rome was sacked in 410 by the goths who were led by honorius.
rome was sacked in 410 by the goths who were led by?
honorius
sack of rome (410)





















































the sack of rome occurred on 24 august 410 ad. the city was attacked by the visigoths led by king alaric. at that time, rome was no longer the capital of the western roman empire, having been replaced in that position first by mediolanum in 286 and then by ravenna in 402. nevertheless, the city of rome retained a paramount position as "the eternal city" and a spiritual center of the empire. the sack was a major shock to contemporaries, friends and foes of the empire alike.
sack of rome (410)
in 409, alaric returned to italy to claim more gold and land to settle in, as feudatory vassals of the empire, which stilicho had promised him. honorius refused to fulfill his former general's promises and alaric marched on rome, which bought him off after a short siege in which the city was brought to the verge of famine. a palace revolution in honorius' court led meanwhile to a change of ministers, and those hostile to the goths were replaced by officers favorable to alaric, who began peace negotiations. while the embassy was absent, a new change occurred at ravenna, and honorius disclaimed the peace which was on the verge of being concluded. the exasperated alaric returned to rome and forced the senate to elect priscus attalus emperor, who ratified alaric's former treaty with stilicho. in 410, the eastern roman empire sent six legions (6,000 men; due to changes in tactics, legions of this period were about 1000 soldiers, down from the 6000-soldier legions of the republic and early empire periods) from ravenna to aid honorius, but alaric ambushed on the way, and only a handful of them reached rome. to counter attalus, honorius tried to negotiate with alaric in addition to restricting grain shipments to rome from north africa. attalus dispatched an army to conquer africa and restore the grain supply, but the governor, heraclian, who was loyal to honorius, wiped out this force as soon as it landed on the coast. as rome was dependent on north african grain for sustenance, the populace was faced with the prospect of famine, and they blamed attalus for the impending calamity. growing desperate, attalus searched for means of pacifying the people, but found himself, in consequence of conciliatory expenditures, incapable of satisfying his debt to alaric, and thus alienated both romans and goths. confronted with the increasing unpopularity and truculence of attalus, alaric dethroned him in 410 and proposed to renew negotiations with honorius. honorius, overconfident at attalus' fall and the victory of his general heraclian over attalus' african expeditionary force, refused negotiation, and declared alaric the eternal enemy of the republic. the infuriated alaric turned on the defenseless rome and sacked the city.
honorius (emperor)