Justinian marries Theodora
525 · Event
To marry a former actress — bear-keeper's daughter, star of the Hippodrome's lowest stage — the heir to the empire has the marriage law itself rewritten. Procopius will libel her for eternity in the Secret History; the working record shows a co-ruler of ferocious intelligence whom Justinian consults on everything and calls 'my sweetest delight'.
On these timelines: Justinian and Theodora, Women in history, Roman History, Anatolia / Byzantium / Ottoman / Turkey, Master
More from Justinian and Theodora
- Reign of Justinian I (527)
- Nika riots (532)
- Theodora stiffens Justinian in the Nika riots (532)
- Theodora as Byzantine empress (527)
- Byzantine reconquest of Italy (535)
- Belisarius enters Rome (536)
- Death of Theodora (548)
- Silkworms smuggled to Byzantium (552)
Around 525
- Fall of Western Roman Empire (476)
- Muhammad (570)
- Hijra (622)
- Tang dynasty (618)
- Muhammad's first revelation (610)
- Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain (450)
- Hagia Sophia (532)
- Sui dynasty reunifies China (581)
- Baptism of Clovis (496)
- Hagia Sophia completed (537)