Byzantine Empress: Irina
Introduction:
In Byzantium in the 8th century AD, the waves of the Golden Horn beat against the palace walls of the empire, and also supported the rise of a legendary woman - she was Irina, from a girl in a Greek manor to the queen of Leo IV, to the first European queen who was crowned under the name of "Basileus".
After her husband passed away, she took power as the empress dowager, but she had to face the backlash of the astrological forces and the doubts of the nobles in the court. Even her biological son Constantine VI became a pawn in the power game. Her left eye contains a strange light from her bloodline, which allows her to discern the shadows behind the conspiracy; she uses the icon as a shield to protect the peace of the monastery, and uses her purple robe as a blade to cut off the thorns that block the way forward.
During the palace coup in 797, she deposed her parents and children, not to be ruthless, but to keep the light of Byzantium; she was named "Saint Irina" for future generations, not only because she restored the piety of the icon, but also because she, as a woman, supported a legend of balancing light and shadow for the empire in an era when men were in power.
The wind in the Golden Horn is still blowing. Her story is a game of power, a bond of blood, and an epic story of a queen holding on to her scepter and faith in the torrent of the times.
