Justinian and Theodora are the Posh&Becks of the Byzantine Empire. But not many people know how Theodora--a low-born lady--caught Justinian's eye. Well, it involved a little party trick she does with her lady parts:
"Often, even in the theater, in the sight of all the people,
she removed her costume and stood nude in their midst, except for a girdle
about the groin: not that she was abashed at revealing that, too, to the
audience, but because there was a law against appearing altogether naked on the
stage, without at least this much of a fig-leaf. Covered thus with a ribbon,
she would sink down to the stage floor and recline on her back. Slaves to whom
the duty was entrusted would then scatter grains of barley from above into the
calyx of this passion flower, whence geese, trained for the purpose, would next
pick the grains one by one with their bills and eat. When she rose, it was not
with a blush, but she seemed rather to glory in the performance. For she was
not only impudent herself, but endeavored to make everybody else as audacious. Often
when she was alone with other actors, she would undress in their midst and arch
her back provocatively, advertising like a peacock both to those who had
experience of her and to those who had not yet had that privilege her trained
suppleness."
From
The Secret History of Procopius, trans Richard Atwater, 1927, p. 102-103
Leda and the Swan by Francois Boucher
