Theodora III
b. circa 985, Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul); d. 1056, Constantinople
Theodora was the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VIII and the younger sister of Zoë. She spent much of her life in a convent—once confined there by her sister—but reigned twice: in 1042, as co-ruler with Zoë when her nephew, Zoë‘s son Michael V, was dethroned, and again at the end of her life, upon the death of her brother-in-law, Constantine IX, from January 11, 1055, until her death.