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Underrated Female Ruler

• Empress Theodora of the Byzantine Empire

Theodora,empress, and wife of the emperor Justinian I, was probably the most powerful woman in Byzantine history. Her intelligence and political strategy made her Justinian’s most trusted adviser and enabled her to use the power and influence of her office to promote religious and social policies that favoured her interests.

Theodora is remembered as one of the first rulers to recognize the rights of women, passing strict laws to prohibit the traffic in young girls and altering the divorce  laws to give greater benefits to women.This represented unparalleled social mobility for women at the time. It gave many women access to power.

Before becoming empress, she had once been a concubine in the service of one of these provincial governors. She knew only too well the kind of power these men had over women.

That's why she spent much of her reign trying to mitigate the laws against the miaphysites. She saw to it that women could own and inherit property, which was quite a breakthrough because it gave daughters and wives real social power.

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Mae West, 1936

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

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Taylor Hill for Victoria Secret ⚜ VoyageVisuel ⚜

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“Now your hair, I don’t know what it is like! It’s as bright as copper and gold, as red as burnt copper, and it has gold threads where the sun shines on it.”

— D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers

Idole...❤

Anita Ekberg photographed by Georg Oddner, 1951.

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Υπάρχουν λίγα πράγματα στην ζωή τόσο όμορφα που πονάνε: να κολυμπάς στην θάλασσα ενώ βρέχει, να διαβάζεις βιβλία σε άδειες βιβλιοθήκες, ο όχλος των αστεριών που εμφανίζονται στον ουρανό όταν είσαι μακριά από τα φώτα της πόλης, τα μπαρ μετά τα μεσάνυχτα, να περπατάς στην ερημιά, όλες οι φάσεις του φεγγαριού, τα πράγματα που ακόμα δεν ξέρω για τον κόσμο και εσύ.

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greeks of turkey

Given their large Greek populations, Constantinople and Asia Minor featured prominently in the Greek irredentist concept of Megali Idea (lit. “Great Idea”) during the 19th century and early 20th century. The goal of Megali Idea was the liberation of all Greek-inhabited lands and the eventual establishment of a successor state to the Byzantine Empire with Constantinople as its capital.

requested by @marianikolaides

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“Every inch of her is golden, glory, and fire.”

s.t