On August 24, 410 AD, the Visigoths, led by King Alaric, sacked Rome, marking the city’s first fall to a foreign invader in nearly 800 years. This event is widely seen as a turning point in the decline of the Western Roman Empire.
The Gothic Struggle for Power
In 398, after three years of war with the Roman Empire, Alaric secured a legal settlement for his Goths within the borders of the Eastern Empire, granting them control over the Eastern Illyricum prefecture. Alongside them, three other Gothic groups, led by Tribigild, Fravitta, and Gainas, also integrated into the imperial structure. By late 399, Gainas had even become the de facto ruler of the Constantinople court. However, a successful anti-Gothic military campaign swiftly eliminated his influence within the empire’s leadership. Many of Gainas’ followers were killed, while the rest fled north of the Danube, where they were attacked by the Huns, who also killed Gainas.
Amid these developments, Alaric saw an increasingly uncertain future for himself and his people in the Eastern Empire. Determined to find a secure home, he turned his sights westward and invaded Italy in 401. Yet after two years of warfare, his efforts ended in failure, with Roman military commander Stilicho driving the Goths out of Italy. By the fall of 408, however, Alaric found a new opportunity. Stilicho had been executed, the Western Empire was divided by the usurpation of Constantine III in Britannia, and parts of the empire had been overrun by the Alans, Vandals, and Suebi. Taking advantage of the chaos, he led an army of 30,000 Visigoths and invaded Italy for the second time.
Alaric aimed to pressure Emperor Honorius’ government into granting his people legal status and a permanent settlement within the empire. With the emperor and his court securely stationed in Ravenna, he decided to target Rome. In 408, he laid siege to the city for the first time, lifting it after receiving promises of an agreement, which the court in Ravenna ultimately failed to honour. This betrayal prompted a second siege in 409, during which Priscus Attalus, the prefect of Rome, was installed as emperor by the Visigoths in exchange for lifting the siege.
This new regime faced two immediate challenges: securing control over the African provinces to ensure the grain supply to Rome and deposing Honorius. However, their efforts failed. Only the provinces of Suburbicaria in Italy rallied to Attalus’ cause, while in Annonaria, only Emilia and Liguria were subdued by military force. Meanwhile, Ravenna withstood the Gothic siege, forcing Alaric’s forces to retreat to Rimini. Worse still, the African provinces remained beyond their grasp, as Heraclian stayed loyal to Honorius and cut off the grain supply to Rome.
Growing tensions between Alaric and Attalus eventually led Alaric to depose him and make one last attempt at diplomacy with Honorius, arranging a meeting with him near Ravenna. Alaric awaited the emperor’s arrival but was ambushed by Sarus, a Gothic leader who had deserted him during his first invasion of Italy and sided with the Romans. Furious at this perceived betrayal, Alaric abandoned all hope of a negotiated settlement and led his army toward Rome, determined to sack the city.
The Sack of Rome
The Roman authorities were well aware of the events unfolding near Ravenna and braced for Alaric’s next move. As the Visigothic army marched toward the city, they swiftly closed the gates. For the third time in two years, Rome was under siege, though this time, its chances of survival were slim. The city had already endured weeks of food shortages due to Heraclian’s blockade, and no help was expected from the imperial court.
Alaric offered no negotiations, only declaring that the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul would serve as sanctuaries for those seeking refuge. On August 24, 410, the Salaria Gate was opened from within, allowing the Visigoths to flood the city. Some suggest that Gothic slaves, who had been gifted to Roman aristocrats by Alaric, had been instructed to open the gates in the event of another siege. Others claim that Anicia Faltonia Proba, a noble Roman woman and widow of Sextus Petronius Probus, ordered her servants to open them to spare the city from the horrors of a prolonged siege.
The sack of Rome primarily involved the looting of treasures, with relatively little destruction to buildings. Despite the Visigoths’ restraint in avoiding widespread slaughter, hundreds of Roman citizens were killed during the sack, and many others were enslaved and used to transport the looted goods. After three days, the Visigoths withdrew from the city, taking with them Galla Placidia, the sister of Emperor Honorius.
Aftermath
After the looting, the Visigoths marched southward into Italy, ravaging Campania, Lucania, and Calabria. Alaric fell ill and died shortly after in Consentia in late 410, just months after the sack of Rome. According to legend, his body and treasure were buried in the bed of the Busento River by slaves who were then killed to conceal the location.
Following Alaric’s death, the Visigoths elected his brother-in-law, Ataulf as their new king. They then moved north toward Gaul, where Ataulf married Galla Placidia in 414, though he would die a year later. By 418, the Visigoths established the Visigothic Kingdom in southwestern Gaul and later aided the Western Roman Empire in defeating Attila the Hun in 451.
The 410 sack of Rome was the first time the city had fallen in nearly 800 years, starkly exposing the growing vulnerability and military weakness of the Western Roman Empire. Domestic rebellions, usurpations, and external invasions weakened the Empire’s stability, and the increasingly barbarian and unreliable Roman army only exacerbated these issues. A more devastating sack by the Vandals followed in 455, and in 476, the Western Roman Empire finally fell when the Germanic chieftain Odoacer deposed the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, declaring himself King of Italy.
