Zoë Porphyrogenita

Zoë was born around 978 into the Macedonian dynasty, spending decades in the palace after a planned marriage to Otto III fell through. When her uncle Basil II died in 1025, her father Constantine VIII — with no sons — married the 50-year-old Zoë to Romanos Argyros to secure succession. They took the throne the next day. Romanos was found dead in his bath in 1034, possibly murdered; Zoë married her lover Michael the same day, and he became Michael IV. She later adopted Michael's nephew, but when Michael V exiled her in 1041, Constantinople rose in revolt and installed Zoë and her sister Theodor…