarzowej Teodory w źródłach łacińskich (Chronicon Wiktora z Tunnuny, Breviarium Liberatusa z Kartaginy oraz Liber Pontificalis)
The Empress Theodora in Latin Sources (Chronicon of Victor of Tunnuna, Breviarium by Liberatus of Carthage and Liber Pontificalis)

Author(s): Arkadiusz Urbaniec
Subject(s): Gender Studies, 6th to 12th Centuries, Sociology of Religion
Published by: Wydawnictwo HUMANICA Instytut Studiów Kobiecych
Keywords: Empress Theodora; late antiquity Latin historiography; Monophysites;

Summary/Abstract: The following article analyzes the presentation of Empress Theodora – the wife of Emperor Justinian and the most popular woman in the history of Byzantium – in contemporary Latin sources. Victor of Tunnuna, Liberatus of Carthage, and the author of selected biographies in Liber Pontificalis focused in their works primarily on the issues of religious policy of the empire and described the person of the ruler throughout this prism. Considerations on the parallel monophysite source tradition allow for a hypothesis about the schematicism of creating the image of Theodora as the main enemy of Chalcedonian orthodoxy.

  • Issue Year: 2022
  • Issue No: 13
  • Page Range: 41-78
  • Page Count: 38
  • Language: Polish