Theodora — Acrobat, Whore, Empress, Saint: Great Sluts of History

If we could have asked Theodora, would she have said whore or empress was the harder job?

Born about 500 A.D., the middle of three daughters to an actress and a bear-trainer in Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire, Theodora (meaning, gift of God) did not have an easy childhood.

By some accounts trained as a child acrobat (think gymnast), her father died (mauled by one of his own bears?) when she was young, and there are…