[HN Gopher] A fresh view of Galla Placidia
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       A fresh view of Galla Placidia
        
       Author : gmays
       Score  : 28 points
       Date   : 2023-01-12 18:08 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.smithsonianmag.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.smithsonianmag.com)
        
       | LarryMullins wrote:
       | I thought for sure this would be about Livia.
        
         | chasil wrote:
         | Livia never ruled as regent for an emperor that had not yet
         | come of age.
        
           | LarryMullins wrote:
           | Yes, but she seems to fit the misunderstood Empress of great
           | willpower description. For Robert Graves' characterization of
           | her, if nothing else.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | SamBam wrote:
       | Seems like this would make a good HBO miniseries...
        
       | nerdponx wrote:
       | This article does a great job of bringing ancient history to
       | life. Thanks for sharing.
        
       | ogogmad wrote:
       | The conclusion of the article runs counter to the argument here:
       | https://acoup.blog/2022/01/14/collections-rome-decline-and-f...
       | 
       | It's unsurprising that the "bright ages" book was written by art
       | historians AFAICT. Bret Devereaux has pointed out that this
       | thesis is only believed by art historians, with other classicists
       | believing that a significant Western dark age did happen.
        
       | 082349872349872 wrote:
       | Compared with Placidia's 3rd-base-baby origins, Theodora seems to
       | have done a bit more Willing her way...
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodora_(wife_of_Justinian_I)...
        
         | jbandela1 wrote:
         | And I think had far more impact. I think Theodora was one of
         | the big reasons behind Justinian's successes. She was the one
         | who encouraged him not to flee Constantinople during a
         | rebellion which probably saved his reign. In addition, she was
         | good friends with Belisarius's wife and helped smooth over
         | Justinian's jealousy of his very successful general for as long
         | as she lived. It is after her death that Justinian discarded
         | Belisarius and likely doomed any chance he had to re-conquer
         | and reconstitute the Roman Empire.
        
         | gwern wrote:
         | Not to mention the spectacular ratio of speculation and
         | psychologizing to source in OP. If you cut out all of the 'she
         | must have' or 'doubtless' or 'perhaps' lines, I think 80% of OP
         | would be gone. Whereas Theodora is much better documented.
        
           | twelve40 wrote:
           | Maybe but it's not the OP's fault? I think it's still fun to
           | read and try to imagine what it was like, even if it's
           | speculation.
        
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       (page generated 2023-01-12 23:01 UTC)