Alaric

The first barbarian leader in eight hundred years to capture the city of Rome.

Life

Foederati

Alaric was leader of the Visigoths and had fought in the Roman army as one of the foederati. In 395 CE he was chosen king, and, angry that Rome was withholding payment, he led his people to plunder the Balkans and Greece.

Three sieges of Rome

He marched into Italy several times, demanding land, gold and office from the Western Roman court, and besieged Rome three times. On August 24, 410 CE, someone inside opened the gates and the Visigoths sacked Rome for three days, the first time in eight hundred years that the city had fallen to a foreign enemy.

Tomb beneath the riverbed

That same year he moved south intending to cross the sea to North Africa, but died of illness in southern Italy. Legend has it that his men made captives divert a river, buried him and his treasure in the riverbed, let the water flow back, and then killed every captive who knew the secret.

Legacy

The fall of the city of Rome in 410 CE shook the entire Mediterranean world and prompted Augustine of Hippo to write The City of God.

Did you know? His tomb has never been found.

Key dates

• 395Elected King of the Visigoths
• 401First invasion of Italy
• 408First siege of Rome
• 410Sacked Rome; died the same year