Euphemia

Who is Euphemia?

Empress Euphemia, whose original name was Lupicina, was the consort of Justin I of the Byzantine Empire and founder of the Justinian Dynasty that lasted from 518 to 602.

Empress Euphemia is credited with the ecclesiastical policies of Justin and she founded a Church of Saint Euphemia, where she was buried following her death in either, 523 or 524. Justin was buried by her side in 527.

According to the Secret History of Procopius, Lupicina was both a slave and a barbarian. He asserted that she had been the concubine of her owner. The information from the Secret History was published posthumously. The seven volumes of histories that were published in his lifetime were the antithesis of this published work, being most laudatory of the new dynasty. Critics of Procopius have dismissed his posthumously published work as a severely biased source, being vitriolic and pornographic, but without other sources, critics have been unable to discredit some of the assertions in the publication. Although its motives are suspect and it can not be verified, its titillating nature has kept it as a popular reference.