It’s January of 532 CE in Constantinople. Earlier today, you were at the Hippodrome, where you cheered for your favorite chariot-racing team, the Greens. Your favorite driver beat the best drivers from the rival team, the Blues.
Nearly everyone in Constantinople supports a team, and some people even argue about political and religious matters based on the team they support.
Recently, some supporters of the Blue and Green teams were judged guilty of committing murder. Now both groups are angry at Emperor Justinian. People were already mad about his high taxes, and some have even started rioting! They have set the city on fire and are attacking the emperor’s palace. He wants to abandon the city and run away somewhere, but his wife, the Empress Theodora, convinces him to stay. She tells him, “For one who has been an emperor it is unendurable to be a fugitive.” Some people will later declare that Theodora rescued the throne of the Byzantine Empire.
