Titus Livius (59 BC – AD 17), known as Livy in English, was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own time
In Roman legend, Rome was founded on April 21, 753 B.C. by boy twins Romulus (Born circa 771 B.C., Died July 5th, circa 717 B.C.) and Remus (Born circa 771 B.C., Died April 21nd, circa 753 B.C.), who descended from the Trojan prince Aeneas. Legend states that after their birth Romulus and Remus were put in a cradle and laid on the banks of the Tiber river in order to escape being murdered. The river, which was in flood, rose and gently carried the cradle and the twins downstream. The boys were rescued by the river god Tiberinus who placed the twins upon the Palatine Hill. There, they were nursed by a she-wolf underneath a fig tree and were fed by a woodpecker until a shepherd found them and took them into his home. The boys grew up to be very strong and clever.
They came into conflict with the shepherds of Amulius, leading to battles in which Remus was captured and taken to Amulius. Their identity was discovered. Romulus raised a band of shepherds to liberate his brother; Amulius was killed and Romulus and Remus were conjointly offered the crown. They refused it while their grandfather lived, and refused to live in the city as his subjects. They restored Numitor as king, paid due honours to their mother Rhea and left to found their own city, accompanied by a motley band of fugitives, runaway slaves, and any who want a second chance in a new city with new rulers.
The brothers argued over the best site for the new city. Romulus favoured the Palatine Hill; Remus wanted the Aventine Hill. They agreed to select the site by divine augury, took up position on their respective hills and prepared a sacred space; signs were sent to each in the form of vultures, or eagles. Remus saw six; Romulus saw twelve, and claimed superior augury as the basis of his right to decide.
Remus made a counterclaim: he saw his six vultures first. Romulus set to work with his supporters, digging a trench (or building a wall, according to Dionysius) around the Palatine to define his city boundary. Remus criticized some parts of the work and obstructed others. At last, Remus leaped across the boundary, as an insult to the city's defenses and their creator. For this, he was killed.
Huts from Romulus time
Huts from Romulus time
At the suggestion of his grandfather Numitor, Romulus holds a solemn festival in honor of Neptune (according to another tradition the festival was held in honor of the God Consus) and invites the neighboring Sabines and Latins to attend; they arrive en masse, along with their daughters. The Sabine and Latin women who happen to be virgins – 683 according to Livy – are kidnapped and brought back to Rome where they are
forced to marry Roman men.
War with the Sabines
War with the Sabines
The Sabine and Latin men demand the return of their daughters. The inhabitants of three Latin towns (Caenina, Antemnae and Crustumerium) take up arms one after the other and are soundly defeated by Romulus. Romulus kills Acron, the king of Caenina, with his own hand and celebrates the first Roman triumph shortly after. In victory, Romulus is magnanimous in victory – most of the conquered land is divided among Rome's citizens but none of the defeated are enslaved.
This enraged the Sabines, and in response appointed Titus Tatius as the supreme commander-in-chief of all the Sabines, and he marched his army on Rome. The city was difficult of access, having as its fortress the Capitoline Hill, on which a guard had been stationed, with a man named Tarpeius as its captain. But Tarpeia, a daughter of the commander, betrayed the citadel to the Sabines, having set her heart on the golden armlets which she saw them wearing, and she asked as payment for her treachery that which they wore on their left arms. Tatius agreed to this, whereupon she opened one of the gates by night and let the Sabines in. Once inside, Tatius ordered his Sabines, mindful of their agreement, to begrudge the girl anything they wore on their left arms. Tatius was first to take from his arm not only his armlet, but at the same time his shield, and cast them upon her. All his men followed his example, and the girl was smitten by the gold and buried under the shields, and died from the number and weight of them.
With the Sabines controlling the Capitoline Hill, Romulus angrily challenged them to open battle, and Tatius boldly accepted. The Sabines marched down the Capitoline and battled the Romans between the hills in a swampy area which would one day become the Roman Forum. The Sabines overran the Romans and the Romans were forced back behind the very walls of Rome upon the Palatine Hill. From behind the walls, the Romans began to flee the battle. Romulus bowed down and prayed to Jupiter and the Romans rallied back to Romulus and made a stand. Later, on the very spot where Romulus prayed, a temple to Jupiter Stator was built. (stator meaning ?the stayer?) Romulus lead the Romans on and they drove the Sabines back to the point where the Temple to Vesta would later stand.
Romulus and Tatius rule jointly for five years and subdue the Alban colony of the Camerini.
Then Tatius shelters some allies who have illegally plundered the Lavinians, and murders ambassadors sent to seek justice. Romulus and the Senate decide that should go to Lavinium to offer sacrifice and appeased his offence. At Lavinium, Tatius is assassinated and Romulus became sole king.As king, Romulus holds authority over Rome's armies and judiciary. He organises Rome's administration according to tribe; one of Latins (Ramnes), one of Sabines (Titites), and one of Luceres. Each elects a tribune to represented their civil, religious, and military interests. The tribunes are magistrates of their tribes, perform sacrifices on their behalf, and command their tribal levies in times of war.
For more than two decades, Romulus wages wars and expands Rome's territory.
When Romulus' grandfather Numitor dies, the people of Alba Longa offer him the crown as rightful heir. Romulus adapts the government of the city to a Roman model. Henceforth, the citizens hold annual elections and choose one of their own as Roman governor.
In Rome, Romulus begins to show signs of autocratic rule. The Senate becomes less influential in administration and lawmaking; Romulus rules by edict. He divides his conquered territories among his soldiers without Patrician consent. Senatorial resentment grows to hatred.
The death of Romulus
Romulus mysteriously disappears in a storm or whirlwind, during or shortly after offering public sacrifice at or near the Quirinal Hill
Numa Pompilius
Numa Pompilius (753-673 BC; king of Rome, 717-673 BC) was the second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus.
Numa’s reign was marked by peace and religious reform.
Numa constructed a new temple to Janus and, after establishing peace with Rome's neighbours, shut the doors of the temple to indicate a state of peace. The doors of the temple remained closed for the balance of his reign.
He established the Vestal Virgins at Rome, as well as the Salii, and three flamines for Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus. He also established the office and duties of Pontifex Maximus.
Numa reformed the Roman calendar by adjusting it for the solar and lunar year as well as by adding the months of January and February to bring the total number of months to twelve
Numa reigned for 43 years.
One of the most revered accomplishments of Tulluswas his triumph over Alba Longa, an ancient city located in the central part of Italy. Following this victory, Alba Longa transformed into a vassal state of Rome. Unfortunately, the Alban dictator had different ideas and later betrayed Rome. As a result, Tullus ordered the destruction of the city and forced the remaining people to integrate as citizens of Rome. Other wars that Tullus made his mark in was against Fidenae and Veii, as well as against the Sabines.
A legend linked to the Tullus (as told by Livy) states that he wasn’t much for paying attention to religious observances during his reign of Rome. This belief would change as he neared the end of his hold on the city. After experiencing a couple of odd events, including falling ill, he started to take notice to superstitions. He began to read the words of Numa Pompilius and attempted to offer sacrifice to Jupiter Elicius as Numa had stated, but did not perform the ceremony in the correct manner. This led to his demise – with his home and himself being struck by lightning and reduced to ashes.
Ancus Marcius (r. 640 BC – 616 BC), he waged war successfully against the Latins, and a number of them were settled on the Aventine Hill. Ancus Marcius marched from Rome with a newly levied army and took the Latin town of Politorium (situated near the town of Lanuvium) by storm.
He extended Roman territory to the sea, founding the port of Ostia, establishing salt-works around the port, and taking the Silva Maesia, an area of coastal forest north of the Tiber, from the Veientes. He expanded the temple of Jupiter Feretriusr to reflect these territorial successe
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, also called Tarquin the Elder or Tarquin I, was the fifth King of Rome from 616 BC to 579 BC.
Tarquinius' first war was waged against the Latins. Tarquinius took the Latin town of Apiolae by storm and took great booty from there back to Rome. Subsequently the Latin cities of Corniculum, Firulea, Cameria, Crustumerium, Americola, Medullia and Nomentum were subdued and became Roman.Tarquinius established the Circus Maximus. Raised seating was erected privately by the senators and equites, and other areas were marked out for private citizens. According to Livy horses and boxers from Etruria were sent for as the first to participate in the thenceforth annual games.
After a great flood, the damp lowlands of Rome were drained by the construction of the Cloaca Maxima (great sewer) to create a site for the Forum Romanum. As his last great act he began the construction of a temple in honour of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill, partially funded by plunder seized from the Latins and Sabines. Many of the Roman symbols both of war and of civil office date from his reign, and he was the first to celebrate a Roman triumph, after the Etruscan fashion, wearing a robe of purple and gold, and borne on a chariot drawn by four horses.
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (535 B.C. – 496 B.C.)
Superbus' reign was characterised by bloodshed and violence. His son, Sextus Tarquinius', rape of Lucretia laid the seeds for a revolt.
That uprising resulted in the exile, after a reign of twenty-five years, of Superbus and his family, and the establishment of the Roman Republic, with Brutus and Collatinus as the first consuls.
After his exile, Superbus attempted to gain the support of other Etruscan and Latin kings, claiming that republicanism would spread beyond Rome. Even though the powerful Etruscan lord Lars Porsenna of Clusium (modern Chiusi) backed Superbus' return, all efforts to force his way back to the throne were in vain. He left two older sons, Titus Tarquinius and Aruns Tarquinius, who was killed in 509 BC in one of his father's wars to regain the throne. Tarquin died in exile at Cumae, Campania in 496 BC.
Office abolished
According to legend, the last king was overthrown in 509 BC. The historical monarchy, as the legends suggest, was probably overthrown quickly, but the constitutional changes which occurred immediately after the revolution were probably not as extensive as the legends suggest. The most important constitutional change probably concerned the chief executive. Before the revolution, a king would be elected by the senators for a life term. Now, two consuls were elected by the citizens for an annual term. Each consul would check his colleague, and their limited term in office would open them up to prosecution if they abused the powers of their office.The foundation of the Republic — 509 BC
Consul of the Roman Republicwith Lucius Junius Brutus. He was the founder of the Roman Republic and traditionally one of the first consul in 509 BC.
The Roman was the representative government of Rome and its territories from 510 BC until the establishment of the Roman Empire,
Publius Lucretius Tricipitinus and Publius Valerius Publicola
With Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, Lucius Junius Brutus led the Roman revolution of 509 BC, ending the Roman monarchy and banishing the tyrannical King of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. The Romans instituted the office of Consul, founding the Roman Republic.
Succeeded by
Postumius Cominius Auruncus and Titus Lartius Flavus
The Conflict of the Orders (367–287 BC)
The Supremacy of the New Nobility (287–133 BC)
On the way across the Aegean Sea, Caesar was kidnapped by Cilician (not to be confused with Sicilian) pirates and held prisoner in the Dodecanese islet of Pharmacusa. He maintained an attitude of superiority throughout his captivity. When the pirates thought to demand a ransom of twenty talents of silver, he insisted they ask for fifty. After the ransom was paid, Caesar raised a fleet, pursued and captured the pirates, and imprisoned them in Pergamon. Marcus Junctus, the governor of Asia, refused to execute them as Caesar demanded, preferring to sell them as slaves, but Caesar returned to the coast and had them crucified on his own authority, as he had promised while in captivity a promise the pirates had taken as a joke. As a sign of leniency, he first had their throats cut. He then proceeded to Rhodes, but was soon called back into military action in Asia, raising a band of auxiliaries to repel an incursion from Pontus.
On his return to Rome he was elected military tribune, a first step on the cursus honorum of Roman politics.Julius Caesar was a great general and an important leader in ancient Rome. During his lifetime, he had held just about every important title in the Roman Republic including consul, tribune of the people, high commander of the army, and high priest. He suggested new laws, most of which were approved by the Senate. He reorganized the army. He improved the way the provinces were governed. The Romans even named a month after him, the month of July for Julius Caesar.
The people were angry that their government had not been able to solve the many problems facing the Republic. Julius Caesar spoke publicly to the
people about these problems, and promised to solve them if he could.
The people loved him. They wanted to see Julius Caesar in a strong position of power so that he could solve these problems. As Julius Caesar became more popular with the people, he became more powerful.
Caesar's conquest of Gaul extended the Roman world to the North Sea, and in 55 BC he also conducted the first Roman invasion of Britain.
He pursued Pompey to Alexandria, where Pompey was murdered by a former Roman officer serving in the court of King Ptolemy XIII.
Caesar then became involved with the Alexandrine civil war between Ptolemy and his sister, wife, and co-regent queen, the Pharaoh Cleopatra VII. Perhaps as a result of Ptolemy's role in Pompey's murder, Caesar sided with Cleopatra; he is reported to have wept at the sight of Pompey's head, which was offered to him by Ptolemy's chamberlain Pothinus as a gift. In any event, Caesar defeated the Ptolemaic forces in 47 BC in the Battle of the Nile and installed Cleopatra as ruler. Caesar and Cleopatra celebrated their victory of the Alexandrine civil war with a triumphant procession on the Nile in the spring of 47 B.C. The royal barge was accompanied by 400 additional ships, introducing Caesar to the luxurious lifestyle of the Egyptian pharaohs.
Caesar and Cleopatra never married, as Roman Law only recognised marriages between two Roman citizens.Caesar continued his relationship with Cleopatra throughout his last marriage, which lasted 14 years – in Roman eyes, this did not constitute adultery – and may have fathered a son called Caesarion. Cleopatra visited Rome on more than one occasion, residing in Caesar's villa just outside Rome across the Tiber.
During this time, Caesar was elected to his third and fourth terms as consul in 46 BC (with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus) and 45 BC (without colleague).
On Caesar's return to Italy in September 45 BC, he filed his will, naming his grandnephew Gaius Octavius (Octavian) as the heir to everything, including his name. Caesar also wrote that if Octavian died before Caesar did, Marcus Junius Brutus would be the next heir in succession.
44 BC, Caesar was due to appear at a session of the Senate. Mark Antony, having vaguely learned of the plot the night before from a terrified Liberator named Servilius Casca, and fearing the worst, went to head Caesar off. The plotters, however, had anticipated this and, fearing that Antony would come to Caesar's aid, had arranged for Trebonius to intercept him just as he approached the portico of Theatre of Pompey, where the session was to be held, and detain him outside. (Plutarch, however, assigns this action to delay Antony to Brutus Albinus.) When he heard the commotion from the senate chamber, Antony fled. Caesar arrived at the Senate Tillius Cimber presented him with a petition to recall his exiled brother. The other conspirators crowded round to offer support. Both Plutarch and Suetonius say that Caesar waved him away, but Cimber grabbed his shoulders and pulled down Caesar's tunic. Caesar then cried to Cimber, "Why, this is violence!" ("Ista quidem vis est!") At the same time, Casca produced his dagger and made a glancing thrust at the dictator's neck. Caesar turned around quickly and caught Casca by the arm. According to Plutarch, he said in Latin, "Casca, you villain, what are you doing?" Casca, frightened, shouted "Help, brother!" in Greek. Within moments, the entire group, including Brutus, was striking out at the dictator. Caesar attempted to get away, but, blinded by blood, he tripped and fell; the men continued stabbing him as he lay defenceless on the lower steps of the portico. According to Eutropius, around sixty or more men participated in the assassination. He was stabbed 23 times. According to Suetonius, a physician later established that only one wound, the second one to his chest, had been lethal.
Roman empire
It is generally believed that the Romans adopted the Cumae alphabet, a variant of the Greek alphabet, in the 7th century B.C. from Cumae, a Greek colony in Southern Italy.
fifteen letters of the Greek alphabet to become the Latin alphabet, which her son Evander introduced into Latium, supposedly 60 years before the Trojan War, but there is no historically sound basis to this tale.) The Ancient Greek alphabet was in turn based upon the Phoenician alphabet. From the Cumae alphabet, the Etruscan alphabet was derived and the Romans eventually adopted 21 of the original 26 Etruscan letters.
Born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, he was adopted posthumously by his great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar in 44 BC, and between then and 31 BC was officially named Gaius Julius Caesar.
Born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, he was adopted posthumously by his great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar in 44 BC, and between then and 31 BC was officially named Gaius Julius Caesar.
Octavius displayed his deep understanding of the affairs of the government and he tried to make friends with the leaders of the Roman army. However, the important Mark Antony and Lepidus both viciously opposed Octavius's claim to power and fought him in a battle which they lost. After this first great victory, Octavius was made consul and decided that it would be best for all parties concerned that the three men should come to an understanding with one another to get vengeance on the assassins of Caesar. The joining of these powers was known as the Second Triumverant and in it the empire was divided as Octavius was to rule the West, Antony the East and Lepidus Africa.
Soon after the initiation of the triumverant, Octavius married a woman named Scribonia for political reasons.
During his final years Augustus withdrew more and more from public life. Intending to travel with Tiberius to Capri, and then on to Beneventum, he left Rome for the last time in AD 14.Soon after the initiation of the triumverant, Octavius married a woman named Scribonia for political reasons.
He fell ill on the way to Capri and, after four days resting on Capri, when they crossed back to the mainland Augustus at last passed away. He died at Nola on 19 August AD 14, only one month away of his 76th birthday.
Tiberius
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero (November 16, 42 BC – March 16, AD 37), was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Octavian Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37.Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August AD 12 – 24 January AD 41), more commonly known by his agnomen Caligula, was the third Roman Emperor, reigning from 16 March 37 until his assassination on 24 January 41. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty.
Emperor Claudius
(1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54; Tiberius Claudius Drusus from birth to AD 4, then Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus until his accession) was the fourth Roman Emperor and a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty,Expansion of the empire
Under Claudius, the empire underwent its first major expansion since the reign of Augustus. The provinces of Thrace, Noricum, Pamphylia, Lycia, and Judea were annexed under various circumstances during his term. The annexation of Mauretania, begun under Caligula, was completed after the defeat of rebel forces, and the official division of the former client kingdom into two imperial provinces. The most important new expansion was the conquest of Britannia
son-in-law and adopted son Nero succeeded him as Emperor.Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become heir to the throne. As Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, he succeeded to the throne on 13 October 54, following Claudius's death.
Servius Sulpicius Galba (24 December 3 BC – 15 January 69), also called Servius Sulpicius Galba Caesar Augustus, was the sixth Roman Emperor for seven months, from 8 June 68 until his murder. He was the first emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors.
The fall of Rome might not have happened if the Senate had responded to Orestes' appeal, instead of giving in to Odoacer's demands, which is why the presence of a ruling selfish class was fatal. The fall of Rome also illuminates why a state should not depend on mercenaries, especially for troops protecting the capital.
The magister militem Odoacer demanded better pay for his troops, in the form of grants of land, estates, in central Italy. German troops had been granted large swathes of land in Gaul and Spain in the 80 years before 476, and had established largely independent kingdoms there, but no land had yet been granted in Italy, which was why Orestes refused to give in. He appealed to the Senate to raise the pay for the troops. Since some of the wealthy individual Senators earned incomes ($15-20 million per year at the current exchange) greater than the amount in question, his appeal was not unreasonable. But they refused. Instead, the Senators negotiated directly with Odoacer and they did so knowing that they had to come to an agreement quickly.
Why? Because Orestes had also appealed for help from the Roman Emperor in Constantinople (the eastern Roman Empire), and Emperor Zeno was about to send troops. The Senators knew that in the eastern half of the Empire, Senators were taxed. Rather than face a similar fate, they supported Odoacer, who announced the end of the western Roman Empire and his assumption of the title: King of Italy. The Senators thought, wrongly, that they could simply continue on as they had before.What the Senators didn't realize was that the fall of Rome was only the beginning of a process that would end with almost all of their families gone, their riches dispersed, and Italy plunged into chaos for hundreds of years. The Senate did continue to meet for another sixty years, but except for its one pivotal moment in 476, the Senate had not exercised any power for many hundreds of years, having handed it over to the strongmen who called themselves Emperor, and now King.
The Senate had taken its one independent action: to cooperate in the fall of Rome.To begin to talk about Alaric, we must first start with the Huns. The Huns were a nomadic people, moving from what is Mongolia across to Eastern Europe. The Goths, who had settled around the Black Sea, were becoming harassed more and more by the Huns and slowly migrated west. Finally they came upon the Danube River, the border of the Roman Empires. There they stayed, until the leaders of the Gothic tribes decided that life under Roman rule would be better than the constant raiding by the Huns. But entering the Empire meant they could become slaves or die, or prosper.
The Goths Enter the Empire
The Goths asked if they could cross the Danube, and thus be allowed to enter the Empire. The Eastern Roman military might was in the East facing the Persians, so the Emperor Valens made a hasty peace with the Persians to get more forces on the Danube to help police the Goths. At first only one tribe was supposed to cross. However, a tribe could be of a significant size, and all the Gothic tribes that gathered could have numbered around 200,000 people.
The Goths started to cross, but with such an influx of people food dwindled and people began to starve. The Romans policing the Goths made a quick profit by selling dog meat in exchange for Gothic children as slaves. Then things started getting harsh, even for the Romans, so the chief commander sent the Goths to Marcianople to get food, but there were insufficient Roman troops to go with them and to watch the border.
While the Romans were preoccupied, other Gothic tribes moved across the border and followed the first tribe. When the Goths arrived at Marcianople, the troops inside didn't want all the barbarians in at once, so they invited the leaders inside for a nice dinner. While everyone was eating, the Romans tried to assassinate the leaders to control the situation. The Romans failed, and then the Goths started a war against the Romans, and even killed the Eastern Emperor Valens at the battle of Hadrianople.
After Hadrianople, the Balkans was in Gothic hands, and with that, a large portion of the tax base. The reduced treasury meant the East could not maintain as large an army, exactly at the time it needed one. In 382, Theodosius I was forced to make peace. As part of the peace, the Goths were required to provide troops when called on. In the Battle of the Frigidus in 394 A.D., the Goths fighting for the East lost 10,000 men, in what was believed to be a deliberate attempt by the Eastern emperor to reduce the Gothic problem.
One of the generals at the battle was Alaric, the future leader of the Goths, but was taught in Roman ways. So when he gained leadership of the Goths, he would change their place in the world. Another person at the battle who would play a part of Alaric's relationship with Rome would be Stilicho.Stilicho and Alaric
When Theodosius died, he made his sons emperors of the East and West, with Honorius ruling the West. Both were too young, so he had Stilicho mentor them until they could rule alone. But Stilicho wasn't the Roman of earlier times. He was half Vandal, from his father, and half Roman, from his mother. Stilicho, a half barbarian Roman, was the effective ruler of the entire Roman world. While in the East he was stopped from becoming too powerful by the imperial court there, but in the West he solidified his position by having his daughter marry Honorius. And Honorius would need Stilicho's help. Alaric had begun his war.
Alaric's first attempt was to get a better deal from the East, where the first deal had been struck. As incentive, he ravaged the Balkans and Greece. A deal was made, but then repudiated. Alaric, not stupid, knew that his chance of getting a good deal in the East was gone, and took his army and invaded Italy in 402. All he wanted was long term legal recognition for his people. And he had two ways to do it. First, he wanted to become a magister militum, which is a high rank in the Roman military; and second he wanted a food subsidy in the area that they had settled. Stilicho would not accept this because it would have ended his political career over a barbarian force that was prepared to put a knife to Rome's throat. The two forces battled twice, neither of which give the advantage to either of them. Having no supplies, Alaric returned to what is now Bulgaria during the winter. He had gotten nowhere fast. But that was to change soon.
Then in 406, Stilicho wanted to make a deal with the Devil. He sent a messenger to Alaric saying he wanted their help. He saw a way to kill three birds with one stone. First he wanted peace, which he would get by granting the Goths what they wanted, which would make him get his second objective, which was to secure the frontier with their army. The problem was that the land they were on was in Dacia and Macedonia, which belonged to the Eastern Empire. And if he were to succeed in taking that land, it would grant him much needed recruiting grounds for soldiers. But when everything was set, and Alaric and Stilicho were just about ready to march on the Eastern Empire, hell broke loose.
During the year that Alaric was waiting for Stilicho to arrive, Stilicho had to face two barbarian invasions, a Gothic one which reached Florence before it was defeated, and a group of barbarians (Vandals, Alans, and Suevi) that had crossed the Rhine, and ran-sacked their way into Spain. There was a further crisis when the commander of the army in Britannia was proclaimed Emperor by his troops. This man was Constantine III and when he crossed into Gaul to try to stop the barbarian group, he gained massive popularity, and gained the armies of Spain and Gaul along with Britannia.
While Stilicho still had the army of Italy, he was not strong enough to defeat Constantine and the barbarians, making the venture with Alaric out of the question. But Alaric still wanted to be paid for upkeep of his army. The Romans, unsurprisingly, opposed this, but Stilicho knew that they needed to pay Alaric: the West could not face three enemies at once. And when the Emperor of the East died, Stilicho went to see the transition of power. Yet while he was gone, Stilicho's clock started its last round as his enemies plotted.
First in the plot, which was planned by Olympius, was a planned mutiny in Ticinum where many of Stilicho's allies were located, as well as the Emperor. Anyone with associations to Stilicho was killed. He was prepared to march his 12,000 strong army to the city if the Emperor was murdered, but Honorius was not, and Stilicho did not intervene, despite friends urging him to. He returned to Ravenna, and sought sanctuary in the church. He was tempted to leave the church when given a solemn oath that he was not to be executed. Honorius' letter ordering his execution was then presented. With Stilicho's death, the empire had lost its strongest commander. Seeing his best chance of cooperation with the West gone, Alaric invaded.Alaric's Invasion
Alaric invaded Italy, and in 408 he took much of northern Italy, then marched on Rome. The first time he appeared before Rome he succeeded in getting 2 tons of gold and 13 of silver, paid by the people of Rome in exchange for lifting the siege for three days. Alaric also gained a military alliance, a first step. Then he marched north. While that was happening, 6,000 Roman soldiers were dispatched for Rome to bolster the defenses. Alaric caught sight of the reinforcements and slaughtered them all.
Alaric returned to Rome, and again besieged it. With Stilicho dead, and an ongoing civil war, Honorius recognised the usurper Constantius III as co-emperor. Then Alaric sent Honorius a deal: an annual payment of gold and wheat and the right to settle in Rhaetia and Noricum, along with a generalship in the Roman army. When Honorius agreed to the payments, but not the land and generalship, Alaric was furious, but then sent him a revised deal: no payments, no generalship, but only to settle in Noricum, "which was always being invaded and had little tax worth" as Alaric put it. Honorius refused to listen. When the envoys arrived and told Alaric the deal was off, he marched on Rome a third time, and again besieged it. In 409, Attalus was declared Emperor by the senators that were left in Rome. So in 409 AD there were three Emperors: Honorius, Constantine III, and Attalus.
The Fall of Rome
Then in the last attempt to negotiate peace, Alaric marched north but was ambushed by Sarus, a Gothic-Roman General, but had acted on his Gothic side (Alaric and Sarus were from the same tribe). So when Honorius might have been willing for a peace, someone else shot it down. Sarus was defeated, and Alaric returned to Rome for the last time. Two years after the first siege, Alaric let the axe fall on the city. The day was 24 August 410, and on that day Alaric knew he had failed (he considered the sack of Rome as an utter failure in his career). But Alaric was an Arian Christian, and he made all Christian items off limits. There was looting, the mausoleum of Augustus was ransacked and the ashes in the funerary urns scattered, but there was no wholesale destruction of Rome or its inhabitants. The city survived.
Nevertheless, the siege and fall of Rome was a traumatic event for the empire's citizens.
After the third day of pillaging, the Goths left Rome, then Italy. Alaric died in 410, and legend has it that he was buried in the river Busento.
Tens of thousands of Romans fled the economically ruined city into the countryside, with many of them seeking refuge in Africa.Aftermath
After the sack, Alaric and his forces journeyed south, where they expected to take ships to Africa. The ships were destroyed, however, in a storm and Alaric died around the same time. Ataulf took command of the Goths, leading them north into Gaul, where they settled in Aquitaine.
Honorius died of edema on August 15, 423, leaving no heir.
Honorius died of edema on August 15, 423, leaving no heir.
Alaric's successor, Ataulf, spent the next few years operating in the Gallic and Spanish countrysides, diplomatically playing competing factions of German and Roman commanders against one another to skillful effect, and taking over cities such as Narbonne and Toulouse (in 413). Having married Placidia, he was enlisted by Honorius to bring Visigothic assistance in regaining nominal Roman control of Spain from the Vandals, Alans and Suevi.
In 418, Honorius rewarded his Visigothic federates under King Wallia by giving them land in the Garonne valley of Gallia Aquitania on which to settle. This was probably done under hospitalitas, the rules for billeting army soldiers. It seems more likely that at first the Visigoths were not given a large amount of land estates in the region like it was previously believed, but that they acquired the taxes of the region, with the local Gallic aristocrats now paying their taxes to the Visigoths instead of the Roman government.
The Visigoths with their capital at Toulouse, remained de facto independent, and soon began expanding into Roman territory at the expense of the feeble Western empire. Under Theodoric I (418–51), the Visigoths attacked Arles (in 425 and 430) and Narbonne (436) but were checked by Flavius Aetius using Hunnic mercenaries, and Theodoric was defeated in 438. By 451, the situation had reversed and the Huns had invaded Gaul; now Theodoric fought under Aetius against Attila the Hunin the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. Attila was driven back, however Theodoric was killed in the battle
