The Purple Shroud: A Novel Of Empress Theodora - Plot & Excerpts
Spring came early and then it was Easter again, with its public ritual and processions, the court keeping time with the Church. In the throes of the massive rebuild, the City was either all mud or all dust, nothing between, men working day and torchlit night, chipping away at marble and stone, building upon deep foundations, adding finishing touches to the projects deemed most urgent. The Hippodrome seats and broken boards were replaced, damaged statues exchanged for new, any sign of the dead obliterated. The new Baths were completed, as was the Senate. The unfinished Chalke was already in use while a team of artists worked on designs for its completed decoration, a golden mosaic depicting the Empire’s defeat of both Gelimer’s Vandals and the Goths in Italy. No matter that Belisarius’ troops had not yet left the City. The general was sure of his coming success in Carthage, and Justinian was keen to immortalise it – in his own favour. Adjoining the Chalke was the Augustaion, the open square where tens of thousands of rebels had gathered just a year ago and where their dead bodies were piled not long after.
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