The Sack of Rome

A topic that could be studied endlessly in itself, the Sack of Rome on August 24th, 410 AD cannot be entirely pinned down on one cause. Like a hurricane that blows through an innocent land, indiscriminately tossing everything in its path with a 110 MPH wind, the lead up to the Sack was a dull roar waiting to be unleashed. 

Let's first start with the Goths. Rome had a relationship with the loose confederation of Germanic people going back to the end of the 2nd century BC. Germanic tribes began to invade the western lands of the Roman Empire (Hispania, Gaul, and Italy,) eventually running into such formidable generals as Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, the 1st century BC Dictator of Rome (resulting from a bitter civil war with his former Commander and rival, Gaius Marius.) Keep all this in mind.  

Sulla, winner of the first major civil war in Rome

Why am I going back over 400 years before the Sack of Rome? Because the seeds of civil war and the challenges of foreign rivals of an Empire do not disappear with a simple change of guard. I could write detail after detail about everything that happened in between, and indeed, authors and historians have written libraries full of analyses of Roman history. However, the short and sweet, ultimate story of Rome, besides its incredible success, a magnificent trove of culture, beautiful mosaics, the seedbed of Roman Catholicism, impressed history in marble statues, and unprecedented dramatic religious transformation, is also that of intense infighting, inner sabotage, and unscrupulousness. 

The Germanic problem never “went away” either. While Rome eventually folded the Goths into their military, they still labeled them as “barbarians” - a not-so-term of endearment for anyone who was not Roman or Greek. The popular (and personal favorite) show, “The Chosen,” does an excellent job of maintaining details of 1st century Roman essence with the character Gaius (I adore this character!) He is a Goth/German who looks, acts and tries very hard to be as Roman as possible. After all, his name is Gaius, a very Roman name. He had a statue of a Greek god, Apollo, in his home. And while the show does not get into it, his wife appears to be a proper Roman. This was not uncommon back then. To appear Roman and marry into Roman bloodlines was the way of the day for anyone who wanted a moderately successful life.

Gaius, the German-Roman military praetor from The Chosen

Not every Goth in Rome was as fortunate as the character Gaius. Over the next 400 years, Goths gained steady numbers in the military and served the Roman Empire. However, there was still an air of subservience, and in a vast Roman Empire stretching from Britain to sometimes Iran (the Persians were formidable and had mountainous terrain to protect them,) it was difficult to make everyone happy. You may recall the attack on the Goth Commander in Greece that led to the repentance of Emperor Theodosius, mentioned in a previous blog post. 

Even tiny scrapper Israel rebelled against Rome and lost the Second Temple in 70 AD. Israel had a total of three wars with the Roman Empire, each one ending in defeat, with the last one instigated by the proclaimed messiah Simon Bar Kokhba in 132 AD. Jews believed their Messiah would be a military commander who would restore the ancient glory of the Davidic Kingdom; King David was a highly successful military leader. However, Israel's casualties were devastating in this final revolt. Judaic identity changed significantly with the diaspora, but the seeds of Zionism started with Bar Kokhba. 

And it was a similar situation with the Goths. The Germans were used as military grunts, and after fighting the wars for the Empire for so long without sufficient pay, status, and recognition from the xenophobic Romans, while still gaining valuable military expertise, they eventually revolted.

This is where it gets dicey. The mighty Roman General Stilicho was the brains behind keeping rebel Goths in check. Stilicho was half Vandal (Germanic) himself, yet Emperor Theodosius trusted him so much that he made him the guardian of his 10-year-old Emperor son, Honorius, before his death. Yes, you read that right: a CHILD became emperor of the Western Empire during a massive tribal revolt. His brother, Arcadius, also with a military guardian, became Emperor of the Eastern Empire at 18. 

Look, we don’t really need to tease out why a child and a teenager in charge of the Roman Empire might be a bad idea. Long story short, it was a disaster. It became even more of a disaster when Honorius, obviously not reading up on his father Theodosius’s leadership strategies, failed to accept the almost successful treaty with the Gothic King Aleric. Then he had Stilicho beheaded for “treason,” and I hate to say this, but murder of high-ranking people in the Roman Empire was disgustingly common. Emperor Honorius was simply too immature when he tried to flex his leadership, and he did not have the military background of his father and grandfather. I have to question, given how busy Emperor Theodosius was during his reign and how completely inept his two sons were at theirs, were they really his children? 

But I digress. With all this chaos happening, the rest was history. Rome was sacked in 410 AD, and the Goths plundered the Eternal City to finally get their due. Rome was devastated, and the trauma lingered for decades. Shock rippled across the empire. 

St. Jerome commented: “Who would believe that Rome, built up by the conquest of the whole world, had collapsed, that the mother of nations had become also their tomb."

Next week, we will finally get into Christian commentary on the Sack of Rome, including the famous commentary that became a book titled City of God against the Pagans.