Sack of Rome (410)

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Illustration for a late medieval edition of Augustine's State of God , created around 1475: During the sack of Rome by the Visigoths, liturgical vessels are brought to safety.

The sack of Rome by predominantly Visigoth warriors under Alaric took place from August 24 to 27, 410. This was the first capture of Rome since the invasion of the Gauls some 800 years earlier. The event marked a turning point in the history of Rome, which was also intensely discussed by contemporaries such as Jerome , Augustine and Orosius . The event deeply shook confidence in the Western Roman government and the looting accelerated the decline of the city of Rome, which had not been a permanent imperial residence for almost a century.

Although barely saved messages have been received about the course of events described numerous authors, the Visigoths, following Augustine and Orosius as comparatively civilized looters who Rome holy places spared, the sanctuary respected and devout Roman women inflicted no harm. However, some historians, including Edward Gibbon and Ferdinand Gregorovius , emphasized that the residents of the city may well have experienced the conquest of Rome by Alaric as a disaster.

In contrast to views that were common in the past, many of today's ancient historians such as Mischa Meier , Michael Kulikowski, Guy Halsall or Henning Börm emphasize that the events are not about a conquest of Rome by invaded barbarians, but rather a systematic pillage by a mutinous mercenary army in the context acted in a civil war.

history

Goths on Roman territory

Emperor Theodosius I (coin portrait)

The first clashes between Romans and Goths occurred in 238, during the imperial crisis of the 3rd century . In 269, Emperor Claudius Gothicus succeeded in ousting Goths, who had invaded Illyricum and Pannonia and established themselves in the Peloponnese , for a century through the victory at Naissus . Some groups, such as the Terwingen , settled in Dacia , a province that Rome had given up in 271.

Only after the Terwingian Goths crossed the Danube under Fritigern in 376 were there permanent Goths on imperial territory. Due to supply problems, the newcomers soon turned against the Romans and defeated them in 378 at the Battle of Adrianople . Theodosius I , successor to Emperor Valens , who fell in battle , concluded a contract ( foedus ) with the Goths in 382 and granted them settlement areas south of the Lower Danube in return for military support. In return, they took over the border protection as federal officials .

In 394, 20,000 Gothic warriors fought as federates in the Battle of Frigidus on the side of Theodosius with very high losses against the usurper Eugenius . They were commanded by Alaric, who had led the part of the Goths later called Visigoths since 395 at the latest .

A medallion of Honorius made in Ravenna, to which another one of Galla Placidia belongs (shortly after 425, discovered 1715)

After Theodosius died in early 395 and was replaced by his young sons Arcadius in the east and Honorius in the west, the Gothic warriors were dismissed without adequate compensation. Then Alaric and his troops plundered through the Balkans to the capital Constantinople , but allowed himself to be persuaded to withdraw by payments from the Praetorian Prefect Rufinus . The help offered by Stilicho , who ruled the western empire as the guardian of Honorius, turned down Emperor Arcadius, as he assessed this as an attack by Stilichos on his part of the empire. Instead, Stilicho had to surrender the Eastern Roman troops under his command. Alaric could therefore move unhindered through Greece and plunder Athens until Stilicho intervened again in 397 and placed the Goths near Olympia . Arcadius reacted to this interference from the west by declaring Stilicho an enemy of the state and raising Alaric to the position of Roman army master . His warriors were allowed to settle in Dacia and Macedonia and were probably looked after by the Romans. Alaric wanted his men to have a secure income and a position in the Roman military for himself.

However, since the Eastern Empire was not ready for any further negotiations after the overthrow of the influential imperial advisor Eutropius in 399 and the attempted coup by the Goth Gainas , Alaric turned to Italy for the first time in 401. Stilicho also showed no concession and defeated Alarich in 402 battles near Pollentia and Verona . The Goths then withdrew to the Balkans for several years. Despite these successes, Honorius no longer felt safe in Milan and moved his residence at the end of 402 to Ravenna, which was better protected against attacks . In 405 he even accepted the title of army master that Alaric had received from Arcadius. From then on, Alaric was master of the Western Roman Empire.

The Arian Alaric, however, was not the only Gothic leader operating on Roman territory. In late 405, the pagan warlord Radagaisus invaded Italy. With the support of the Gothic Federation under Sarus , he was defeated and executed by Stilicho in the battle of Faesulae in the summer of 406 . The respite that Stilicho had given the western empire with it was short-lived. On the last day of the year 406, Germanic warriors crossed the Rhine in great numbers and devastated Roman Gaul .

Alaric before Rome

Stilicho, who had planned a blow against the Eastern Empire after the victory over Radagaisus and had already sent the new Western Roman army master Alaric to Epirus , had to stay in Italy. The Senate and probably Honorius resented him for paying Alaric the 4,000 pounds of gold he had promised for the advance to Epirus . When, after the death of Arcadius in the summer of 408, a mutiny broke out against Stilicho, Emperor Honorius turned against his general. An officer named Heraclianus beheaded Stilicho, who had taken refuge in a church in Ravenna.

Siliqua of Priscus Attalus, whom Alaric had raised to the rank of anti-emperor and deposed again after a good six months

After Stilicho's death and the subsequent riots, to which numerous soldiers of Germanic origin and their relatives fell victim, many of his followers joined Alaric. Nevertheless, he initially showed himself ready for peace. When Honorius did not accept his offer, he besieged Rome , which although no longer an imperial residence, was still the largest city in the empire. Only after receiving 5,000 pounds of gold, 30,000 pounds of silver and other valuables did he withdraw in late 408. Now Honorius was also interested in peace, but he did not want to accept Alarich's conditions - appointment as supreme imperial general (magister utriusque militiae) and settlement areas for his warriors. Even when Alaric reduced his demands, the emperor remained adamant.

Alaric then besieged Rome again at the end of 409. After he was allowed into the city, he had the city ​​prefect Priscus Attalus elevated by the senate to the position of anti-emperor. Attalus granted Alaric the title of magister utriusque militiae, as requested , but did not want to leave the province of Africa - the granary of the western empire - to the Goths as a settlement area. Heraclianus, who in the meantime commanded the provincial troops as comes Africae and was loyal to Honorius, meanwhile stopped the grain deliveries to Italy. Since Attalus turned out to be useless, he was therefore deposed again at the beginning of July 410. Renewed negotiations between Honorius and Alaric were thwarted by Sarus - perhaps he was an old rival of Alaric - who attacked the Goths leader waiting in front of Ravenna.

Alaric's army sacked Rome

The Porta Salaria, through which the Goths invaded the city, in an 18th century depiction. The gate was demolished in 1871.

Alaric, whose warriors were already starving, was unwilling to negotiate further under the circumstances and returned to Rome to besiege the city a third time. As in 409, he was finally granted admission: on August 24, 410 his men were allowed into the city without a fight. Allegedly the Porta Salaria was opened by an aristocrat named Proba or by slaves smuggled in for this purpose , through which Alaric's troops streamed into the city. But it is quite possible that these are later inventions that should explain the catastrophe. Because unlike the year before, Alaric did not refuse his men this time to make the booty. For three days they ransacked the "Eternal City".

The numerous churches and the people who stayed there were spared by the warriors. The source value of the anecdotes with which various authors from late antiquity wanted to show that Alaric's Goths plundered the Goths in a comparatively civilized manner is, however, according to some researchers limited. When Alaric's troops left Rome on August 27, there was hardly anything of value left in the city. Numerous high-ranking personalities, including Galla Placidia , Honorius' half-sister, had to leave the city with Alaric.

Alaric had won, but he died only a few months later in Cosentia , Calabria , without having reached Africa . Eight years after his death, the Visigoths finally got land in Aquitaine in western Gaul. The Visigoth Empire , which Alaric's successors established there, outlived the Western Roman Empire of his opponent Honorius. The city of Rome quickly recovered from the looting, but was looted again as early as 455 .

reception

Reaction of contemporaries

Augustine opposed the criticism of Christianity that was put forward after the sack of Rome (depiction in the Lateran Basilica , 6th century).

The first tangible reactions to the sack of Rome by Alaric include the letters of the church father Jerome (347–420). Jerome, who had previously lived in Rome himself, raised the question as early as 409: “What is safe if Rome perishes?” He reacted with horror when the city actually fell: “My voice faltered and I couldn't sob because of sobs dictate further: The city of Rome, which had previously conquered the whole world, has been captured. ”Jerome painted his dismay at the siege and plunder of Rome in the darkest of colors - with generous use of biblical motifs and with a quote from Virgil's Aeneid .

For Augustine (354–430), bishop of Hippo Regius since 395 and also one of the church fathers, the fall of Rome represented a threat to the faith of his community that should not be underestimated: not only was the increased turn to Christianity since Theodosius had no plans for the Roman state was able to protect against this catastrophe, rather the empire had come into dire straits since then. In sermons and especially in his main work On the State of God , Augustine faced the resulting challenge.

Augustine dealt extensively with the contemporary criticism of Christianity, which he summed up with the catchy phrase "It doesn't rain, the Christians are to blame". The sack of Rome should be understood as a hint from God that the real homeland of the people is not on earth, but in heaven. Because everything earthly is finite, pagan gods and also the Christian God could not change that. Rome and Constantinople are not exempt from this fate. "Did Peter die and be buried for the reason that not a stone should fall from a theater?" In any case, in contrast to the biblical Sodom , Rome was only chastised but not destroyed; many Christians and even pagans who only pretended to be, were spared by the Goths.

Augustine not only turned against critics himself, he also motivated others to do the same. The Historiae adversum Paganos, written in 417/418 , the “world history against the heathens” by the Spanish priest Orosius († around 418), was based on his suggestion. Orosius brought together the wars and catastrophes of the past and tried to prove that in pre-Christian times not everything was better. A detailed description of the sieges of Rome by Alaric was therefore not lacking. Orosius writes that the Gothic prince exhorted his warriors to spare the people who sought protection in holy places and to refrain from unnecessary bloodshed. Although some buildings were set on fire in the course of the three-day looting, the great fire of Rome under Nero assumed completely different proportions. If you hear the people of Rome talking today, you could almost think that nothing had happened.

Late antique historian

The Greek historian Olympiodorus († after 425), who in his historical work in detail the time between 407 and the accession of Valentinian III. Treated in 425, is the primary source for several late ancient Greek authors writing about the west of the empire during this period. The work has only been preserved in excerpts , from which the events surrounding the sacking of Rome can be inferred in essential features: Alaric, who resents the Romans' cooperation with his enemy Sarus, sacked the city after Stilicho's death and finally left it with rich booty and the imperial sister Galla Placidia. Before that he made the city prefect Attalus emperor.

The report of Philostorgs († after 433), who as a Eunomian was religiously closer to the Arian Alaric than other late ancient historians, is also only passed down in excerpts. It differs in a few points from the portrayal of Olympiodorus, which he also used: With Philostorg Stilicho Alarich paved the way to Italy, Priscus Attalus himself demands the abdication of Honorius and Sarus, who is the emperor's master here, plays one much bigger role. Philostorg emphasized the responsibility of Honorius and, unlike Orosius and the church historians Socrates Scholastikos and Sozomenos , who wrote a few years later, refrained from playing down Alaric's sacking of Rome in any way. Human failure that God's will did not conjure up an event that can be described as catastrophic.

Socrates († around 440), who came from Constantinople, only briefly mentions the sack of Rome in his church history. Alaric's earlier collaboration with the Romans is known to him - he explicitly mentions his participation in the war against the usurper Eugenius - but not his origins; he only describes him generally as a "barbarian". Stilicho, Honorius or Galla Placidia are not mentioned, but the elevation of Priscus Attalus to emperor is. The chapter closes with an anecdote according to which Alaric replied on the way to Rome to a monk who asked him to repent that he was not moving against Rome of his own free will, but was following the compulsion of an inner voice.

The church historian Sozomenos († around 450), who deals with the period between 324 and 439 in his work and was able to fall back on Socrates, is more detailed in his description of the sack of Rome than his predecessor. Stilicho and the circumstances of his death are known to him and he is also well informed about the immediate history. He claims that pagan senators sacrificed to the ancient gods during the first siege of Rome, and complements his account with Socrates' monastic anecdote and another about a pious Roman woman whose modesty impressed a young Goth so much that he refrained from raping her. Sozomenos emphasizes the Christian faith of the Goths; According to him, they spared St. Peter's Church and respected the church asylum .

A good century after Sozomenos, the Greek historian Prokopios of Caesarea († around 562) wrote his history of Justinian's wars , in which he also discussed in detail the sack of Rome by Alaric. He describes precisely how Alaric penetrated the city by giving 300 young Gothic slaves to noble Romans, who eventually opened the Porta Salaria for him. Possibly - Procopius remains vague from whom he learned this version of the story - but also the pious senator's wife Proba put an end to the siege out of pity for the starving Romans and opened the gates to Alaric. Honorius, who had met earlier authors with little sympathy, finally becomes a ridiculous figure with Prokop: When he found out about Rome's end, he would initially have thought of his rooster of the same name in dismay, but would have been relieved when he was aware of the error that only the city fell, his rooster Roma, on the other hand, was doing well. The Hahn story, probably taken from a source by Prokop, represents a pro-pagan anecdote and relativizes the importance of the conquest of Rome by the Goths, which Prokop certainly seemed less great than its contemporaries 150 years earlier.

Around the same time as Procopius, Jordanes († after 552) wrote his Getica , a fairly free summary of the now-lost Gothic history of Cassiodorus , which contains several motifs that later authors liked to take up. Jordanes clearly differentiates between Eastern and Visigoths, has Alaric descended from the old royal house of the Balthens and describes his burial in Busento, which was diverted for this purpose . He deals with the looting itself in a few words: Alaric's troops had only taken booty at his express order, but did not cause any serious damage to the holy places and neither - as barbaric peoples used to do - set fire to the city.

Medieval authors

Isidore of Seville (right) wrote about the fall of Rome in the 7th century (illumination, 10th century).

Two hundred years after Orosius, a Spaniard, Bishop Isidore of Seville († 636), described the sack of Rome. Spain at that time was ruled by Visigoth kings who resided in Toledo and converted to Catholicism at the end of the 6th century . In Isidore's story of the Goths, Vandals and Suebi , Alaric attacks Rome - "a Christian by name, but a heretic by profession" - to take revenge for Radagaisus' defeat by Stilicho; otherwise his representation is based on that of Orosius.

The fall of Rome was also worth mentioning to several Byzantine historians, including Theophanes († 817/818), Georgios Kedrenos († after 1057) and Johannes Zonaras († after 1118). They mostly processed the report of Prokop or that of his less well-informed contemporary Johannes Malalas († around 570), who had made Alaric a general of Honorius and had him plunder Rome on behalf of the emperor. In his Epitome historiarum, Zonaras finally placed both versions side by side.

Bishop Otto von Freising († 1158), the uncle of Friedrich Barbarossa , managed in his Augustine-inspired story of the two states to unite the descriptions of the sacking of 410 - especially Orosius and Jordanes - known to him. However, he dated the events to the year 415 and had Stilicho, who had already died at that time, carry out the decisive attack on Alaric's troops. For Otto, who compared the fate of Rome with that of Babylon , the conquest of the city by the Goths was the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire: Rome was dishonored by Alaric and then taken over by Odoacer .

Already on the threshold of modern times is the Italian humanist Flavio Biondo (1392–1463), who put the sack of Rome at the beginning of his history of Italy. Like Otto von Freising three hundred years earlier, he saw in it the beginning of the decline of the Roman Empire. Alaric's Visigoths had been called to Italy by Stilicho, who had planned to rise to rulership of Italy himself after his victory over the barbarian invaders. For his portrayal of the looting, Biondo relies primarily on Orosius: Alaric spared the churches of the apostles and tried to avoid bloodshed; after three days he moved on with his people, whom Biondo calls Visigothi based on Jordanes .

Early modern authors

Edward Gibbon considered the Sacco di Roma in 1527 to be worse than the sack of Rome by Alaric.

Biondo's work on the history and geography of Italy, especially his Italia illustrata, did not go unnoticed abroad. Numerous authors tried similar works, including the German humanist Franciscus Irenicus († 1553) with his Germaniae exegesis. Irenicus knew Hieronymus, Augustinus, Orosius and Otto von Freising, but mainly resorted to Biondo for his portrayal of the sacking of Rome. However, he attached less importance to the events of the year 410 than to his role model; he saw in them only a stage victory for the Germanic peoples, who would finally carry out the translatio imperii and take over the rule from the Romans.

The Swede Johannes Magnus (1488–1544), a contemporary of Irenicus, traced the Swedes to the Goths in his much-read history of all the kings of the Goths and Swedes, and these in turn to the biblical forefather Noah . He too relied largely on Biondo for his description of the looting, but worked out the contrast between the devious Stilicho and the pious Goths of Alaric even more sharply. As evidence for his assessment of the Goths, he cited corresponding passages in Augustine and Orosius. Jerome, who paints a less favorable picture of the Goths, he considered less well informed.

The British historian Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) devoted an entire chapter of his extensive History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire to the fall of Rome . Even with Gibbon, who had carefully studied the relevant authors of late antiquity, Alaric and his Goths got off better than the decadent Romans and their incompetent emperor, dominated by unscrupulous courtiers. The anecdotes with which his sources tried to illustrate the gentleness of the Goths were only marginal phenomena for him. The picture that Gibbon paints of the sack of Rome in 410 is more marked by murder, robbery and rape than restraint and piety. The Sacco di Roma 1100 years later was still much worse.

Modern authors

Ferdinand Gregorovius put the sacking by Alaric's Goths at the beginning of his history of the city of Rome in the Middle Ages.

The German historian Ferdinand Gregorovius (1821-1891), who like Gibbon the sight of Rome motivated to write, let his story of the city of Rome in the Middle Ages begin with the sacking by Alaric and end with the Sacco di Roma . He also constructed a contrast between decadent-powerless Romans and youthful and honest barbarians and assumed that the late antique chroniclers had not delivered the whole truth: “Nowhere resistance, only escape, murder, plundering and terrible confusion, which no eyewitness dared to portray Gregorovius, who, like Gibbon, knew the ancient sources well, concluded his report with an overview of the reactions of his contemporaries.

Alfred von Reumont (1808–1887) put the timeframe of his history of the city of Rome even further than Gregorovius: In three volumes he dealt with the development of the city from its foundation to the present. Compared to Gregorovius, he enriched his depiction of the conquest of Rome by the Goths, which was more conventional and less demanding, with interwoven quotations from Augustine and Jerome. Alaric's army, "whose ranks were filled with warriors from all Germanic, even Mongolian tribes", had taken numerous prisoners, but left the buildings largely intact and also killed fewer Romans "than one might suspect".

The historian Felix Dahn (1834–1912), best known today for his novel A Battle for Rome , dealt with the sack of Rome in 410 only briefly in his works. In the fifth volume of his kings of the Germanic peoples he offered extensive literature, but made no concrete statement about the question of how Alarich's troops got into the city, nor about the extent and type of destruction caused. Dahn's prehistory of the Germanic and Romance peoples , written for interested laypeople, offered the reader a number of reasons and explanations why the ancient sources contradict each other, but otherwise remained vague.

The Germanic tribes of the Great Migration by Wilhelm Capelle (1871–1961), published in 1940 and influenced by National Socialist ideology , finally became more concrete again: “Proba, the widow of the imperial prefect Probus” had the Porta Salaria opened by her slaves and Alarich had the respect of the Church asylum ordered; he could not do anything about the fact that his orders were "violated many times". The author took Orosius as a guarantor that hardly any buildings burned down; on Alaric's death he let Jordanes have his say, "who undoubtedly tells things on the basis of good Gothic tradition that bears the stamp of reliability on his forehead".

Recent research

The 5th edition of the book Die Goten by Herwig Wolfram (1st edition 1979) is still fundamental for dealing with the Goths . Wolfram describes in detail the events that led to Alaric's sacking of Rome, but only briefly touches upon the history of the reception. In his much-discussed book about the fall of the Roman Empire (German 2007), Peter Heather speaks of "one of the most well-mannered looting that a city has ever experienced". Mischa Meier's essay Alaric and the conquest of Rome in 410 (2007) provides a good overview of the events and their reception by contemporaries . There are also some more recent works that deal wholly or predominantly with the reception of looting, such as Otto Zwierlein's essay The Fall of Rome in the Mirror of the Church Fathers (1978), Augustine and the Fall of Rome (2009) by Heinrich Schlange-Schöningen or Bruno Bleckmann's contribution on the conquest of Rome by Alaric in the representation of Philostorgs (2007).

Pierre Courcelles' Histoire littéraire des grandes invasions germaniques (3rd edition 1964) and Le sac de Rome (1964) by André Piganiol are a little older and , in addition to numerous source excerpts, also offer reactions from some French personalities of modern times. Ferdinand Heinzberger's dissertation Pagan and Christian Reaction to the Crises of the Western Roman Empire (1976) also deals with less-noticed contemporary evidence. In an article published in 2009, Heinrich Schlange-Schöningen spans an arc from Augustine to Courcelle and Piganiol to Heather. Mischa Meier and Steffen Patzold show in their book August 410 - A Battle for Rome, published on the 1600th anniversary of the plundering , how the event from contemporaries to the chroniclers of the Middle Ages and early modern times to the historians of the 19th, 20th and 20th centuries at the beginning of the 21st century was repeatedly reinterpreted. The conference proceedings The Sack of Rome in 410 AD (2013), edited by Johannes Lipps, Carlos Machado and Philipp von Rummel , offers not only contributions on the history of reception, but also investigations into the archaeological traces of the looting.

Ancient sources

literature

  • Bruno Bleckmann : The Teutons. From Ariovistus to the Vikings . CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-58476-3 , p. 232-245 .
  • Thomas S. Burns: Barbarians within the Gates of Rome. A Study of Roman Military Policy and the Barbarians . Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana 1994, ISBN 0-253-31288-4 , pp. 224-246 .
  • Alexander Demandt : The late antiquity. Roman history from Diocletian to Justinian 284–565 AD (=  Handbook of Classical Studies . 3rd section, 6th part). 2nd Edition. CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55993-8 , p. 172-179 .
  • Wolfgang Giese : The Goths . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-17-017670-6 , pp. 29-37 .
  • Guy Halsall: Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West 376-568 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-43491-1 , pp. 200-217 .
  • Henriette Harich-Schwarzbauer , Karla Pollmann (ed.): The fall of Rome and its resurrections in antiquity and the Middle Ages (=  Millennium Studies . Volume 40 ). de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-028698-4 .
  • Peter Heather : The fall of the Roman Empire . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-608-94082-4 , p. 250-274 .
  • Michael Kulikowski: The Goths before Rome . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2009, ISBN 978-3-534-21598-0 , pp. 159-182 .
  • Johannes Lipps, Carlos Machado, Philipp von Rummel (eds.): The Sack of Rome in 410 AD. The Event, its Context and its Impact (=  Palilia . Band 28 ). Reichert, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-89500-944-0 .
  • Mischa Meier : Alaric and the conquest of Rome in 410. The beginning of the "Great Migration" . In the S. (Ed.): They created Europe. Historical portraits from Constantine to Charlemagne . CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55500-8 , p. 45-62 .
  • Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold : August 410 - A fight for Rome . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 (overview of the history of reception; review by H-Soz-u-Kult ).
  • Walter Pohl : The Great Migration. Conquest and Integration . 2nd Edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-17-018940-9 , pp. 49-58 .
  • Peter Van Nuffelen: Not much happened: 410 and All That . In: The Journal of Roman Studies . tape 105 , 2015, p. 322–329 , doi : 10.1017 / S0075435815000428 (good, concise overview of the research discussion).
  • Herwig Wolfram : The Goths. From the beginning to the middle of the sixth century . 5th edition. CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-33733-8 , p. 125–168 (first published in 1979 under the title History of the Goths. Draft of a historical ethnography ).

Web links

Commons : Sack of Rome (410)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ On the Terwingen Bernard S. Bachrach: Some Observations on the “Goths” at War . In: Francia . tape 19/1 , 1992, p. 205-214 .
  2. ↑ Orosius 7.33.9 f. ; Jordanes, Getica 131 f. The name Fritigern is found in Ammianus Marcellinus , first in Ammian 31,4,8 .
  3. ↑ On the battle of Ammian 31.12 f.
  4. ↑ Jordanes, Getica 145 ; Orosius 7.35.19 .
  5. ↑ Zosimos 5,5,4 .
  6. ↑ Philostorg 12.2 . See Hieronymus , Letters 60,16 .
  7. ↑ Chronica minora, Volume 1, p. 299 .
  8. ↑ Orosius 7.37.2 ; Chronica minora, Volume 1, p. 465 .
  9. ↑ By December 6th at the latest: Codex Theodosianus 7,13,15 .
  10. ↑ Orosius 7.37.4 ff .; Chronica minora, vol. 1, pp. 299 , 652 ; Volume 2, p. 68 .
  11. ↑ Orosius 7.40.3 ; Chronica minora, Vol. 1, pp. 299 (December 31), 465 (December 30).
  12. ↑ Zosimos 5:32 ff .; Chronica minora, volume 1, p. 300 .
  13. ↑ Zosimos 5,41,4 .
  14. ↑ Zosimos 5.46 ff.
  15. ↑ Zosimos 6.7–6.10 ; Sozomenos 9.8 ; Philostorg 12.3 .
  16. ↑ Sozomenos 9.9 ; Philostorg 12.3 . Heather, Untergang, p. 268 suspects that Sarus could be an old rival of Alaric from the 390s .
  17. ↑ Chronica minora, Volume 1, p. 466 .
  18. ↑ Sozomenos 9: 9 speaks generally of treason; Prokop , Bellum Vandalicum 1,2 offers both variants: 300 young men smuggled in as slaves (1,2,15 ff.) Or the aristocrat Proba (1,2,27).
  19. ↑ Orosius 7.39 f. ; Sozomenos 9.9 f. ; Socrates Scholasticus 7.10 ; Jordanes, Getica 156 . Cf. Mischa Meier : Alaric and the conquest of Rome in 410. In: Ders. (Ed.): They created Europe. Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55500-8 , pp. 57-58; Michael Kulikowski: The Goths before Rome. Darmstadt 2009, ISBN 978-3-534-21598-0 , pp. 181-182; Thomas S. Burns: Barbarians within the Gates of Rome. Bloomington 1994, ISBN 0-253-31288-4 , p. 244.
  20. ↑ On the size of the booty cf. Herwig Wolfram : The Goths. Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-33733-8 , p. 165; Bruno Bleckmann : The Teutons. Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-58476-3 , p. 242; Mischa Meier: Alaric and the conquest of Rome in 410. In: Ders. (Ed.): They created Europe. Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55500-8 , p. 53.
  21. ↑ Orosius 7.40.2 ; Chronica minora, vol. 2, p. 70 ; Olympiodorus, fragments 6 Blockley. Cf. Alexander Demandt : The late antiquity. Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55993-8 , p. 178 with note 75. On the other hand, Herwig Wolfram: Die Goten. Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-33733-8 , p. 165: "However, the Roman princess may have come to the Goths before 410".
  22. ↑ Jordanes, Getica 158 .
  23. ↑ So consistent Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55993-8 , p. 178 and Mischa Meier: Alarich and the conquest of Rome in 410. In: Ders. (Ed.): They created Europe. Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55500-8 , p. 59.
  24. ↑ General overview of the source reports from Ralph W. Mathisen: Roma a Gothis Alarico duce capta est . In: Johannes Lipps et al. (Ed.): The Sack of Rome in 410 AD . Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-89500-944-0 , pp. 87-102 .
  25. ↑ Hieronymus, Letters 123,16,4 .
  26. ↑ Jerome, Letters 127, 12 .
  27. ↑ On Hieronymus cf. Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold : August 410. Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 31-39 and Otto Zwierlein : The fall of Rome in the mirror of the church fathers . In: Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy . tape 32 , 1978, p. 45-80 , especially 49-55 .
  28. ↑ On Augustine cf. Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410. Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 40-58 and more detailed Otto Zwierlein: The fall of Rome in the mirror of the church fathers. In: Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy. Volume 32, 1978, pp. 56-80 and Heinrich Schlange-Schöningen : Augustinus and the fall of Rome. Theodicy and historiography . In: Andreas Goltz, Hartmut Leppin, Heinrich Schlange-Schöningen (eds.): Beyond the borders. Contributions to historiography in the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages . de Gruyter, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-020646-3 , p. 135-152 .
  29. ↑ Augustine, De civitate Dei 2,3,3 .
  30. ↑ Augustine, Sermones 296.12.
  31. ↑ On Sodom cf. Augustine, De excidio urbis 2; the idea that the Christian religion is responsible for protecting many Romans can be found in De civitate Dei 1,7 .
  32. ↑ Orosius 7.37-7.40 . On this, Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 58-68 .
  33. ^ John F. Matthews: Olympiodorus of Thebes and the history of the West (AD 407-425) . In: Journal of Roman Studies . tape 60 , 1970, pp. 79-97 .
  34. ↑ Olympiodorus, fragments 6-8, Blockley 10-11. See older English translation .
  35. ↑ Philostorg 12.2-12.3 . In addition, Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410. Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 89-92 and in detail Bruno Bleckmann: Crises and Crisis Management. The conquest of Rome by Alaric in the portrayal of Philostorg . In: Helga Scholten (Ed.): The perception of crisis phenomena. Case studies from antiquity to modern times . Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-14506-4 , pp. 97-109 .
  36. ↑ Socrates Scholasticus 7:10 . On this, Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 84-87, 89 .
  37. ↑ Sozomenos 9.4; 9.6-9.10; 9.12 . On this, Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 84-85, 87-89 .
  38. ^ Prokop, Bellum Vandalicum 1,2,8-1,2,32 . On this, Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 94-97 .
  39. ↑ Cf. David Engels : The cock of Honorius and the dog of Aemilia. On the survival of pagan omens in Prokop . In: Antiquity and the Occident . tape 55 , 2009, p. 118-129 , especially 126-128 .
  40. ↑ Jordanes, Getica 146-158 . On this, Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 100-112 .
  41. ↑ Chronica minora, Volume 2, pp. 273-275 . On this, Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 113-129 .
  42. ↑ Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 97-100 .
  43. ↑ Otto von Freising, Chronik 4,21 = Walther Lammers (Hrsg.): Otto Bischof von Freising. Chronicle or The History of the Two States . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1961, p. 347, 349 . On this, Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 129-144 .
  44. ↑ Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 144-152 .
  45. ↑ Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 152-155 .
  46. ↑ Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 155-163 .
  47. ↑ Edward Gibbon: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Until the end of the empire in the west . tape 4 . dtv, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-423-59062-9 , p. 274-366 , especially 319-331 (English, online ). On this, Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 166-175 .
  48. ^ Ferdinand Gregorovius: History of the city of Rome in the Middle Ages . tape 1 . Cotta, Stuttgart 1859, p. 133-168 ( online ; citation pp. 149-150 online ). On this, Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 180-188 .
  49. ^ Alfred von Reumont: History of the city of Rome . tape 1 . Decker, Berlin 1867, p. 737-744 ( online ; citations p. 740 online ). On this, Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 188-189 .
  50. ↑ Felix Dahn: The kings of the Germanic peoples. Depicted according to the sources . tape 5 . Stuber, Würzburg 1870, p. 53 . Felix Dahn: Prehistory of the Germanic and Romanic peoples . 2nd Edition. tape 1 . Baumgärtel, Berlin 1899, p. 345-346 . On this, Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 193-199 .
  51. ↑ Wilhelm Capelle: The Germanic peoples migration. Represented on the basis of contemporary sources . Kröner, Stuttgart 1940, p. 217-249, citations pp. 247-248 . On this, Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 . Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 , pp. 205-208, 213-216 .
  52. ↑ Overview works by German-speaking authors with a focus on the history of events:
    • Herwig Wolfram: The Goths. From the beginning to the middle of the sixth century . 5th edition. CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-33733-8 , p. 125-168 .
    • Bruno Bleckmann: The Teutons. From Ariovistus to the Vikings . CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-58476-3 , p. 232-245 .
    • Walter Pohl: The Great Migration. Conquest and Integration . 2nd Edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-17-018940-9 , pp. 49-58 .
    • Wolfgang Giese: The Goths . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-17-017670-6 , pp. 29-37 .
    • Alexander Demandt: The late antiquity. Roman history from Diocletian to Justinian 284–565 AD (=  Handbook of Classical Studies . 3rd section, 6th part). 2nd Edition. CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55993-8 , p. 172-179 .
    • Gerd Kampers: History of the Visigoths . Schöningh, Paderborn 2008, ISBN 978-3-506-76517-8 , pp. 98-104 .
  53. ↑ Overview works by English-speaking authors with a focus on the history of events:
    • Averil Cameron , Peter Garnsey (Eds.): The Late Empire. AD 337-425 (=  The Cambridge Ancient History . Volume 13 ). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1998, ISBN 0-521-30200-5 , pp. 125-128, citation p. 127 .
    • Stephen Mitchell: A History of the Later Roman Empire. AD 284-641 . Blackwell, London 2007, ISBN 978-1-4051-0856-0 , pp. 93-95 .
    • Guy Halsall: Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West 376-568 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-43491-1 , pp. 214-217 .
    • Peter J. Heather: Goths and Romans 332-489 . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-19-820234-2 , pp. 213-218 .
    • Thomas S. Burns: Barbarians within the Gates of Rome. A Study of Roman Military Policy and the Barbarians . Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana 1994, ISBN 0-253-31288-4 , pp. 224-246 .
    • Peter Heather: The fall of the Roman Empire . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-608-94082-4 , p. 250-274, citation p. 268 .
    • Michael Kulikowski: The Goths before Rome . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2009, ISBN 978-3-534-21598-0 , pp. 159-182 .
  54. ↑ Mischa Meier: Alaric and the conquest of Rome in the year 410. The beginning of the "migration of peoples" . In the S. (Ed.): They created Europe. Historical portraits from Constantine to Charlemagne . CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55500-8 , p. 45-62 .
  55. ↑ Special studies on individual authors:
    • Heinrich Schlange-Schöningen: Augustine and the fall of Rome. Theodicy and historiography . In: Andreas Goltz, Hartmut Leppin, Heinrich Schlange-Schöningen (eds.): Beyond the borders. Contributions to historiography in the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages . de Gruyter, Berlin 2009, p. 135-152 .
    • Otto Zwierlein: The fall of Rome in the mirror of the church fathers . In: Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy . tape 32 , 1978, p. 45-80 .
    • Bruno Bleckmann: Crises and Crisis Management. The conquest of Rome by Alaric in the portrayal of Philostorg . In: Helga Scholten (Ed.): The perception of crisis phenomena. Case studies from antiquity to modern times . Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-14506-4 , pp. 97-109 .
  56. ↑ Newer literature with an emphasis on the history of reception:
    • Pierre Courcelle: Histoire littéraire des grandes invasions germaniques . 3. Edition. Études augustiniennes, Paris 1964, p. 31-77 .
    • André Piganiol: Le sac de Rome . Michel, Paris 1964.
    • Ferdinand Heinzberger: Pagan and Christian reaction to the crises of the Western Roman Empire in the years 395–410 AD . Dissertation, University of Bonn 1976, p. 144-205 .
    • Heinrich Schlange-Schöningen: One of “the most sympathetic heroes of the Germanic prehistoric times”? Alaric and the fall of Rome in the Franco-German history of science . In: magazine research . No. 1 , 2009, p. 40–46 ( uni-saarland.de [PDF; 1,2 MB ]).
    • Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 - A fight for Rome . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-94646-8 .
    • Alexander Demandt: The Fall of Rome. The dissolution of the Roman Empire in the judgment of posterity . CH Beck, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-406-09598-4 , p. 49-50, 54, 58 and the like. a .
  57. ^ Johannes Lipps, Carlos Machado, Philipp von Rummel (eds.): The Sack of Rome in 410 AD. The Event, its Context and its Impact (=  Palilia . Band 28 ). Reichert, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-89500-944-0 .
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on October 11, 2010 .