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languages, from the Italian
soldo
to the French
sou
, the Castilian
sueldo
, and even the Welsh
swllt.
) Laborers and bricklayers were needed for the construction of public works, for building the roads that were the pride of the city and that celebrated imperial power, and the walls, basilicas, and churches. There were always openings among the policemen, firemen, nurses, and soldiers. Bodyguards were needed for the emperor, 4 who was both the leader of the Christian “new Israel” 5 and the “Augustus” ceremoniously applauded in the Hippodrome by “senate, army, and people”—the interpreter of the ancient Roman imperial role. His subjects loved him most when he handed out the wheat that came from Egypt, the “happy cargo” of the ships that sailed from Alexandria.
    Bread and circuses were provided, but not kindergartens or public schools. Education was a private, domestic matter, especially when it came to girls. Wealthy and respectable families took good care of their little girls, who were considered “the apple of their eyes,” 6 and keptthem at home, away from indiscreet eyes. The girls spent their days spinning thread and taking alphabet and grammar lessons in which Attic tragedies and Homeric epics were increasingly replaced with edifying passages from the holy scriptures (the
Psalms
in particular), which were often learned by heart.
    The little girl left the family residence (the Latin
domus
) only briefly, always chaperoned by female servants. She went out only for hygienic purposes: to clean her body at the public baths or, even better, to edify her soul at places of worship or by visiting monks of exemplary holiness. No form of public entertainment was allowed. Frequenting the theater was unbecoming, let alone going to the Hippodrome. Even the most influential of adult matrons, curious about a successful show, had to arrange for a private performance. Her majordomo, a eunuch, would arrange for the programs and for the compensation of actors, dancers, and musicians.
    This segregation of women was codified, reinforced, even exalted in late ancient and in later Byzantine texts. It did, however, allow for exceptions, especially at the bottom rung of the social ladder. Theodora and her sisters probably did not learn the basics of arithmetic or Greek reading and writing from private tutors. More likely, they attended group classes in one of the city’s charitable institutions.
    According to the literary account of a dramatic event that took place during Theodora’s imperial tenure, her speech as an adult was full of erudite allusions; but that ancient source—with its rhetorical implications—probably over-refined Theodora’s actual words. Theodora was not, nor could she have been, a refined exponent of late ancient cultural literacy, though she knew how to use words well. And it’s likely that her skill was due to her mother’s ambition.
    In any case, the childhood years of Theodora and her sisters must have been spent mostly outdoors playing in the city’s streets, squares, and orchards. We can easily imagine Comito, Theodora, and Anastasia absorbed in tag and other running games including the Four Doors game: then as now, it consisted of the children running from one door to another, with a penalty for the last child to reach the goal. Girls, and probably boys too, played the Devil in Chains game, where one playerwas tied down for each turn, as we can plainly see in a marble fragment conserved at the Berlin Museums [ fig. 9 ]. Or they played the Kingdoms Game, 7 in which the children drew lots for a deep red strip of fabric symbolizing the purple robe permitted only to the emperor. The child with the strip was the emperor, and his playmates would gather around him as ministers, servants, and maids. The emperor would threaten war, issue commands, demand homage. Maybe Theodora wished the game would never end; maybe she preferred to keep the red badge of power tucked inside her sleeve.

9. Marble