roseembolism (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
roseembolism) wrote2008-10-03 01:07 pm
roseembolism) wrote2008-10-03 01:07 pm
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How to make history FUN, kids!
From an old post of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
james_nicoll , about Theodora, empress of the Byzantine Empire.
She was born (Somewhere. Crete or maybe Syria), brought up by a bear trainer, became a mime and then an actress, became very famous for her on stage nude entertainment and off-stage wild parties. She then travelled to North Africa with a high ranking official, returned to Constantinople via Alexandria on her own, coverted to Monophysitism along the way, gave up her wild life style and settled down as a humble wool spinner. Then she attracted Justinian and after Byzantine law was altered to allow their marriage, she married Justinian.
[Then she turned 20]
Having married Justinian, her -real- career started.
Very roughly, imagine if Traci Lords had married Bill Clinton at age twenty and then gone on to become the USA's analog of Queen ElizabethI of England (Except that doesn't convey how unlikely it was for the law to altered to allow Theodora and Justinian to marry). Make Lords a black Jew and marry her to Woodrow Wilson instead and you're getting close to the social barriers involved.
I can't help but think that if one put Theodora-by-another-namein a novel (James suggested a MilSF novel.), one would be hard-pressed to figure out if there were more cries of "That's unbelievable!" or "That's sexist!".
james_nicoll , about Theodora, empress of the Byzantine Empire.She was born (Somewhere. Crete or maybe Syria), brought up by a bear trainer, became a mime and then an actress, became very famous for her on stage nude entertainment and off-stage wild parties. She then travelled to North Africa with a high ranking official, returned to Constantinople via Alexandria on her own, coverted to Monophysitism along the way, gave up her wild life style and settled down as a humble wool spinner. Then she attracted Justinian and after Byzantine law was altered to allow their marriage, she married Justinian.
[Then she turned 20]
Having married Justinian, her -real- career started.
Very roughly, imagine if Traci Lords had married Bill Clinton at age twenty and then gone on to become the USA's analog of Queen ElizabethI of England (Except that doesn't convey how unlikely it was for the law to altered to allow Theodora and Justinian to marry). Make Lords a black Jew and marry her to Woodrow Wilson instead and you're getting close to the social barriers involved.
I can't help but think that if one put Theodora-by-another-namein a novel (James suggested a MilSF novel.), one would be hard-pressed to figure out if there were more cries of "That's unbelievable!" or "That's sexist!".