[Antoninus]

I have never understood why a movie have never been done on Justinian & Theodora! It would be a great story on the screen. High ranking Roman falls in love with a prostitute\actress later become Emperor & Empress. The Byzantines if anything were colorful, had the Roman sense of pageantry.

Agree. Justinian is also a rags-to-riches story with plenty of intrigue to go around. I think our Hollyweird friends can't tolerate the fact that he was also a very devout Orthodox Catholic. That makes him not particularly useful as a hero for them.

Constantine's life would also make outstanding fodder for a TV series -- if told correctly.

[Verginius Rufus]

Read Procopius' Secret History. Theodora was the Hillary Clinton of her day.

But that may be unfair to Theodora.