Sophia

Aelia Sophia (Greek: Σοφία) (c. 530 – c./aft. 601) was Eastern Roman empress as the wife of Emperor Justin II. Sophia participated in the governance of the empire; she took an interest in the financial and foreign policies, and served as regent alongside Tiberius II during Justin's incapacity from 573 until 578.

Early life According to the Ecclesiastical History of John of Ephesus and the Chronicle of Victor of Tunnuna, Sophia was a niece of Theodora, the Empress consort of Justinian I. John of Ephesus did not specify the identities of her parents. According to the Secret History of Procopius, Theodora had only two siblings: her older sister Comito and younger sister Anastasia; either one could be the mother of Sophia. Whether Anastasia ever married is unknown.

Empress Accession Justinian I had several nephews but seems to have never appointed an heir. On the night of 13 November 565 – 14 November 565, Justinian I lay on his deathbed. Justin was his kouropalates and thus a viable heir within the Great Palace of Constantinople. He managed to gain the support of the Senate and was proclaimed emperor in the palace before the other members of the Justinian Dynasty were notified. According to John of Biclaro, the murder was carried out by the supporters of Sophia. Evagrius claims that the head of the deceased was sent to the imperial couple who spitefully kicked it around, a detail likely exaggerated by Evagrius.

In 568, Narses was removed from his position as prefect of Italy. According to Paul the Deacon, Sophia sent a message to the senior general that she had a more suitable position for a eunuch like him, as an overseer of the weaving girls of the gynaikonitis (women's quarters). Narses chose to retire to Naples, instead of returning to Constantinople as Justin had ordered him to do and invited the Lombards to invade. But the evidence for this conflict is deemed unreliable by some historians. Both Evagrius and Menander report that Sophia concluded a one-year truce with Khosrow on her own, in sharp contrast to her husband's policy against subsidies.

According to John of Ephesus, Sophia attributed the madness of her spouse to his failure to appreciate her status: "The kingdom came through me, and it has come back to me: and as for him, he is chastised, and has fallen into this trial on my account, because he did not value me sufficiently, and vexed me."

Theophanes records an anecdote that when Justin lashed out at Baduarius during his bouts of madness, Sophia persuaded him to apologize and invite Baduarius to dinner. She had the windows of the palace sealed with bars after he attempted to throw himself out of them.

A year after the emperor's incapacitation, the emperor and senate consulted the empress for the nomination of caesar, and they all agreed on Tiberius as her colleague in power. Justin and Sophia eventually set the ceiling for his expenditure and restricted his access to the treasury.

Both the Ecclesiastical History of John of Ephesus and the Chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor suggest that Sophia was planning to marry Tiberius at this point.

The Easter of 601 was also the last time that is heard of Sophia. Whether she survived to see the deposition of Maurice in 602 is unclear. They had a daughter, Firmina, whose fate is unknown.