Guntarith

Guntarith (also Gontharis ; † 546 in Carthage ) was an Eastern Roman military leader of Vandal descent. He rebelled against the rule of Emperor Justinian in Africa in 546 .

After the reconquest of the North African provinces by Belisarius in 533/34, the East Romans were confronted several times with Moorish and Vandal uprisings (see Battle of Babosis and Zerboule , Battle of Mammes and Bourgaon ). A year after the suppression of the Stotzas rebellion (545), the dux Numidiae Guntarith sat at the head of the resistance. With Moorish and Numidian support he seized the province of Africa proconsularis and had the imperial governor Areobindus killed in Carthage; his wife, the imperial niece Praejecta , was spared. The aim of the rebels was probably the secession of the provinces of Constantinople and the restoration of an independent (vandal) royal rule. When Guntarith began purges and mass executions to consolidate his regime, the strategos Artabanes , presumably with the approval of the praefectus praetorio Athanasius, arranged for the usurper to be murdered at a feast five weeks after the outbreak of the rebellion. His Moorish supporter John was executed in Constantinople .

swell

• Gorippus , Iohannis IV, 364f.
• Marcellinus Comes , Chronicon , Additamentum a. 547, 6 ( online here )
• Prokopios of Caesarea , Bellum Vandalicum XXVI, 8, 9

literature

• Thomas Gärtner : Investigations into the design and historical material of the "Johannis" Coripps (= investigations into ancient literature and history. Vol. 90). De Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-020107-9 .
• John Robert Martindale: Guntharis 2. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 3A, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1992, ISBN 0-521-20160-8 , pp. 574-575.
• Berthold Rubin : The Age of Justinian. Volume 2. Edited by Carmelo Capizzi. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1995, ISBN 3-11-003411-5 , pp. 47-49.