Johannes Athalaric

Johannes Athalarich ( Middle Greek Ιωάννης Αθαλάριχος Ioannis Athalarichos , Latin Ioannes Athalaricus ; * probably between 601 and 610 in Carthage ; † 637 on the island of Prinkipo ) was a son of the Eastern Roman emperor Herakleios and usurper in Constantinople .

Life

Johannes Athalaric was apparently born in the exarchate of Carthage before his father's accession to the throne . His mother, a concubine unknown by name , could have been a daughter of the brief Caesar and governor of Africa Germanus . This in turn was possibly a nephew of the Ostrogoth king Athalaric , which would explain the striking Amali name of the Byzantine prince.

Wolfram Brandes connects Athalaric with the 540 members of the last Thuringian kings who were brought from Ravenna to Byzantium and suspects him to be a grandson of Amalafrid or his son Artachis . The illegitimate son of Herakleios would therefore be the last traceable descendant of the Thuringian kings in Byzantium, about a century after the smashing of their kingdom.

End 623 or early 624 was Athalaric from his father as part of a ceasefire agreement as a hostage to the court of Avars khagans transferred to the back for an offensive against the Sassanid Empire to get free. At an unknown point in time, but very likely only after the siege of Constantinople (626) , Athalaric was released again.

Around 637 Athalaric became involved in a conspiracy against Herakleios. Under the impression of the unstoppable advance of the Arabs in the eastern provinces and in view of the sickness of the designated heir to the throne Constantine , influential court circles planned to overthrow Herakleios and his wife Martina and bring Athalaric to the throne. The plan was caught - both Athalaric and his cousin Theodoros Magistros were sentenced to death, but were "pardoned" by Herakleios, cruelly mutilated and exiled to the islands of Prinkipo and Malta , where they soon died.

swell

• Nikephoros 13; 24
• Sebeos , 29 (Macler) or 41 (Thomson) in the Google book search

literature

• Wolfram Brandes: Thuringians in Byzantine sources. In: Helmut Castritius , Dieter Geuenich , Matthias Werner (ed.): The early days of the Thuringians. Archeology, language, history (= real dictionary of Germanic antiquity . Supplementary volumes. Vol. 63). De Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-021454-3 , pp. 291–328 (see also conference report from October 20-22 , 2006, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. In: H-Soz-u Cult , December 22, 2006).
• Walter E. Kaegi: Heraclius. Emperor of Byzantium. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2003, ISBN 0-52181-459-6 , p. 120 and 260 f.
• Mikael Nichanian: Le maître des milices d′Orient, Vahan, et la bataille de Yarmouk (636) au complot d′Athalaric (637). In: Barlow Der Mugrdechian (ed.): Between Paris and Fresno: Armenian Studies in Honor of Dickran Kouymjian . Mazda Press, Costa Mesa 2008, ISBN 1-56859-168-3 , pp. 321-337.
• Walter Pohl : The Avars. A steppe people in Central Europe 567–822 AD 2nd, updated edition. CH Beck, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-40648-969-9 , p. 246.
• Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 1: Aaron - Azarethes . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2007, ISBN 978-2-503-52303-3 , pp. 432-433.
• Robert W. Thomson (translation), James Howard-Johnston (commentary): The Armenian History Attributed to Sebeos. Volume 1: Translation and Notes (= Translated Texts for Historians . Vol. 31, 1). Liverpool University Press, Liverpool 1999, ISBN 0-85323-564-3 , p. 92 ff.

Remarks

1. ↑ Nichanian, Le maître des milices d′Orient Vahan , p. 328, FN 33.