Paulo Silva Neto Sobrinho

Did Theodora have 500 prostitutes killed?  Part 2 (Final)

"Do not spread rumors or raise false testimony against the life of your neighbor." (Leviticus 19:16.)
"Never repeat a rumor, and you will lose nothing." (Ecclo 19,7.)
"But let your statement be: yes, yes; no, no; because anything beyond these is of evil." (Mathew 5,37.)

From what we could find out, Procopio, the historian, and primary source of these reports, only wrote his book Anecdotes (Secret History) in 558. What makes us wonder, as already mentioned, is that after this narrative regarding the confinement of the prostitutes, there were no other words from him regarding this issue, and this leaves us with the strong impression that they were even “erased”;  but, as said, this is a mere hypothesis and we have nothing that says what really happened. In our opinion, we do not believe that Theodora had them imprisoned to change them into five hundred nuns, and that she was concerned about saving their souls from sin, or perhaps even making their lives better by guaranteeing them a living for the rest of their lives. 

A lot of bitter gossip

We cannot fail to inform that Mario Giordani Curtis (1921-), a philosopher and theologian, born in the city of Viamao, considers Procopius a unreliable historian: 

"Procopius, the historian, in his Secret History, presents us a very vivid picture (but not very worthy of faith) of the tempestuous life of the daughter of a tamer of bears, which, in the words of Diehl, amused, delighted and scandalized Constantinople". (Giordani 1968, page 47). (Emphasis added).

"The third work of Procopius, the Secret History, is considered by Runciman [33] "a lot of bitter gossip". The "Secret History" differs, in fact, fundamentally from the other two and its authenticity is put into question by critics. This work is a gross libel against Justinian, Theodora and Belisarius himself. The author attributes to Justinian the cause of all the evils which then fell on the Empire.
______

[33] Lingenthal, Karl Eduard Zachariä von, Geschichte des Grieschisch-Römischen Rechts. - Aalen in Württenberg – Verlag Scientia 1955. (Photomecanischer Nachdruck).

(GIORDANI, 1968, page 192) (Emphasis added).

Professor Vicente Dobroruka (1969-), of the Department of History, University of Brasilia, kindly answered our e-mail: 

My opinion is that the episode of "suicide" evokes two common literary places in the ancient history: one, the moralism (once a prostitute, always a prostitute - and it seems to me beyond any doubt that Theodora was one, but this does not imply she was cruel); the other, the collective suicides of people in sieged cities from which they could not leave. The "500 prostitutes" would have, in a way, preferred to die than to renounce to lust (more moralism...), much like the Zealots of Masada in Flavius Josephus (Jewish War, 7). I do not believe in history, as a factual and authentic representation. Also, take into account the tendency of *all* ancient historians to exaggerate the numbers (Procopius even speaks of "millions" killed by Justinian – if taken seriously I do not know how the human species would survive this fact). (DOBRORUKA, 2009, by e-mail) (Emphasis added). 

Let us also see what the American journalist, Paul Iselin Wellman (1895-1966), stated:

It is said that certain facts referring to Theodora, particularly during the last days of her reign, attest her cruelty and lack of scruples. Some of them are clearly false, like the discredited work Anedocta, authored by Procopio, according to which she had intercourse with an admirer at the time she was still a courtesan and a child was born from this relation. Later this child appeared at the time she was an Empress to legitimize his situation. According to Procopius, Theodora, “fearing that the story reached the ears of the Emperor", she made this boy disappear forever.
[...]

Regarding Procopio, official historian of Justinian's reign, most of what is said against Theodora is based on his gross "secret history" entitled Anecdota.

The reasons for this merciless hatred toward the Empress are ignored. In his official reports, Procopio passes the image of a subservient flatterer. While he wrote his works about wars and achievements of the empire, he secretly collected any gossip, insinuation and calumny.
The falseness of Anecdota is revealed through obvious untruths that discredit all its contents. For example, the historian ensures, in all seriousness, that Justinian and Theodora were not human beings but demons that had taken human form. And to prove this ridiculous statement, he adds the alleged evidence. His other reports are contradictory, and impossible to accept. And his habit of even misrepresenting the praiseworthy deeds of the imperial couple to make them look bad shows his evident animosity through all the work.

Nevertheless, it is in this secret document - apparently written to vent his own anger, and that was not intended for publication, coming to light only centuries later, when it was too late to approve or disapprove the majority of its statements - that many base themselves for the evaluation of Theodora’s character. The legacy of the spiteful feather of a man, who secretly hated her, was the deadliest blow against the beautiful Empress, though she did not live long enough to be aware of it.
However, there were acts of tyranny and cruelty, attested by sources more reliable than Procopio.

In this respect, we must say that tyranny and cruelty were common at that time, and from this point of view the Empress was not worse - if both equally perverse - than her contemporaries sitting on thrones. 

Despite all her shortcomings, no one, not even her bitter anonymous enemy, Procopio, could accuse her of having failed with her loyalty and faithfulness to Justinian. 

The absolute silence that is seen regarding this issue, which was one of the very first to be explored against the Empress, is the ultimate proof that, when she married, she left behind her way of thinking and her courtesan behavior. She always worked for her husband’s glory and most of what was said about her, she did it in the name of the love she had for her husband, the Emperor. (WELLMAN, pages 399-401) (Emphasis added). 

Considering all this, it is more than evident the difficulty we have in seeking the historical data because some are based on the author's interests and others have problems in translation, not to mention those who are distorted. 

Conclusion

Of the seventy-nine listed authors of our library, only two reported the episode in which Theodora had put to death the five hundred prostitutes.

One was Holger Kersten, a German theologian, who has an extensive bibliographic reference, which demonstrates the extent of his research work. Jose Reis Chaves is the other; but he does not mention his primary source. Together they represent only 2.5% of the works that we have.

We think this is very little for such a serious matter like this; and that, taking into account our research, we have no basis to say with absolute certainty what actually happened. The only thing we have as certain is the fact that Theodora gathered the five hundred prostitutes, and, against their will, had them imprisoned in the Repentance Monastery. What happened from then onwards is unclear; we found out nothing.

However, the issue is complex, because the fact that other authors do not mention it, does not necessarily mean that it did not occur; But the fact of not being referenced by other historians, that, yes, leaves us with no conditions to determine if the fact really occurred, or if it did not deserve to be registered.

Therefore, and as we have, basically, one primary source, even considering that it is true, we think it is wise, in this present case, for us to wait until another primary source appears regarding this matter. We saw this fact in several texts, but some authors even mention the source; others just mentioned one of these two authors, we talked about in the previous paragraph, which makes us continue at the same point, as if we are anchored.

In our humble opinion, it is not at all wise to pass forward this information that Theodora had 500 prostitutes killed, even if the source is from the spiritual plane, for the simple reason that the Spirits too do not know everything and only talk about what they learnt at school, i.e., they are not infallible and can therefore be wrong. The one, who believes everything that is told, does not follow the Higher Spirits’ guidelines, and, therefore, becomes a fanatic. Moreover, we can still find messages "signed" that are the result of the medium's thoughts and own beliefs.

References:

CHAVES, J. R. Reincarnation according to the Bible and Science. Sao Paulo: Martin Claret 2002.
Fevre, F. Theodora, the Empress of Byzantium. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira 1991.
FRANZERO, C. M. Theodora. Lisbon: ENP 1963.
GIORDANI, M. C. History of the Byzantine Empire. Petropolis, RJ: Vozes 1968.
KERSTEN, H. Jesus lived in India. Sao Paulo: Best Seller, 1988.
PROCOPIO. Secret Story. Belo Horizonte: CEDIC, s/d
SILVA, S. C. Analyzing the biblical translations. Joao Pessoa: 2001.
WELLMAN, P. I. Theodora, from Courtesan to Empress. Rio de Janeiro: Vecchi, 1961