John Athalarichos also spelled as Atalarichos, Athalaric, and At'alarik, was an illegitimate

Legitimacy (law)

At common law, legitimacy is the status of a child who is born to parents who are legally married to one another; and of a child who is born shortly after the parents' divorce. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have been considered legitimate children...

 son of the 7th century Byzantine Emperor Heraclius

Heraclius

Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...

. In 637, he was alleged to have taken part in a plot to overthrow Heraclius and seize the throne.

Life

Athalarichos first appears in 622, when he was sent, along with Heraclius' nephew Stephen and John, the illegitimate son of the patrician Bonus

Bonus (patrician)

Bonus was a Byzantine statesman and general, one of the closest associates of Emperor Heraclius , who played a leading role in the successful defense of the imperial capital, Constantinople, during the Avar–Persian siege of 626.-Life:...

, as a hostage to the Avars

Eurasian Avars

The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...

 to cement a peace agreement.

In 635 or 637, some Armenian

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

 figures, at the time very influential in 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:...

, felt their interests would be better served under a new Emperor. Their candidate to replace Heraclius was Athalarichos. Also involved were the curopalates

Curopalates

Kouropalatēs, Latinized as curopalates or curopalata and Anglicized as curopalate, was a Byzantine court title, one of the highest from the time of Emperor Justinian I to that of the Komnenoi in the 12th century...

Varaztiroch, son of Smbat Bagratuni; David Saharuni

David Saharuni

David Saharuni was sparapet, curopalates, ishkhan, and presiding prince of Byzantine controlled Armenia from 635 to 638.David was a nakharar from the princely noble House of Saharuni. When the marzpan of Persarmania Varaz-Tirots Bagratuni was in the imperial court in Osroene, he entered in a plot...

, Athalarichos' cousin; and Heraclius' nephew, the magister Theodore. Varastirots' pushed for a bloodless coup, in which the Emperor would be forced into exile.

The scheme was never executed, as an informer in the conspirators told the imperial court that Athalarichos was planning a coup attempt. Once Heraclius confirmed the story, he ordered the arrest of everyone involved. His advisers recommended the plotters be executed, but Heraclius was quoted by the historian Sebeos

Sebeos

Sebeos was a 7th century Armenian bishop and historian who participated in the first Council of Dvin in 645.The history of Sebeos contains detailed descriptions from the period of Sassanid supremacy in Armenia up to the Islamic conquest in 661...

 as saying, "Since you did as you did with regard to me and did not want to dip your hand into my blood and the blood of my sons, I shall not reach for you and your sons. Go where I order you, and I will have mercy upon you."

While he did spare their lives, Heraclius ordered the amputation of each plotter's nose and hands

Political mutilation in Byzantine culture

Mutilation in the Byzantine Empire was a common method of punishment for criminals of the era but it also had a role in the Empire's political life. The mutilation of political rivals by the Emperor was deemed an effective way of sidelining from the line of succession a person who was seen as a...

. In addition to being thus mutilated, Athalarichos was exile

Exile

Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...

d to Prinkipo

Büyükada

Büyükada is the largest of the nine so-called Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara, near Istanbul, with an area of about two square miles...

, one of the Princes' Islands

Princes' Islands

The Princes' Islands , are a chain of nine islands off the coast of Istanbul, Turkey, in the Sea of Marmara. The islands also constitute the Adalar district of Istanbul Province...

. Theodore received the same treatment, but was sent to Gaudomelete (possibly modern day Gozo Island

Gozo

Gozo is a small island of the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Southern European country of Malta; after the island of Malta itself, it is the second-largest island in the archipelago...

) with additional instructions to cut off one leg.

Sources