Athalaric
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:For Template:More citations needed Template:Infobox monarch
Athalaric (Template:Langx; Template:Circa 516Template:Snd2 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,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> whom Athalaric succeeded as king in 526.Template:Sfn Athalaric was described to live a hedonistic lifestyle by Procopius of Caesarea.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> His mother managed the kingdom during his reign, and he died as a teenager.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref>
LifeEdit
The grandfather of Athalaric was Theodoric the Great (470-526). His area of rule encompassed Italy, southern Spain, southern France, and the western Balkans.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite journal</ref> Theodoric died in 526,<ref name=":2" /> when Athalaric became his successor.<ref name=":1" />
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.<ref> Vitello 39 </ref> For example, around 533, she had Emperor Justinian protect the Gothic kingdom.<ref>Vitello 187</ref> 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.<ref> 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.</ref> Amalasuintha adhered to Roman learning and customs that were especially objectionable to other Goths, as they saw it as cowardly and submissive.<ref>Vitello 97 </ref> 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.<ref>Vitello 100</ref> 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.<ref>Vitello 97-98</ref>
Athalaric drank heavily and indulged in vicious excesses, which ruined his constitution.Template:Sfn After a large party in 533, rumors spread that Athalaric was ill.<ref>Vitello 119</ref> Athalaric condition would worsen, and he died later in October of 534, probably from a combination of excessive drinking and disease, probably diabetes.<ref>Frye, David (1995). "Athalaric's Health and the Ostrogothic Character"</ref>
_-_btv1b11350245x_(2_of_2).jpg){kind=link}
ReferencesEdit
SourcesEdit
- {{#if: |
|{{#ifeq: Athalaric |
|{{#ifeq: |
|
|
}}
|
}}
}}{{#ifeq: |
|{{#ifeq: |
|This article
|One or more of the preceding sentences
}} incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:
}}{{#invoke:template wrapper|{{#if:|list|wrap}}|_template=cite EB1911
|_exclude=footnote, inline, noicon, no-icon, noprescript, no-prescript, _debug
| noicon=1
}}{{#ifeq: ||}}
- VITIELLO, MASSIMILIANO. Amalasuintha: The Transformation of Queenship in the Post-Roman World. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv16t6dq4.
Further readingEdit
- Letters of Cassiodorus, Book VIII from Project Gutenberg
- Procopius 'Wars' Book V, trans. H. P. Dewing
- Peter Heather, The Goths (Oxford, Blackwell, 1996).
Template:S-start Template:S-reg Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-end