Busento
| Busento | ||
 The Busento in Cosenza |
||
| Data | ||
| location | Calabria , Italy | |
| River system | Crati | |
| Drain over | Crati → Ionian Sea | |
| source | Monte Cocuzzo | |
| Source height | approx. 1500 m | |
| muzzle | At Cosenza in the Crati coordinates: 39 ° 17 ′ 33 " N , 16 ° 15 ′ 32" E 39 ° 17 ′ 33 " N , 16 ° 15 ′ 32" E
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| length | 90 km | |
| Drain |
MQ |
3 m³ / s |
The Busento [ buˈsɛnto ] is a 90 km long river in Calabria in Italy .
It rises on Monte Cocuzzo in the Sila Mountains and flows into the Crati in the city of Cosenza .
The river became famous through August von Platen's poem Das Grab im Busento , according to which the Visigoths established a last hidden resting place in the middle of the water for their king Alaric I in 410 . After the sack of Rome (410) , Alaric set out for North Africa in search of a place for permanent settlement, where he fell ill with malaria in southern Italy and died near Cosenza. After that, according to Visigothic tradition, he was buried in the river bed of the Busento next to the treasure stolen by his troops in Rome.
His burial required a tremendous amount of engineering, as the water of the Busento River had to be diverted and returned to its original bed after the burial. The work was carried out by Roman slaves who were killed by Alaric's soldiers when the work was done so that the exact location of the tomb would remain a secret forever.
Von Platen's poem begins in the original version (poems by August Graf von Platen, Cotta, 1828) with the following verses:
Lisp at night at the Busento, by Cosenza, muffled songs,
From the waters an answer resounds, and in eddies it resounds again!
And up and down the river, the shadows of brave Goths, who
weep Alaric, the best dead of their people, are drawn.
