Empress Theodora probably knew how to train bears
Theodora was probably a sex worker and was definitely the daughter of a bear trainer AND ALSO became Empress of the Byzantine Empire by being awesome. She reigned in the 6th century alongside Justinian (he’s the one who had the Hagia Sophia built).
The fun fact about her is that when the Nika riots happened and it seemed like Constantinople was going to get torn the hell up, Justinian was prepared to flee and Theodora essentially said:
“LOOK. I know I’m a woman, but fuck all that because this is serious. What’s the smart thing to do here. Yeah, maybe if we stay, we die. But do you want to be that emperor who ran away and is no longer an emperor? NO I DIDN’T THINK SO.”
So they stayed.
And yeah, sure, they had 30,000 people put to death. But they also rebuilt Constantinople, built the aforementioned Hagia Sophia on a site destroyed by the rioters, fixed aqueducts, added a bunch of public buildings, and generally seemed to do a good job. Aside from the death thing.
This happened because the daughter of a bear trainer remained calm and awesome in a crisis. HISTORY.