Zoe reigned as Byzantine Empress alongside her sister Theodora from April 19 to June 11, 1042. She was also enthroned as the empress consort to a series of co-rulers beginning with Romanos III in 1028 until her death in 1050 while married to Constantine IX.
Zoë was fifty when she first married, yet despite her age, she married twice more. Ironically, the most capable of her husbands was the one who was least well prepared to be emperor, Michael IV. It is said she was stunningly beautiful, and Michael Psellos in his Chronographia commented that "every part of her was firm and in good condition." She was aware of her charms and meant to keep and use them for as long as possible. With typical Byzantine ingenuity, she had many rooms in her chambers converted into laboratories for the preparation of secret ointments, and it was said she was able to keep her face relatively youthful until she was sixty.
Zoë was fifty when she first married, yet despite her age, she married twice more. Ironically, the most capable of her husbands was the one who was least well prepared to be emperor, Michael IV. It is said she was stunningly beautiful, and Michael Psellos in his Chronographia commented that "every part of her was firm and in good condition." She was aware of her charms and meant to keep and use them for as long as possible. With typical Byzantine ingenuity, she had many rooms in her chambers converted into laboratories for the preparation of secret ointments, and it was said she was able to keep her face relatively youthful until she was sixty.
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