A quiz question · hard
What did Theodora persuade Justinian to do during the January 532 Nika riots in Constantinople?
The imperial council was preparing to flee. Theodora's speech, preserved by Procopius, kept Justinian in the city. Belisarius then trapped about 30,000 rioters in the Hippodrome on 19 January 532. The dynasty survived for another 33 years.
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The Constantinople Circus Performer Who Became Empress of the Eastern Roman Empire and Talked Her Husband Out of Fleeing the Nika Riots in 532 Theodora was the daughter of a Constantinople circus bear-keeper. By approximately 522 she had been a stage performer and possibly a sex worker. In 525 she married the future emperor Justinian over imperial-court opposition. In January 532, when the Nika riots threatened to overthrow the imperial government, she persuaded Justinian to stay and fight with a speech preserved by Procopius: "The purple is the noblest shroud."
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