Word: emperor
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When he was not working on a commission, he usually packed up his family and took to the road, gypsy fashion. Meanwhile, John's roster of famous subjects grew, e.g., Japan's Prince (later Emperor) Hirohito-"an inconspicuous young man attired in a navy blue suit"-Thomas Hardy, T. E. Lawrence, W. B. Yeats. His fees also grew, to ?1,000 and up. The "series of scenes and adventures" practically fill Chiaroscuro, but here & there, John pauses to point and comment. Samples...
...only surprising thing about Theodora and the Emperor is that it took Harold Lamb so long to get around to it. Subject and author could hardly be more naturally joined: little is known for sure about the private life of Emperor Justinian, even less about his wife Theodora, but Harold Lamb is an old hand at bridging historical gaps. He once wrote a whole book about so shadowy a figure as Poet Omar Khayyam, and made it sound plausible at that. Now, working his imagination overtime, and with a large assist from Justinian's court historian, Procopius, Author Lamb...
...Macedonian peasant who had come to Constantinople for an education at 18, became emperor at 45 and ruled the Eastern Roman Empire for 38 years until his death in 565. The wife was a Syrian circus brat turned prostitute who had the good luck to please the future emperor...
...Author Lamb tells their story, the peasant emperor loses in stature and the prostitute empress takes on a regal aspect. Justinian is seen as a dull, lifelong scholar, a grubber for facts, a physical coward with an insatiable lust for power. He seldom left his palace, and depended on his great commander, Belisarius, to defend the empire. Of his many great projects, only two fully succeeded: the Justinian Code and the building of the magnificent Church of St. Sophia...
Theodora and the Emperor is too glib to be taken with thorough seriousness, but it is thoroughly readable...