Alaric I

Alaric led the Visigoths and sacked Rome in AD 410. Born around 370 on an island in the Danube delta, he belonged to the Tervingi, who had crossed into the empire in 376 fleeing the Huns and had been settled as federates after Adrianople. He commanded Gothic troops in Roman service, fighting for Theodosius I against the usurper Eugenius at the Frigidus in 394, where Gothic units were placed in the front and took very heavy casualties — which he took as evidence of how his people were regarded. He was proclaimed king in 395, and the pattern of his career was set: he wanted a permanent settlement, land, supplies and a senior Roman command for himself, and he used force to extract it because negotiation produced nothing. He ravaged Greece in 395-97, and invaded Italy twice from 401, being defeated by Stilicho at Pollentia and Verona without being destroyed. Stilicho's execution in 408 and the massacre of Gothic soldiers' families in Italy sent some thirty thousand men to him. He besieged Rome three times. In 408 he lifted the blockade for a large payment; in 409 he installed a puppet emperor; and throughout he sent envoys to Honorius at Ravenna asking for Noricum, grain and a title. Honorius refused every time. On 24 August 410 the Salarian Gate was opened and the Goths sacked the city for three days — the first foreign capture of Rome in eight centuries, though churches were spared. He died of fever in southern Italy months later, and was buried in a riverbed.

• Lived: 370 CE – 410 CE
• Nationality: Greek
• Roles: military_leader, tribal_chief