XII: Proving That Justinian and Theodora Were Actually Fiends in Human Form explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Corruption and Tyranny

  Justinian and Theodora systematically corrupt the legal system, forge wills, and bribe servants to confiscate wealth, demonstrating absolute tyranny.

• Hypocrisy and Deception

  The emperor and empress use deceptive methods such as forged letters and false claims of inheritance to rob the Senate and wealthy citizens.

• Abuse of Power

  They exploit their imperial authority to seize property, ruin lives, and even fabricate legal documents, showing a complete abuse of power.

• Moral Decadence

  The chapter portrays Justinian and Theodora as demonic entities, indulging in greed, lust, and supernatural corruption, reflecting moral decay.

Characters to notice

• Justinian

  Depicted as a demonic figure who confiscates wealth, forges wills, and exhibits supernatural behavior such as shape-shifting and being possessed by a demon.

• Theodora

  Portrayed as a fiendish partner in crime, involved in confiscating property and rumored to have a demonic lover and a dream of marrying the King of the Devils.

• Zeno

  Grandson of former Emperor Anthamius, appointed Governor of Egypt; his ship was set on fire and his valuables stolen, and after his sudden death, Justinian and Theodora claimed his estate via a forged will.

• John the Cappadocian

  Mentioned as John the son of Basil, a notable citizen of Edessa given as hostage to the Persians; his estate was seized after his death via a forged letter.

• Chosroes

  King of the Persians who refused to release John, claiming the Romans violated the truce.

• Belisarius

  Referenced as having given John as a hostage to the Persians.

• Macedonia

  A dancer of the Blue party in Antioch who wrote letters to Justinian, causing notable men to be ruined and their property confiscated; she encouraged Theodora after her return from Egypt.

Key passages

• “Now the wealth of those in Constantinople and each other city who were considered second in prosperity only to members of the Senate, was brutally confiscated, in the ways I have described, by Justinian and Theodora.”

  Justinian and Theodora ruthlessly seized the wealth of wealthy citizens across Constantinople and other cities, second only to senators.

  Opening statement summarizing the chapter's focus on confiscation.

• “Wherefore to me, and many others of us, these two seemed not to be human beings, but veritable demons, and what the poets call vampires: who laid their heads together to see how they could most easily and quickly destroy the race and deeds of men; and assuming human bodies, became man-demons, and so convulsed the world.”

  To me and many others, Justinian and Theodora appeared not as humans but as actual demons or vampires, conspiring to destroy humanity and the world.

  Key thematic statement portraying the couple as supernatural evil forces.

• “And they say his mother said to some of her intimates once that not of Sabbatius her husband, nor of any man was Justinian a son. For when she was about to conceive, there visited a demon, invisible but giving evidence of his presence perceptibly where man consorts with woman, after which he vanished utterly as in a dream.”

  Justinian's mother reportedly told close friends that he was not fathered by her husband Sabbatius but by a demon that visited her invisibly.

  Account of Justinian's alleged demonic parentage.

• “Then, they say, Theodora used to relate how on that very night a dream came to her, bidding her take no thought of money, for when she should come to Constantinople, she should share the couch of the King of the Devils, and that she should contrive to become his wedded wife and thereafter be the mistress of all the money in the world.”

  Theodora recounted a dream where she was told not to worry about money, as she would go to Constantinople, sleep with the King of the Devils, marry him, and become mistress of all wealth.

  Theodora's dream prophecy linking her rise to power with a demonic pact.