event
Sack of Rome (410)
Also known as Alaric's sack
high
41.8900, 12.4800 · Wikidata Q1463845 P625 (accessed 2026-11-12) · On the map
- start. 410-08-24high · Wikidata P580
- end. 410-08-27high · Wikidata P582
- point in time. 410-08-24high · Wikidata P585
Visigothic sack of Rome under Alaric, which prompted Augustine's City of God.
Wikipedia extract
The sack of Rome on 24 August 410 AD was undertaken by the Visigoths led by their king, Alaric. At that time, Rome was no longer the administrative capital of the Western Roman Empire, having been replaced 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. This was the first time in almost 800 years that Rome had fallen to a foreign enemy, and the sack was a major shock to contemporaries, friends and foes of the Empire alike.
CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikipedia contributors. Source page
Sources
- Sack of Rome (410) · Wikipedia contributorsAccessed 2026-11-12 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q1463845 · Wikidata contributorsAccessed 2026-11-12 · CC0 1.0
Authority files
Related
- The City of God · text
5th-century