Theodora

Born around 490 or 500 in Constantinople to a circus keeper, Theodora worked as a courtesan and actress before meeting Justinian sometime before 524. They married, and when he became emperor in 527, she was crowned beside him. In 532, as the Nika riots nearly toppled Justinian, Theodora's resolve kept him from fleeing - her intervention crushed the uprising and secured the throne. She and Justinian commissioned the Hagia Sophia and other grand works, while she pushed to end prostitution and maneuvered through court intrigues, engineering the exile of John the Cappadocian and the removal of Pope Silverius. Though Justinian held to Chalcedonian Christianity, Theodora supported the Miaphysites, and her influence occasionally tempered his orthodoxy. She died of cancer on 28 June 548, leaving behind a legacy filtered through Procopius, whose public praise and secret venom have kept historians guessing ever since.