32. Byzantine empress Euphemia began as a prostitute and changed her name when she ascended the throne
In the sixth century AD, an ex-sex worker managed to become Empress of the Eastern Roman empire. For the wife of Julian I, Empress Euphemia began life as a woman known as Lupicina. The Latin word Lupa refers to female wolves — and prostitutes. So the name Lupicina suggests Euphemia started life as a prostitute. In his “Secret History,” the writer Procopius even suggests Euphemia was a slave. Whatever her past, once Empress, Euphemia became intensely pious. She did not involve herself in politics, but she did direct Julian’s religious policies. Her new name was even that of a Christian martyr. Euphemia founded a church to her namesake, the Church of St Euphemia in Constantinople, where she lay after her death around 524 AD.