Rome and Its Inhabitants during the Sack of the City by the Visigoths in 410 AD

This article uncovers anthropological aspect of the capture of Rome by the troops of Alaric, the culminating event of the crisis of 408–410 AD on the Apennine Peninsula. Taking narrative sources and archaeological data into account, and using the prosopographic analysis, the author examines the information on the damage to private and public buildings in the city of Rome and analyses what ways of salvation from the Gothic threat were available to the townspeople. The conclusion is that the absence of archaeologically documented destructions in Rome, reliably associated with the sack of 410, does not testify to the city remained undamaged. The damages affected the entire territory of Rome, and many residents were subjects to violence, robbery, and murder. Trying to save themselves from the barbarians, the Romans fled from the city or sought refuge in churches. The ordinary townspeople remained in Rome or evacuated to the isle of Igilium, though the aristocracy had the opportunity to migrate westwards (Igilium), southwards (North Africa), eastwards (Palestine), or northwards (Ravenna). With a few exceptions, all the cases under analysis concerned short-term migrations. The migrations of Roman aristocrats from Italy to North Africa or Palestine were less a reaction to the barbarian invasion than the desire to devote themselves to serving God faraway from urban centres. Generally, the sack of Rome in 410 AD was a difficult test for the city and its inhabitants, but the economic resources in possession of the senatorial aristocracy made provisions for the quick restoration of the previous standard of living.