Sack of Rome

  • Rome was attacked and sacked by the Gauls in c.390 BCE, after which the Servian Wall was built followed later by the Aurelian Walls which successfully held off all attacks for 800 years.
  • Then between 410-546 CE, Rome was sacked three times, first by the Visigoths, then by Vandals and finally by the Ostrogoths, ending the Western Roman Empire.

Sack of Rome by the Gauls (c.390 BCE)

  • In 390 BCE or 387 BCE Brennius and the Gauls sacked Rome, after defeating the Roman Army at the Battle of the Allia.
  • Although there were defensive embankments, there were no stone walls, and the city was vulnerable.

No attacks for 800 years

  • Rome then built the Servian Wall in c.380 BCE and later the Aurelian Walls in 275 CE.
  • For almost 800 years, Rome was not captured again, until 410 CE.

Servian Wall (c.380 BCE)

  • Shortly after the occupation by the Gauls, the Servian Wall was built out of stone.
  • In 218 BCE, during the Second Punic War (218-201 BCE) with Carthage, Hannibal reached Rome, but the Servian Wall held him off. He had no siege engines.

Aurelian Walls (c.270-275 CE)

  • In 275 CE, the Aurelian Walls were added to encircle the city which had expanded beyond the Servian Wall.
  • The Aurelian Walls were built during the Crisis of the Third Century, when the Armies of the Germanic Tribes entered Italia in 270 CE and reached Piacenza before being repulsed.
  • Aurelian built the Walls in response, as Rome had no walled outer perimeter since the city had not been attacked for several centuries.

First Sack of Rome (410 CE)

  • Alaric the Visigoth, after besieging Rome twice in 408 and 409 CE, finally succeeded in 410 CE and broke through the Aurelian Walls.
  • However, the city was only sacked for 3 days, and there was no massacre of the population.
  • Buildings were burnt and the ashes of the Roman Emperors, held in urns in the Mausoleum of Augustus, were symbolically thrown to the winds.

Second Sack of Rome (455 CE)

  • In 452 CE Attila the Hun set out for Rome, but turned back after reaching the river Po. Attila died in 453 CE, before he could carry out another planned attack on Constantinople.
  • However, in 455 CE, Geiseric King of the Vandals, arrived off the coast with the Vandal Fleet and unopposed, disembarked the Vandal Army and sacked Rome for 14 days.

Third Sack of Rome (546 CE)

  • Totila, King of the Ostrogoths, conducted the third and final Sack of Rome which depopulated the city.

 

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