Guntarith (Vandalic: Gontharis; died 546), sometimes referred to as Guntharic, was an Eastern Roman military officer and rebel of Vandals descent.
Life
After the
Vandalic War of the
Vandal Kingdom by
Belisarius in 533/534, the Eastern Roman Empire was faced with numerous
Moors and
Vandals revolts. Only after the defeat of
Stotzas's rebellion (545), would Guntarith, the
dux of Numidia, play a leading role. With Moorish and
Numidians support, he seized the province of
Africa proconsularis and killed the imperial governor Areobindus in
Carthage. The wife of Areobindus,
Praejecta, niece of emperor
Justinian I, was however spared. The goal of the rebels was probably the secession of the African provinces from the rule of
Constantinople and the restoration of Vandal royal rule. When Guntarith began to consolidate his power with purges and mass executions, the
strategos Artabanes, probably with the approval of the praetorian prefect Athanasius, organized the assassination of Guntarith. His Moorish supporter Stotzas the Younger was executed in Constantinople.
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