14 Facts About Amalasuintha

Amalasuintha was a ruler of the Ostrogothic Kingdom from 526 to 535.

Highly educated, Amalasuintha was praised by both Cassiodorus and Procopius for her wisdom and her ability to speak three languages.

Amalasuintha was likely born in Ravenna in 495, the only child of Theodoric and his wife Audofleda, the sister of Clovis, King of the Franks.

The union of Amalasuintha's parents were of a political purpose, as many royal marriages were at the time.

Amalasuintha was born into the Amali dynasty on her father's side, which dynasty comprised Goths of Germanic descent.

Amalasuintha had close ties to the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, which would have made her adherence to Roman learning and customs especially objectionable to her fellow Goths.

Amalasuintha then appointed her older cousin Theodahad to rule as co-regent, in which Amalasuintha would play the male character and Theodahad would play the woman, as male and female monarchs sharing powers.

Theodahad was a prominent leader of the Gothic military aristocracy that opposed her pro-Roman stances, and Amalasuintha believed this duumvirate might make supporters from her harshest critics.

The death of Amalasuintha was used by Justinian I as a reason to go to war with the Ostrogoths and attempt to reclaim Italy for the Roman Empire.

Cassiodorus was a part of a greater pro-Roman party that desired to Romanize the traditional Ostrogothic kingship, further evidence of the pro-Roman circle that Amalasuintha surrounded herself with.

The life of Amalasuintha was made the subject of a tragedy, the first play written by the young Carlo Goldoni and presented at Milan in 1733.

Romanian poet George Cosbuc wrote a poem entitled Regina Ostrogotilor in which Amalasuintha speaks to Theodahad shortly before he kills her.

Amalasuintha is portrayed by Honor Blackman in the 1968 film Kampf um Rom.

Amalasuintha's character is suffocated to death in a locked bath house.