When the young Irene arrives in Constantinople from Athens she has no idea what her future holds, but she soon finds her direction: wife and mother of emperors, she will become the one and only empress of an eastern Roman empire, which although in its years of decline, still preserves its splendours of its past. Surrounded by a group of faithful followers, she rules alone with an iron fist    over men and land, despite being a woman. To survive she has to confront conspiracies and treachery that tries again and again to overthrow her power, but she is never scared to stain her hands with her enemies' blood, nor even that of again her son. Told with great narrative pace and build-up, and a reflective and powerful sense comparable to Memoirs of Hadrian, Irene of Athens is the personal account from one of the Roman empires most powerful rulers.