The Anathemas Q-and-A: What’s the History behind the Novel?

In 553 AD, Justinian I, the self-righteous ruler of the eastern half of the decaying Roman Empire, held Pope Vigilius prisoner until the church leader agreed to sign The Anathemas of the Council of Constantinople, previously convened by the emperor. Thus, with the stroke of the papal pen, anyone who believed in the ancient doctrine that souls existed before the present body’s birth or reincarnated after its death was excommunicated from the church, subject to persecution and eternally damned. This little-known power play between church and state served to prejudice the western world against the possibility of reincarnation right up to the present.

More than 25 years before, Justinian had married Theodora, a commoner and courtesan about 20 years his junior. When he became emperor in 527, he made Theodora empress and co-ruler. The marriage and elevation caused a scandal, but Theodora proved to be a potent leader in her own right as well as Justinian’s greatest supporter. She died in 548, perhaps of cancer, at a relatively young age, leaving the rudderless emperor to rule on his own for the remaining twenty years of his long life.

As if to assuage his grief, the emperor took to theology, usurping the rightful role of the clergy in deciding doctrine and proscribing heretics. Believers in reincarnation were just one group that felt his wrath.

Witnessing the triumphs and tragedies of the reign of Justinian and Theodora was the official court historian Procopius. While his public works are extravagant in their praise of his patrons, he also authored The Secret History, in which Justinian is cast as cruel and incompetent and Theodora, formerly a prostitute of insatiable lust, is shrewish, mean-spirited and manipulative as empress. It is to Procopius that we owe history’s ambivalent judgment of this imperial couple.