Amalasuntha (ca. 495 – 30 April 534/535) was a queen of the Ostrogoths from 526 to 534.

She was married in 515 to Eutharic

Eutharic

Eutharic Cilliga was a Visigothic prince from Iberia who, during the early 6th century, served as Roman Consul and "son in arms" alongside the Byzantine emperor Justin I...

 (b. ca 480 - 522), an Ostrogoth noble of the old Amal

Amali

The Amali, also called Amals or Amalings, were the leading dynasty of the Goths, a Germanic people who confronted the Roman Empire in its declining years in the west...

 line, who had previously been living in Visigothic Iberia

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

, son of Widerich (b. ca 450), grandson of Berismund (b. ca 410), and great-grandson of Thorismund

Thorismund

Thorismund became king of the Visigoths after his father Theodoric was killed in the Battle of Châlons in 451 CE...

 (d. aft. 400), King of the Ostrogoths ca 400.

Her husband died, apparently in the early years of her marriage, leaving her with two children, Athalaric

Athalaric

Athalaric was the King of the Ostrogoths in Italy. He was a son of Eutharic and Amalasuntha. His maternal grandfather was Theodoric the Great. He succeeded his grandfather as king in 526....

 and Matasuntha (ca 517 - aft. 550), wife ca 550 of Germanus. On the death of her father in 526, her son succeeded him, but she held the power as regent

Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

 for her son. Deeply imbued with the old Roman culture, she gave to that son's education a more refined and literary turn than suited the ideas of her Gothic subjects. Conscious of her unpopularity she banished, and afterwards put to death, three Gothic nobles whom she suspected of intriguing against her rule, and at the same time opened negotiations with the emperor Justinian I

Justinian I

Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...

 with the view of removing herself and the Gothic treasure to Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

. Her son's death in 534 made little change in the posture of affairs.

Now queen, Amalasuntha made her cousin Theodahad

Theodahad

Theodahad was the King of the Ostrogoths from 534 to 536 and a nephew of Theodoric the Great through his sister Amalafrida. He might have arrived in Italy with Theodoric and was an elderly man at the time of his succession...

 partner of her throne (not, as sometimes stated, her husband, for his wife was still living), with the intent of strengthening her position. The choice was unfortunate, for Theodahad fostered the disaffection of the Goths, and either by his orders or with his permission, Amalasuntha was imprisoned in the island of Martana in the Tuscan lake of Bolsena, where on 30 April in the spring of 534/535 she was murdered in her bath.

The letters of Cassiodorus

Cassiodorus

Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator , commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman statesman and writer, serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Senator was part of his surname, not his rank.- Life :Cassiodorus was born at Scylletium, near Catanzaro in...

, chief minister and literary adviser of Amalasuntha, and the histories of Procopius

Procopius

Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine scholar from Palestine. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History...

 and Jordanes

Jordanes

Jordanes, also written Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat, who turned his hand to history later in life....

, give us our chief information as to the character of Amalasuntha.

The life of Amalasunta was made the subject of a tragedy

Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...

, the first play written by the young Goldoni and presented at Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 in (1733).

Asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

 650 Amalasuntha

650 Amalasuntha

- External links :*...

is named in her honour.