Sophia: Wife, Empress, Kingmaker

Corippus designated Justin II and Sophia as ‘the two lights of the world’ in his panegyric, ‘In Laudem Iustini Augusti minoris’, celebrating the accession of Justin to the throne following the death of Justinian. Sophia’s influence can be seen at every stage: her expedient conversion from miaphysitism to orthodoxy during the later stages of Justinian’s reign; her influence over every aspect of the governance of the empire including financial, religious and military; and her control over the empire when Justin’s insanity prevented him from continuing to rule. She was the first empress to appear on Byzantine coins together with the emperor; the writers of the reign celebrated the imperial couple as equals; and statues of the pair adorned the empire. Justin named at least two palaces and a harbour in Constantinople after his wife. In doctrinal matters, she not only played a role in Church politics, persecuted the miaphysites, and indulged in the donation of relics, she even composed her own prayer to the Virgin offered before Justin’s inauguration. At a perilous moment in the Persian war when Justin succumbed to his madness, she negotiated directly with Chosroes. Sophia was truly the ‘kingmaker’ of three emperors, promoting the accession of Justin, Tiberius and even Maurice. Compared with the attention afforded to previous empresses, such as Theodora, and even Ariadne, Sophia has been relatively neglected. This communication will develop the work of scholars such as Averil Cameron and others who have sought to re-assess the reign of Sophia and the unusual power she wielded as the wife of an emperor, with particular regard to her influence in some key examples of imperial diplomacy. These instances will demonstrate Sophia’s authority not just within the empire but her understanding of how to use both hard and soft power overseas.