Athalaric

{{Infobox monarch

| name = Athalaric

| image = Detail of Consular diptych of Rufus Gennadius Probus Orestes.png

| caption = Detail of Consular diptych of Rufus Gennadius Probus Orestes, showing Althalaric on the left and Amalsuintha on the right C. 530{{cite web | url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O69490/rufus-gennadius-probus-orestes-diptych-unknown/ | title=Rufus Gennadius Probus Orestes }}

| succession = King of the Ostrogoths

| reign = 526{{dash}}534

| predecessor = Theoderic the Great

| successor = Amalasuintha

| regent = Amalasuintha

| birth_date = {{circa}} 516

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|534|10|2|516|}}

| father = Eutharic

| mother = Amalasuntha

| dynasty = Amali

}}

Athalaric ({{Langx|la|Athalaricus}}; {{circa}} 516{{snd}}2 October 534) was the king of the Ostrogoths in Italy between 526 and 534. He was a son of Eutharic and Amalasuintha, the youngest daughter of Theoderic the Great,{{Cite book|title=Amalasuntha|date=January 2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-0199|isbn=978-0-19-518792-2}} whom Athalaric succeeded as king in 526.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Athalaric was described to live a hedonistic lifestyle by Procopius of Caesarea.{{Cite journal |last1=Armocida |first1=Emanuele |last2=Galassi |first2=Francesco M. |last3=Gruppioni |first3=Giorgio |last4=Zambruno |first4=Simone |last5=Varotto |first5=Elena |last6=Traversari |first6=Mirko |last7=Calcagnile |first7=Lucio |last8=Ruggeri |first8=Alessandro |date=2021 |title=The Presumed Skull of Athalaric, King of the Ostrogoths (ad 516–534): Questioning of a Century-Old Attribution and Paleopathological Study |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27088320 |journal=Anthropologie (1962-) |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=93–96 |doi=10.26720/anthro.20.08.05.1 |jstor=27088320 |issn=0323-1119}} His mother managed the kingdom during his reign, and he died as a teenager.{{Cite journal |last=Frye |first=David |date=1995 |title=Athalaric's Health and the Ostrogothic Character |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44172211 |journal=Byzantion |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=249–251 |jstor=44172211 |issn=0378-2506}}

Life

The grandfather of Athalaric was Theodoric the Great (470-526). His area of rule encompassed Italy, southern Spain, southern France, and the western Balkans.{{Cite journal |last=Bachrach |first=David Stewart |date=April 2024 |title=Theoderic the Great: King of Goths, Ruler of Romans |journal=Journal of Military History |volume=88 |issue=2 |pages=515–517 }} Theodoric died in 526, when Athalaric became his successor.

Athalaric was about ten years old, so his mother, Amalasuintha, held all the real power. This power was to make decisions about the kingdom's politics and negotiate with foreign rulers like Justinian I, at least within the 530s. Vitello 39 For example, around 533, she had Emperor Justinian protect the Gothic kingdom.Vitello 187 Amalasuintha also controlled the type of education Athalaric would undergo.

According to Procopius, the Goth aristocracy desired Athalaric to be raised in Gothic, but Amalasuintha wanted him to resemble the Roman rulers. Vitiello, Massimiliano (2006). ""Nourished at the Breast of Rome": The Queens of Ostrogothic Italy and the Education of the Roman Elite". Rheinisches Museum für Philologie. 149 (3/4): 402. ISSN 0035-449X. JSTOR 41234687. Amalasuintha adhered to Roman learning and customs that were especially objectionable to other Goths, as they saw it as cowardly and submissive.Vitello 97 Eventually, Amalasuintha was forced to accept the will of her fellow Goths by allowing Athalaric to spend time with other boys around his age. It is not clear how effective his Roman education was.Vitello 100 It is also unknown who his Gothic teacher was, but generally, the Gothic aristocracy in the palace exerted fierce pressure on the monarchy and focused on military education instead of grammar and rhetoric, which would be done in Roman education.Vitello 97-98

Athalaric drank heavily and indulged in vicious excesses, which ruined his constitution.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} After a large party in 533, rumors spread that Athalaric was ill.Vitello 119 Athalaric condition would worsen, and he died later in October of 534, probably from a combination of excessive drinking and disease, probably diabetes.Frye, David (1995). "Athalaric's Health and the Ostrogothic Character"

File:Monnaie - Ostrogoths (Or, 10 nummi) - btv1b11350245x (2 of 2).jpg

References

Sources

{{EB1911|wstitle=Athalaric|volume=2|page=825}}

VITIELLO, MASSIMILIANO. Amalasuintha: The Transformation of Queenship in the Post-Roman World. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv16t6dq4.

Athalaric

Life

References

Sources

Further reading