Report No. 64

2.6. First rescue home.-

Theodora, wife of Justinian, established the first rescue home for women. Edward Gibbon1 attributes Justinian's action to his desire to marry Theodora, whose life had been notorious; but, though, no doubt, she influenced him in the matter, Gibbon concedes her virtue after marriage, and gives her credit for "the most benevolent institution" of Justinian's region-the rescue home for fallen women in Constantinople. Though this institution did not succeed, it marks a turning point in the treatment of a class which had never met with public sympathy before.

1. Gibbon Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, cited in Encyclopaedia Britannica, (1965), Vol. 18, p. 598.