Theodosian Empresses sets a series of compelling women on the stage of history and offers new insights into the eastern court in the fifth century.

Kenneth G. Holum is Professor of History at the University of Maryland.

"Political women of the Theodosian age (A.D. 379-455) exercised a specifically female basileia, or imperial dominion. In so doing they helped to transform the Roman into the Byzantine empire. It is on the nature and scope of this dominion that Kenneth G. Holum focuses his considerable erudition. . . . Theodosian Empresses is a bold, original, and important work of social and religious history."—Jay Bregman, Catholic Historical Review

"A valuable book which will stimulate thought about many aspects of an important period, that has been undeservedly neglected."—J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz, The Classical Review

"Holum's use of numismatic and artistic as well as textual evidence is most welcome. Gracefully written and thematically consistent, Holum's book marks a new stage in the research on not just the imperial women but the whole Theodosian era. All future scholars must take into account his exciting hypotheses, whether they support or challenge them."—Elizabeth A. Clark, Church History