Third installment of «Archienemies of Rome «. Collaboration with Gabriel Castelló.Alaric, King of the Goths .
Alhareiks, which is how his name was pronounced in Gothic, was born in 370 AD in the confines of Dacia (Romania) on an island known as Peuké, the largest island in the Danube Delta. Son of Rocesthes and grandson of Aoric, he was the successor of a family of Gothic chieftains, the Baltingos, founded by the legendary Gondebaudo Baltha (which in Goth means "the bold") whose merit lay in having led the Gothic people from the Baltic to the borders of the Empire.
He grew up within the imperial borders. After the great disaster of Adrianapolis in 378 (a bitter Roman defeat that cost the lives of many legionnaires and the emperor Valentus himself ), the Goths had obtained imperial permission to establish themselves as foederati in the province of Moesia (approximately between Serbia and Bulgaria) The young Alaric he led Gothic troops between 387 and 395 who acted as auxiliaries for the Danubian legions against other barbarian peoples.
As an ambitious and intelligent individual that he was, at the death of the emperor of Hispanic origin Teodosio I he saw the opportunity to set himself up as king for his own people in the face of the lack of control and knowledge of the emperor's mellifluous successors, his sons Honorius and Arcade . Emperor Theodosius completed Diocletian's plan to split the state in two, dividing it between his two sons. The first remained as Augustus of the West, only eleven years old, while the second settled in Constantinople as Augustus of the Eastern Empire. Without knowing it, the reform of Theodosius and the subsequent intervention of Alaric brought about the collapse of the ancient world. Rome was going through one of the most complicated moments of the low empire. Theodosius was also the one who ordered the closure of the pagan temples, established Christianity as the only religion of the state and made Rome just a sad specter of the city that came to dominate the world.
Faced with so much manifest weakness, Alaric he decided to take action in 396. He invaded Macedonia, Thrace and Boeotia, laying waste to such important cities as Corinth and Sparta and even challenging the court of Constantinople itself. There was only one man capable of stopping him:Flavio Stilicho, known as Stilicho , a great general of Vandal origin who acted as magister militum (captain general) for the incompetent Honorius. For four years, the charisma and military decision of the Vandal made Alaric settle for the occupation of Illyria, either as a result of a truce agreed with his adversary or just out of prudence. Furthermore, Stilicho was too busy with other revolts in Britain coupled with pressure from Suebi, Alans and Vandals on the Rhine to conjure up the young Gothic king, less active than the rest of the dangers lurking on the borders.
Alaric left against the West in 400, but Stilicho defeated him first at Verona and finally at Pollentia (now Pollenzo) in April 402. This delicate balance was broken in 406. Stilicho's star fell out of favor at the court of Honorius, probably by being suspected of organizing the assassination of Rufinus, the praetorian prefect of Constantinople who dominated the equally weak Arcadius. As can be seen, both empires were in the hands of rude and energetic men who dominated pathetic rulers, a situation similar to what we will see later in our 17th century Spain with hunting kings while their favorites controlled the thousand and one conflicts in which they were immersed the kingdom.
Honorius ordered the execution of his magister militum on August 22, 408, influenced by his boorish advisers; perhaps it was because of his Arian faith, or because of seeing in him a probable future usurper of barbarian blood or, surely, because of all of this together. Seeing Alaric the precarious situation in which the West was left when the only person capable of opposing him disappeared, the Gothic king decided to attack the cowardly Honorius, who took refuge behind the walls of the swampy city of Ravenna, giving way to the Gothic hordes. to the very gates of Rome. For almost three years Alaric besieged the city, negotiating with the Senate and demanding from Honorius the position of magister militum that the late Stilicho had left free, a position that was never granted to him. On the other hand, the senate did agree to pay a high tribute to guarantee the barbarian withdrawal, but the emperor, crouching from his impregnable residence in Ravenna, disavowed such payment. This is another clear proof that not all the barbarians wanted to conquer Rome, many wanted to be and participate in a decadent Rome to save it from itself. And what could infuriate them the most is that their rulers would not allow it!
On August 24, 410, Alaric's men entered Rome through the Porta Salaria , it seems that with the connivance of some slaves. It was not one more looting of so many that occurred in Antiquity. That first sack of classical Rome was not excessively violent, as we might stereotype, but it was a tremendous political and ideological shock in the ancient world. Since the Gallic Brennus, seven centuries ago, entered republican Rome, the city had remained inviolate to any barbarian aggression. It was the symbol of the immortal power of the Empire and the military superiority of Rome. For many historians this event marks the beginning of the end of the Roman era...
This phrase is attributed to the barbarian king:
Since I took Rome in my hands, no one has ever underestimated the power of the Goths. What drove the desire for conquest and the desire for adventure gave greatness to a people in need of a homeland.
For a short time that brave leader was able to enjoy his transcendental conquest. After thoroughly looting the city for three days and taking even the emperor's half-sister, Gala Placidia as booty, , the Gothic king saw in the grain reserves of Africa insurance for the famine that had dragged his people. He took the road in the direction of Regio to embark towards this new conquest. His death surprised him in Cosentia (Cosenza, Calabria) a few months later when he was still only 35 years old.
Image:the eye of the one eye