Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1049

THEODORA. of the faiulous character of the story is derived from the non-existence, at that time, of any Greek version of the Old Testament. Theodectes had a son of the same name (see below), and a domestic slave, who was also his amanuensis (avayvdlxTTrjs koL ot/ccTT/s), named Sibyrtius, who is said to have been the first of his condition who devoted himself to the study of rhetoric. He wrote a treatise on the art, rexvai priTopiKaiy according to Suidas, who, however, is just as likely as not to have confounded the master and the slave. (Suid. s. v. ^iSvpnos.) 2. A son of the former, who followed his father's profession as a rhetorician, and, according to Suidas (s. v.), wrote an Encomium on Alexander the Epeirot, historical memoirs {laTopiKa. viroixvqfmTa), a work on the customs of barbarian nations {vdiiifxa ^apSapiKo), a treatise on rhetoric in seven books (rexi'i? priTopiKri), and many other works. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. pp. 323, 324, vol. vi. p. 138 ; Welcker, die Griech. Tragod. pp. 1069, foil. ; Kayser, Hist. Grit. Trag. Graec. p. 108, foil. ; Wagner, Fragm. Trag. Graec. pp. 113, foil., in Didot's Bibliotheca.) [P. S.] THEODEMIR, king of the Ostrogoths, and father of Theodoric the Great. [Theodoricus the Great.] THEO'DOCUS (©eoSo/cos), the name given by Pococke (in his Latin Version of Abu-1-Faraj, Hist. Dynast, p. 12o), and Wustenfeld {Gesch. der Arab. Aerzte, p. 9) to a Greek physician in the service of HajAj Ibn Yusuf, the general of the chalif 'Ab(iu-1-Malek Ibn Merwan, in the seventh cen- tury aftei Christ. He is called in Arabic iJ^iiW Tidduk (though with some slight variations in different MSS.), which Reiske (Opusc Med. ex Monim. Arab. p. 46) renders Theotychus, but Theodocus is probably nearer the truth. He is said to have had numerous eminent pupils ; and is probably the person called Tiaducus in the Latin Version of Rhazes (Cont. iii. 2, p. 53 ed. 1506,) and Tiaduk in Sontheimer's German trans- lation of Ibn Baitar (vol. i. pp. 14, 137, &c.). There is rather a long life of Theodocus in Ibn Abi Osaibi^ah (vii. 5, Arab. MS. in the Bodleian Library), which is chiefly filled with anecdotes of his sayings. [W. A. G.] THEODO'RA, FLA'VIA MAXIMIA'NA, the daughter of Galeria Valeria Eutropia [Eu- tropia] by her first husband, whose name and station are alike unknown. After the second marriage of Eutropia with Maximianus Herculius, Constantius Chlorus having been elevated (a. d. 292) to the rank of Caesar was required to repudiate his wife Helena [Helena] and to wed the step- daughter of his Augustus. By Constantius Theo- dora had six children, three daughters and three sons. The daughters were, 1 . Flavia Valeria Constantia, united to the emperor Licinius. 2. Anastasia, wife of Bassianus [Bassianus]. 3. Eutropia, mother of Nepotianus who assumed the purple in a.d. 350 [Nepotianus] ; with regard to the names of the sons, see the article Hanniballianus. (Aureh Vict, de Caes. 39, Epit. 39 ; Eutrop. x. 14 ; Tillemont, Histoire des Empereurs, vol. iv. Dioclet. Art. iii.) [W. R.] THEODO'RA, the wife of the emperor Justi- nian, was the daughter of Acacius, who had the care of the wild beasts of the Green faction of Con- stantinople. After the death of her father, she THEODORETUS. 1037 and lier sisters earned their living as pantomimic actresses ; and Theodora, by the charms of her person and her skill in acting, soon became one of the greatest favourites of the stage. She earned the reputation of being the most beautiful and most licentious courtezan of the city, and Pro- copius, in his Secret History, has related the most scandalous tales of her amours. After practising her profession in public and in private at Constan- tinople for some time, she accompanied Ecebolus, who had been appointed to the government of the African Pentapolis. But she Avas soon deserted by her lover, and returned in indigence to the im- perial city. On her arrival at the scene of her former glory and infamy, she assumed a virtuous character, retired from the world, and appeared to support herself by spinning. While living in this retirement she attracted the notice of Justinian, who then governed the empire under his uncle Justin, and she gained such a mastery over the affections and the passions of the youthful prince, that he married the fair courtezan in 525, in spite of the vehement remonstrances of his mother and other relatives. On the death of Justin, and the elevation of Justinian in 527, Theodora was pub- licly proclaimed empress ; and not content with conferring upon her this honour, her uxorious hus- band declared her to be an equal and independent colleague in the empire, and required all public functionaries to take the oath of allegiance in the joint names of himself and of Theodora. The part which she took in public affairs is related in the life of Justinian. [Justinianus I.] She died in 548 of a cancer, having retained to the last her hold on the affections of Justinian. She is repre- sented by the historians as proud and tyrannical in the exercise of power ; but as none of her enemies have brought any charge against her chastity after her marriage with Justinian, we may safely conclude that she never proved unfaithful to her husband. She bore Justinian only one child, a daughter, whom she buried in her life-time. (Procopius, Historia Arcana; the graphic sketch of Gibbon, Decline and Fall, c. xl. ; and the au- thorities quoted in the life of Justinian.) THEODORE'TUS (OeoSc^pTjToy) is mentioned by Fabricius {Bibl. Gr. vol. xiii. p. 432, ed. vet.) as a physician quoted by Paulus Aegineta (iii. 46, 50, vii. 11. pp. 470, 475, 659), but in these pas- sages the word is the name of a medicine, not of a man. [W. A. G.] THEODORE'TUS (©eoSc^/jrjTos), or, as the name is sometimes written, both in ancient MSS. and in modern works, Theodoritus, — though the former is undoubtedly the more correct ortha- graphy, — was one of the most eminent ecclesiastics of the fifth century ; confessedly surpassing all his contemporaries in learning, and inferior to none of them in piety ; while, in his public conduct, he stands conspicuous and almost alone, as a calm and moderate champion of freedom of opinion in reli- gious matters, in an age when the orthodox and the heretics vied with one another in the bitterest in- tolerance and rancour. The one blot of moral weakness on the character of Theodoret is by no means so dark as some have represented, and, at all events, may be greatly extenuated, without un- fairness. And yet, but for that one fault, his name would have come down to us consigned to the list of heretics, by men, such as Cyril and Dioscorus, to whose spirit, it is no small praise to Theodoret