Byzantine Epic Music - Mercy of the Augusta(Ἡ Ἔλεος τῆς Αὐγούστης)

As Constantinople burns, Empress Theodora remembers. This epic composition, featuring authentic Roman(Byzantine) instrumentation of 6th century and lyrics written predominantly in Koine Greek, with a passage in Court Latin - languages she herself spoke - captures her pivotal moment during the Nika Riots of 532 AD. Hearing the mob's roar, she recalls a past mercy - the Blues once offering shelter to her family when she was a child after the Greens have betrayed them, enabling her rise to Empress.

Theodora convinced her husband, Emperor Justinian I, to stay and fight. She dispatched their trusted then-Koubikoularios, later General, Narses, to the Blues - a strategic masterstroke to divide and cripple the rebellion and spare her former saviors from the planned slaughter. After the majority of the Blues withdrew from the riot, General Belisarius's forces stormed the Hippodrome to quell the remaining rebels, who were now overwhelmingly Greens. Meanwhile, troops led by Narses waited outside, ensuring no one escaped. This is the sound of mercy and decisiveness echoing through power, and a memory that changed history.

#history #constantinople #byzantine #byzantineempire #byzantinemusic #roman_empire #theodora #epicmusic #epic

Lyrics in english:

My father gone, my mother weeping, a suppliant's branch in hand,
We went to the Greens, bearing our plea.
They cast us out, shamed in the Hippodrome.
In darkness we sat, drenching our cheeks with misery.

But the Blues, with compassion, took us in.
Now, their honor lives within me.
Augusta, with a soul of iron,
To the purple and the throne faithful.

But the Blues, reaching out a hand,
Gave us shelter and a hope to withstand.
Their loyalty within my heart remains,
Until death, my soul loyal i will keep.
Through them, I ascend to the heights.

Listen! Voice of the people!
Danger in the circus, but
The Empire does not flee!
Our purple robe is our funeral shroud!
Narses, go to the Blues! Remember their favour!
I am Theodora, i shall not yield!
Through Justinian, Rome endures!

Now I walk in halls of porphyry,
But I have not forgotten the kindness shown.
The fire of the stage still burning in my eyes,
My drama now become the Empire.
The stage is now the entire cosmos.

But the Blues, with compassion, took us in.
Now, their honor lives within me.
Augusta, with a soul of iron,
To the purple and the throne faithful.