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The Ruins of Justinla's and Theodora's Palace
oxi Ihe Sea of Marmora.
Constantinople. Auk. ST.
'HEN Lieutenant Sidney D.
Hancock, flying over th
Turkish defenses of the
Dardenelles recently, dropped
ahell on tha Hymeneal Talace of
Justinian, where lies burled the
Empress Theodora, a shiver went
w Turkey. For over the emplra
of tha Crescent hangs tha prophecy
of the famous Queen:
''When the foes of my faith
come conquering, they shall
know my grave and let me
- sleep;
When the friends of my faith
come conquering, they shall
know not, and move me from
my bed."
To the English lines has leaked
the story from the Turks that the
English aviator's bomb fell near
the foot of Theodora's tomb, break
ing the effigy In half, so that the
splendid wanton now sits balN
upright, staring with sightless eyes
for the coming of the Christiana
"of her faith."
The Palace of Joy In which
Theodora lived for almost three
years before she was successful In
manipulating the passage of the
law which enabled Justinian to
marry her and make her empress,
was built at her request. A native
of Cyprus, that Island of olive
groves circled by the blue waters
of the Mediterranean, Theodora
loved the sea. To please her whim,
the great JuBtinia built this palace
. on the very extremity of a point of
land Jutting out Into the 8ea of
Marmora, just before It narrows In
to the Dardanelles. Two Summers,
at least, after she became empress,
Theodora spent there, and Its name
was changed to the Hymeneal Pal
ace. Then the former circus girl
thought Us beauties not sufficiently
magnificent for her, and she lived
in Summertime thereafter In a pal
ace built by the emperor on the
Asiatic aide of the Bosphorua.
The columns of the Hymeneal
Palace, stepping daintily down Into
the waters of the Sea of Marmora,
have made an Ideal landing place
for Turkish troops and munitions.
As a dwelling place, the palace has
long been a ruin, but most of the
columns still remain and It Is not
all unroofed.
Rumor tells that beneath the pal
aceas, indeed, beneath every pal
ace where Theodora made her home
are many underground passages
and dungeons. It is known t-at
these have been used as a store
house for explosives by the Otto
man forces defending that GalU
polls peninsula. It was these stores
that the British aviator was trying
to destroy. According to his own
report, his own shell exploded, do
ing considerable damage, but the
underground stores, In dungeons
carved out of the solid rock, were
not detonated by the shock.
Owing to Its position, the Hymen
eal Palace is safe from destruction
by the allied fleets aa long as the
shelling is from the side of the
Aegean Sea. Should, however, the
Boapbonis be forced and the garri
son entrenched on the peninsula be
attacked from the Sea of Marmora
side. It Is probable that the Hy
meneal Palace would be blown to
atoms, as It Is In the direct line of
fire from the Turkish forts com
manding that inlaud sea.
It is of a character with the
extraordinary force of Theodora'
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The Empress Theodora
life that over thirteen hundred
fear after ahe has passed away
her memory should still be power
ful. History records no stranger
life thsn hers, raised from a ribald
clown to the throne of the llyxan
tine Emperors, the august mistress
of the world. So marvellous was
her personal force, so unbridled
her passions and ao vindictive was
her revenge that Procopius of
Caessrea, her backstairs bi
ographer, declares that she waa
demon rather than Queen.
There la a shuddering horror In
that mediaeval Greek relic of Pro
coplua called Anecdotes," which
bears out the general belief of her
time that there was something in
human in Theodora. No student
of Byxautlce hlutory can fall to
Sunday Bee Magazine
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rom the Painting by Constans.
note the fear of her that swayed
the whole world In the century In
which vhe lived. There Is some
thing ao characteristic of Theodora
lu the figure of the broken effigy,
as reported half-sitting, listening
eagerly to the fighting overhead
and the groans of dying and
wounded that it creates instant
belief.
Daughter of an animal-trainer,
Acacius, the "keeper of the beara,"
Theodora made her first entrance
into the spotlight, soon after her
father's death. All the political
Tings" and all the tnureh fac
tions were allied to the "blue" or
the green" parties of the circus,
the colors being worn by char
ioteers In the races. For over two
hundred years bitter party rivalry
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by
The Bomb of an
English Airman
n m . A Mosaic of the Empress Theodora in the
Hal AO Ire fho M 44-1 rrvr Church of St. Vitalis, Havenna, Supposed
lJlCcUlO tllC JCjiilgy to Be an Authentic Portrait.
of the Great Theodora in Justinian's
Ruined Palace and Gives New Life
to a Strange Legend of One of
History's Most Picturesque Women
In sports waa the menace of the
Byzantine Empire. Klfcgs were
made and unmade, Popes seated
and expelled by the influence of a
"blue" or "green" favorite of the
circus. Theodora's father was a
"green."
As soon as he died, Acaclus's
, widow hastily married another
animal-trainer, so as to keep the
circus position in the family. But
a more eager claimant had pulled
wires even faster, and when Theo
dora's mother applied she was
Informed that the post was already
awarded. Accordingly, at the next
exhibition the widow paraded in
front of the grand stand with her
three daughters, aged thirteen,
eleven and five years, behind her,
the girls wearing the minimum of
clothing prescribed by the some
what lax rules of the circus.
The elder sister at once was
given by the "blues" a small part
in the pantomime, and before she
was fourteen her support was as
sured by admirers. Theodora,
after only a few months as an
assistant to her sister, branched
out for herself. She became a
buffoon, or clown, her extreme
youth excusing more audacious
performances that even that loose
time would usually tolerate. Even
her worst enemies admitted that
ahe was screamingly funny and
her unprintable coarseness waa
forgiven for this reason.
At the age of seventeen she de
clared that she was tired of the
life of Constantinople and accom
panied Ecebolus, Governor of the
province of Ethiopia, to his capi
tal There she remained for three
years, when ve dismissed her,
loaded with Jewels. Ills accusa
tion was that ahe was too "fire
hot In soul to be only a woman."
The Ethiopians believed her to be
a mere panther.
Theodora returned home by easy
stages, travelling through Asia
Minor and making conquests wher
ever she went. When at last she
returned to Constantinople she
was twenty-two years old, pos
sessed of great riches and at the
height of her attractions.
rrocoplus, who has no words
vile enough by which to call her,
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Who Warned the Circus Glri,
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cannot help but praise her beauty.
He has a little fling at her by
saying that she looked unhealthy,
but admits that her marvellous
eyes haunted a man forever if he
had seen them close to him only
once. "Eyes that eat up the face,"
he called them. She was small,
dark, and radiated femininity like
a spell. The only remaining pic
ture of her, a mosaic in the church
of St. Vitalis, Ravena, does not
show her to be so beautiful, ac
cording fo modern standards, but
It must be remembered that mosalo
does not lend Itself to portraiture.
When she returned to Constan
tinople, Theodora sent for Bell
sarius, the commander-in-chief,
whom she had met in Asia. The
great General came on the Instant
as did every man to whom Theo
dora called and the old friendship
was resumed. Through Belisarius,
Theodora met Justinian, the Em
peror. To meet Theodora was to
become ensnared. Two weeks
later the circus girl took up her
residence in the Imperial palace.
A friend of Theodora named An
tonina was introduced to Beli
sarius to compensate him for his
loss, and she made the famous
General a faithful and devoted
wife.
Although Justinian was so serl-ous-mlnded
and uninipassloned a
man that It was a common saying
that he had "missed youth on the
way to manhood," the lure of
Theodora held him fast. From the
day that she set foot In the pal
ace the same chain of strange and
demoniac events began which had
haunted Ecebolus. The cords
tightened closer and closer around
Justinian. But there could be no
marriage, for the law forbade any
one of noble birth, or holding ex
alted rank, to marry any woman
of known dissolute life.
Theodora persuaded first the em
peror, then the leaders of the
"blue," to annul this law, and short
ly afterwards she was married to
Justinian with great pomp and dis
play. Not content with that, soon
after she was made co-equal with
him as Empress of the Roman Em
pire in her own right.
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Preparing lib Famous Code of
Page
With the reins of power in her
hand, Theodora showed true great
ness. Though her enemies might
plot against her, the Empress al
ways was the strongest Her
knowledge seemed nothing less
than supernatural. Scores of people
declared that they had seen a fa
miliar spirit at her elbow. It was
known that Justinian was continual
ly haunted by a shadowy clawed
creature. Night after night he
paced the Imperial palace at
Constantinople with this Evil
Thing whispering behind him,
while Theodora was sunk In a
strange white-faced sleep.
Evil as that dark shadow may
have been, Its counsels were not.
The reign of Justinian Is marked
in history by some of the finest re
sults of the first millennium. The
great code of laws, the "Pandects,"
and the "Institutes," were planned
In those haunted cogitations. The
demon may have whispered plans
of extortion and extreme taxation,
but save for the extravagances of
Theodora the money was wisely
spent. Marvellous buildings
sprang up throughout the Byzan
tine Empire, even the great Church
of St. Sophia being the work of
Justinian.
At last came the plague. One
out of every six persons in Con
stantinople died. Both Justinian
and Theodora sickened, and it was
long before they evercame the in
fection. But "people, like nations,
never quite recover" from the
plague, and Theodora grew weaker.
Three years later she died from a
cancer that developed from a
plague spot. Wrapped in gold, her
body was laid In state in the Trl
clinion. Just on the point of land where
the Dardanelles widens into the Sea
of Marmora, the ruins of the Hy
meneal Palace stand, those ruins
rent apart by the bomb of the
British aviator. And Theodora
waits, unknowing whether the
Cross or the Crescent shall sur
mount the great Church of St. So
phia that Justinian built In honor
of the circus girl who became Em
press and Mistress of the World.
Law with Ilia Adrlaor
uviBWE
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