Justin, in 525, repeals a law that effectively prohibits a member of the senatorial class from marrying women from a lower class of society, including the theater, which is considered scandalous at the time.

This edict paves the way for his nephew Petrus Sabbatius, the future emperor Justinian I, to marry Theodora, a former mime actress, and eventually results in a major change to the old class distinctions at the Imperial court.

(Procopius of Caesarea, in his Secret History, will allege in mid-century that before her marriage she had been an actress and prostitute.)

She soon becomes an equal to her new husband, participating in the governance with significant influence.