Imperial Women and Power in Sixth Century Byzantium

Abstract

<p>The following study assesses how successful imperial women in sixth-century Byzantium were at adopting different types of power to extend their influence, through negotiation with the incumbent emperor and confidants in their networks, in order to achieve their goals. Their engagement in activities in the context of social institutions of family, religion, art and architecture, as well as politics and day-to-day administration, is examined. Theodora and Sophia’s activities will be considered, and other imperial women who came before them, but were less prominent in literature, are reviewed. Most of the focus is on Theodora due to the lack of surviving evidence about Sophia.</p> <p>The fragmentary nature of the main sources, written from a male perspective and influenced by the occupation or religious affiliation of the authors, reflects patriarchal attitudes towards women. This means that some of the activities that imperial women engaged in to extend their influence are either lost, denounced or have not been recorded. Biases in some of the sources, relating to Theodora, are at odds with her successes while others, supportive of the empress, but hostile towards her successor Sophia, needed to be assessed carefully to identify situations where these women successfully exerted their influence and what they did when their actions failed.</p> <p>Evidence selected from the sources has been informed by previous scholarship by Averil Cameron, Lynda Garland, and J.A.S. Evans, that discusses imperial women’s ability to negotiate and wield considerable power and influence. Interrogation of the sources to find evidence of imperial women’s activities was informed by Judith Herrin’s methodological approach. The framework used in this thesis, based on French and Raven’s 1959 model of power, is a modern, twentieth-century socio-psychological framework that has been applied to a late antique sixth century context. The challenges of aligning contemporary concepts which describe types of power, with terms and application of power described in antique writings are discussed.</p> <p>An implication of this study is that imperial women in the sixth century adopted different types of power, in a variety of situations to extend their influence and pursue their goals. The level of success that these women were able to achieve depended on a variety of different factors, such as how they consulted with others, the level of referent power they possessed with their subjects, support from an incumbent emperor and the success of their social, religious and political achievements which increased their status and authority.</p>