Jesters, no. But Mushroom is based on Procopius, who was a scholar and legal adviser in the Emperor Justinian’s regime (attached to the staff of the general Belisarius). Procopius is in/famous for writing multiple panegyric histories of Justinian covering everything from his wars to his public works, and then a Secret History that denounced Justinian, his wife Theodora, and Belisarius’ wife Antonina.
The Secret History is quite salacious. In addition to lambasting Justinian as an incompetent tyrant as opposed to an enlightened ruler on the level of Augustus, Theodora was described as a scheming, debauched prostitute who totally dominated Justinian and constantly undermined his policies out of a desire to monopolize power, and Antonina was also described as an unfaithful wife who cuckolded Belisarius with his own step-son.
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