Zoe Porphyrogenita

Zoe Porphyrogenita (c. 978–1050) was a Macedonian-dynasty Byzantine empress, the second daughter of Constantine VIII. She spent decades confined to the palace women's quarters until 1028, when her dying father married her to Romanos III Argyros. When Romanos was found dead in his bath in 1034, she wed Michael IV the same day.

Michael V, whom she had adopted, later exiled her. A popular rising against him in 1042 placed Zoe and her sister Theodora on the throne as joint empresses; two months later she married Constantine IX Monomachos and remained Augusta until her death.