The Roman Empire in 395 at the death of Theodosius (Map:  Geuiwogbil at the English Wikipedia)

In 1984, a German academic, Alexander Demandt, published a book, Der Fall Roms, and he listed 210 reasons for the fall of Rome in the West.

Barbarians inside and outside the empire,  Christianity, loss of territory with resulting loss of revenue and resources, agricultural and social impoverishment, flagging military forces, new peoples rising and banding together, distancing from the centre and worst of all, weak and/or split leadership are the generally quoted factors today.

At the start of the AD 390s, the Western Roman Empire was a functioning political and economic entity with a flourishing cultural life and legal identity, and ruled by strong emperors. It had weathered the crisis of the third century, successive plagues, the disaster of Adrianople, though not unscathed and not unchanged, but crisis was Ancient Rome’s normal way of evolution and transformation over the centuries. Agricultural exploitation continued as did taxation and trade. It was fraying at the edges, and to some extent at the centre, but nobody dreamt it would collapse completely in just over eighty years’ time.

However, the last few years before and twenty odd years after AD 400 formed a pivot period in the fortune of the Roman Empire and gave it a distinct downward shove.

But it’s more complicated. Of course it is.  Nothing happens outside its context. But what were the main events that had such a bad effect on an empire that had made a reasonable effort of pulling itself together in the previous hundred years?

394 – September. The Battle of the Frigidus: Forces loyal to Theodosius the Great defeated and killed Arbogast and usurper emperor Eugenius, probably near the Vipava River. Later reported (by the winners, of course) as Christianity defeating paganism. In reality, it was a good old-fashioned Roman power struggle.

Solidus of Theodosius I

395 – January. Theodosius the Great, the last ruler of both east and west and an undisputed talented soldier emperor, died unexpectedly at the age of forty-eight. The empire split. His elder son Arcadius, aged seventeen, succeeded him as augustus in the Eastern Roman Empire. Young and inexperienced, susceptible to being dominated by ambitious subordinates, he developed into a weak ruler dominated by a series of powerful ministers and by his wife, Aelia Eudoxia.

His brother, the ten-year-old Honorius, became augustus in the Western Roman Empire under the regency of magister militum Stilicho who tried to hold it altogether as an effective and loyal chief servant and general. But Honorius’s  reign over the Western Roman Empire was notably precarious and chaotic.

In contrast, their sister Galla Placidia, who would become mother, tutor, and advisor to her son Emperor Valentinian III, queen consort to Ataulf, King of the Visigoths and empress consort to Constantius III, would manage the government administration effectively as a regent during the early reign of Valentinian III until her death. But in 395 she was a toddler under three.

396 – The Visigoths, led by Alaric I, rampaged through Greece and plundered Corinth, Argos and Sparta and harried the Peloponnese.

397 – Stilicho trapped the Visigoths in the Peloponnese, but decided to abandon the campaign against them in Greece, thus allowing Alaric to escape north to Epirus with his loot. Presumably, Stilicho left Greece in order to prepare for military action in northern Africa, from where came news that a rebellion was imminent. North Africa was still the grain bowl that fed the empire.

Meanwhile, Emperor Honorius used his time to pass a law making barbarian styles of dress illegal, forbidding everybody in Rome from wearing boots, trousers, animal skins, and long hair. Barbarian fashions were becoming increasing popular among the people of Rome. Imagine it, Romans with long hair and trousers! *Shudders*

398 – After Stilicho returned to Italy, the Eastern Roman Empire concluded a peace treaty with Alaric. The Visigoths were given a settlement area in Illyricum and Alaric is appointed magister militum per Illyricum. Nice that the eastern cousins are watching your back – or not.

The threatened revolt in Africa erupted: Gildo, a Berber serving as a high-ranking but tyrannical official in Mauretania for the Western emperor, threatened to defect to the Eastern Roman emperor. After Gildo took much of North Africa and cut off the grain supply to Rome, he was defeated by Stilicho who had rushed there on behalf of Honorius.  Gildo fled and committed suicide by hanging himself.

An imperial edict that really stuck in the craw of Roman landowners with plantations that same year was the obligation to yield a third of their fields to the ‘barbarians’ who had been settled in the Roman Empire. Not a way to win loyalty from wealthy economic actors. In domestic news, Emperor Honorius married Stilicho’s daughter Maria. Convenient.

399 – Honorius, just fifteen at the time, closed the gladiatorial schools in Rome, and legally ended official munera (gladiator games). Probably egged on by Christian advisors. Again, not a super popular move – bread and circus and all that…

Gainas, a Gothic leader, was made magister militum in the east. He proclaimed himself co-regent (usurper, in other words), and installed his forces in Constantinople. He deposed anti-Gothic officials and had Eutropius, imperial advisor (cubicularius), executed. More to come about Gainas…

Marble bust (possibly) of Arcadius, Istanbul Archaeological Museum (CC Commons, Gryffindor)

400 – Emperor Arcadius in the east gave his wife Aelia Eudoxia the official title of augusta. She was then able to wear the purple paludamentum (a nice cloak) and was depicted in Roman currency. Lovely for her in a time of chaos. I wonder whose idea that was…

A riot broke out in Constantinople and the Great Palace burned to the ground. Gainas, the Gothic leader (yes, him again), attempted to evacuate his soldiers out of the city, but 7,000 armed Goths were trapped and killed by order of Arcadius. After the massacre, Gainas tried to escape across the Hellespont, but his rag-tag ad hoc fleet was destroyed by Fravitta, a Gothic chieftain in imperial service. In the winter, Gainas led the remaining Goths back to their homeland across the Danube. They met the Huns and were defeated. The Hunnic chieftain Uldin sent the head of Gainas to Constantinople, where Arcadius received it as a diplomatic gift. Nice.

401 – Emperor Arcadius sent many gifts to the Hunnic chieftain Uldin, in appreciation. Meanwhile, piracy was increasing, particularly by slave-traders from Galatia (Anatolia), along the coasts of Africa.

The old Legio II Adiutrix, part of which had always been stationed at Aquincum (modern Budapest), was divided into two comitatenses, and shipped to Britannia. Hm…  

No peace for Stilicho, though, as he led his army in an extensive campaign against the Vandals in Rhaetia (Switzerland) and none at all when news came in November that the Visigoths, led by Alaric, had crossed the Alps and invaded northern Italy. Becoming a bit of a pest now.

Ivory diptych of Consul Anicius Petronius Probus depicting Emperor Honorius, Aosta Cathedral, Italy.

Emperor Honorius began to use the city of Ravenna as a temporary centre for certain administrative and military functions. The city was chosen because of its proximity to the bulk of the Western Roman army. Its relative poverty and defensible position made it a less tempting target for barbarian invaders than cities such as Rome or Milan. But it hadn’t yet become the new fully-fledged capital of the Western Roman Empire.

402 – More functions of the  Western Roman Empire were transferred to Ravenna. The Visigoths advanced on Mediolanum (modern Milan) and besieged Asti in Liguria. Alaric sent envoys to negotiate a peace, but the Roman government refused to make deals with ‘barbarians.’

April – Stilicho was obliged to recall troops from Britain and the Rhine frontier to defend Italy. He attacked the Goths on Easter Sunday, won and captured Alaric’s wife and children in the aftermath of the Battle of Pollentia. Alaric was forced to retreat.

403 – Not one to give up(!), Alaric again led the Visigoths to invade Italy and advanced through the Brenner Pass. Stilicho, with an army of 30,000 men, defeated the Goths north of Verona. Alaric made a truce and withdrew eastwards to Illyricum.  After this, Alaric left Italy, leaving the province in peace (hooray!) until his second invasion in 409, after Stilicho’s death (groan).

Emperor Honorius and Stilicho were honoured with a triumphal march for the victories against the Goths and Vandals. This becomes the last recorded victory celebrated in Rome (probably).

404 – Last known gladiator fight in Rome which took place despite the ruling in AD 399. AD 404 is usually given as the date of the martyrdom of Saint Telemachus, a Christian monk who was stoned by the crowd for trying to stop a gladiators’ fight in a Roman amphitheatre. Rupture of an important link with traditional Roman life.

In October, Empress Eudoxia has her seventh and last pregnancy, which ends in a miscarriage. She is left bleeding and dies of an infection shortly after. Tragic, and another example of how pitiless women’s lives, especially around childbirth, were in antiquity.

Fravitta, the Gothic general serving the Eastern Roman Empire who saw Gainas off in 400 (see above), was executed on the behest of a powerful official named Ioannes. He had accused Ioannes of pitting Emperor Arcadius (Team East) against Emperor Honorius (Team West). With Fravitta’s execution, the Eastern Roman Empire lost one of their most loyal and competent generals.

405 – Emperor Honorius again banned gladiatorial and other events in the Flavian Amphitheatre (Colosseum), in an austerity move (or was it from religious reasons?). But it still didn’t work – the Oxford Archeological Guide mentions gladiatorial fights  around 435 CE.
Stilicho ordered the burning of the ancient Sibylline Books, according to the Roman poet Rutilius Claudius Namatianus, possibly because Sibylline prophecies were being used to attack his government in the face of the attack of Alaric. (Who knows? But a terrible loss in Rome’s ancient history)

Stilicho (busy boy) also crushed a coalition of Asdingi Vandals, Ostrogoths and Quadi with an army raised from forces of the Rhine frontier, leaving this sector dangerously weakened. (Uh-oh)

Radagaisus, a Gothic king, led an invasion of 20,000 men into Roman Italy in late 405 and the first half of 406. This force probably included Alans, Burgundians, Goths, Vandals, and other smaller tribes. A committed pagan, Radagaisus apparently planned to sacrifice the senators of the Christian Roman Empire to the gods and to burn Rome to the ground. (Nice)

406 – While the Empire mobilised its forces, Radagaisus’s army had the run of northern Italy for at least six months They blockaded the city of Florentia, where a third of the Goth’s troops and allies lost their lives. Stilicho’s army relieved the siege and led and extremely successful Roman counterattack. Radagaisus was forced to retreat into the hills and tried to escape but was captured by the Romans and executed. Moral of story – don’t mess with Stilicho.

In the autumn, the remaining Roman legions in Britain mutinied (probably weren’t getting paid) and the usurper Marcus was proclaimed emperor. To add to the joy, in December, Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine at Mogontiacum (modern Mainz) and began an invasion of Gaul. (This may have occurred earlier in 405 – a lot of invading during this period.)

407 – Gratian (not the earlier emperor from the 370s/380s, but a usurper) was installed as emperor after the death of Marcus. According to Orosius, he was a native Briton of the urban aristocracy. Almost inevitably in these unstable times, Gratian was assassinated and Constantine III, a magister militum, declared himself Roman emperor. He withdrew practically all the Roman garrisons from Britain and crossed the English Channel.

Practically speaking, this was the end of Roman rule in Britain: After 360 years of occupation, the local regional Romano-British leaders raised their own levies for defence against Saxon sea rovers. In lighter news, they were recorded as cultivating oysters, having learned the technique from the Romans.

408 – In May, Arcadius died in his palace at Constantinople, after a weak 13-year reign. He is succeeded by his 7-year-old son, Theodosius II, who is dominated by  his devout Christian sister Pulcheria, and Anthemius, who acted as regent.
In the west, Emperor Honorius married Thermantia, second daughter of Stilicho.

Meanwhile, usurper Constantine III established his headquarters at Arles (Southern Gaul) and sends his eldest son, Constans, with an expeditionary force under Gerontius to Hispania, in order to suppress the revolt of some members of the House of Theodosius, who are loyal to Honorius.
In August, Stilicho, the most energetic and effective general of the age, is (falsely) accused by his political enemies of treason against Honorius and is decapitated at Ravenna. (Sighs at such stupidity.)

And in September, Alaric and his Visigoths seized the opportunity given by the execution of Stilicho  and crossed the Julian Alps with an army of 30,000 men. He marched into the Roman  heartland and laid siege to Rome. After much bargaining, the Senate agreed to pay him a ransom of 5,000 pounds of gold, 30,000 pounds of silver, 4,000 silken tunics, and 3,000 hides dyed scarlet. Alaric also demanded, and obtained, the freedom of 30,000 people who had been enslaved in Rome.

Piling on the grief, the Huns under Uldin crossed the lower Danube and attacked the Eastern Roman Empire, setting fire to frontier forts and taking control of the Castra Martis (modern Bulgaria). The Romans negotiated for peace, but Uldin demanded an exorbitant gold tribute in return for his withdrawal. This demand was rejected and Anthemius forced the Huns back across the Danube.

409 – A vintage year for instability. Gerontius, Roman magister militum of Constantine III, revolted in Hispania. He elevated Maximus as emperor. In October, the Vandals, led by King Gunderic, crossed the Pyrenees into the Iberian Peninsula. They received land from the Romans, as foederati, in Baetica (Southern Spain). The Alans occupied lands in Lusitania (modern day Portugal) and the Suebi gained control of parts of Gallaecia. Roman control and prestige had seriously deteriorated at this stage.

Alaric laid siege to Rome a second time, bringing the inhabitants close to starvation. Emperor Honorius, safe in inaccessible Ravenna, refused to negotiate for peace, despite repeated offers from Alaric, who then came to terms with the Senate and set up a rival emperor, Priscus Attalus, the prefect (praefectus urbi) of the city. Honorius eventually conceded and sons of prominent families at court in Ravenna were sent beyond the Danube as hostages. To add to general misery, the harvests in Hispania, Gaul and the Italian Peninsula were poor and famine struck.

410 – Constantine III crossed the Alps into Liguria (Northern Italy), but retreated to Gaul after Gerontius revolted in Spain. In Rome, the Visigoths under Alaric sacked the city after a third siege. Slaves open the Salarian Gate and Goths loot the city for three days. According to Augustine in The City of God and others, comparatively few Roman men were killed and women raped (Devastating if you were one of the few though). Only two churches were burned; those who took refuge in churches were usually spared.

Destruction (Thomas Cole, 1836), public doman

This was the first time since 390 BC – eight hundred years – that the city of Rome itself had fallen to an enemy. Significantly, Galla Placidia, Honorius’s sister, is captured by the Visigoths and becomes a hostage during their move from the Italian Peninsula to Gaul.

Alaric marched southwards into Calabria and made plans to invade Africa but a storm destroyed his fleet. He died in Cosenza, probably of fever, and his body was buried along with his treasure supposedly under the riverbed of the Busento. He was succeeded by his brother-in-law Ataulf as king of the Visigoths.

According to Zosimus, this is the year when Emperor Honorius sends his diplomatic letters to the Romano-British magistrates ending Roman rule in Great Britain. However, this is likely an example of bad handwriting. Most recently, David Woods has argued that the account long thought to refer instead to Bruttium but the political context would point to Raetia instead. (Super contentious topic which will run on for some time…)

411 – Flavius Constantius, Roman general and politician, was promoted to the rank of magister militum and becamethe imperial adviser to Honorius, and the power behind the throne in the Western Roman Empire. Honorius sends two Roman generals to deal with the usurper Constantine III in Gaul. They kill Gerontius, Constantine’s rebel magister militum in Spain, then besiege Arles and defeat Constantine III. He is taken prisoner and put to death at Ravenna.

King Ataulf led the Goths into Gaul at the instigation of Honorius who promised to recognise a Visigothic Kingdom if Ataulf defeated the several usurpers who threaten the Roman Empire. The Alans established their rule in the Roman province of Lusitania. The Teutonic tribes in Spain joined the Roman Empire as foederati  – allies with military commitments. (Not always reliable, it has to be said.)

412  – Ataulf established his residence at Narbonne. Various usurpers at this stage: Jovinus and his brother Sebastianus in Gaul; Heraclianus in Africa who interrupteds the grain supply to Rome.

413 – Heraclianus landed in Italy with a large army to fight Emperor Honorius. He is defeated in Umbria and flees to Carthage, where he is put to death by envoys of Honorius.
In May, Honorius signed an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces plundered by the Visigoths. Meanwhile, Ataulf conquered the towns of Toulouse and Bordeaux by force of arms. After a successful siege of Valence, he captured the usurper Jovinus and his brother Sebastianus. In Narbonne, they’re executed and their heads sent to Honorius’ court at Ravenna. (Such a thoughtful gesture)

The Theodosian Walls were completed at Constantinople during the reign of Emperor Theodosius II. A single curtain wall with towers had been built during Acardius’s reign in 404/5. The second stage was supervised by Anthemius, a notable praetorian prefect of the East. The forts on the west bank of the Danube, which were destroyed by the Huns, were rebuilt and a new Danubian fleet  launched.

Solidus of Gall Placidia, Altes Museum, Berlin (CC Commons by Sailko)

414 January – Galla Placidia, half-sister of Emperor Honorius, married Ataulf at Narbonne. The wedding was celebrated with Roman festivities and magnificent gifts from Gothic booty (So tactful). Some saw it as a merging of the Roman and Visigothic interests and power, especially if there was a son to rule afterwards.
In July, Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yielded power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigned as regent and proclaimed herself empress (augusta) of the Eastern Roman Empire. Apparently, she was an effective ruler.

Constantius, magister militum with a brutal reputation and political ambitions, began a campaign against the Visigoths in Gaul. He blockaded the Gallic ports and besieged Marseille. The Visigoths proclaimed Priscus Attalus (him again) at Bordeaux as rival emperor for a second time, in order to impose their terms on Honorius.

415 – Constantius drove the Visigoths out of Gaul and captured the usurper Priscus Attalus, and sends him under military escort to Ravenna. Now with loss of trust on both sides, the Visigoths invade the Iberian Peninsula and begin to conquer territory taken previously by the Vandals. King Athaulf and his wife Galla Placidia relocate to Barcelona. Sadly, their infant son, Theodosius, who could have been heir to both the Roman empire and the Visigothic kingdom, dies in infancy. Athaulf is assassinated in the palace while taking a bath (Almost Roman!).

Athaulf’s brother Wallia, becomes king of the Visigoths. He accepts a peace treaty with emperor Honorius in return for a supply of 600,000 measures of grain. After the negotiations, Wallia sends Galla Placidia to Rome with hostages. Apparently, she’s not that pleased to be back in the snake-pit of Honorius’s court…

416 – Priscus Attalus, Roman usurper, was forced to participate in a triumph celebrated by Emperor Honorius, in the streets of Rome. After the festivities, he was exiled to the Lipari Islands north of Sicily. (He was lucky – usually unsuccessful usurpation led directly to  execution.)

417 January 1 – Emperor Honorius forced his half-sister Galla Placidia into marriage to Constantius, his magister militum. (She knew it was going to be bad.) He was appointed patricius by Honorius and became a prominent member of the House of Theodosius. After a great deal of wandering around, the Visigoths settled in Aquitaine and became allies (foederati) of the Western Roman Empire. Justa Grata Honoria, daughter of Constantius III and Galla was born this year.

418 – Emperor Honorius bribed Wallia, the new king of the Visigoths, into regaining Hispania for the Roman Empire and his victory over the Vandals forced them to retire to Baetica. The Visigothic territory in Gaul now extended from the Garonne to the Loire. Theodoric I became king of the Visigoths, completed the settlements in Gallia Aquitania and expanded his military power to the south.

419 – A law was passed prohibiting the act of instructing barbarians on shipbuilding in the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. (Let’s not tell them how – they might use it against us. Duh!) Birth of Valentinian III, emperor of the Western Roman Empire (d. 455)

420 – The Franks crossed the Rhine and invaded Northern Gaul. In Italia, an army was prepared to campaign with Castinus as chief. A Roman army under command of Maurocellus suffered defeat at Braga in Gallaecia, present day Galicia, Spain.

421 – In February, magister militum Constantius III was appointed co-emperor (augustus) with his ineffectual brother-in-law, Honorius and became the real ruler of the Western Roman Empire. But he died suddenly in September of an illness. (Hm…) His wife Galla Placidia became a widow again, apparently none too unhappy about it. She departed with her children – Grata Honoria and Valentinian – to the court of Constantinople. A Roman army commanded by Castinus fights against the Franks in Northern Gaul.

Rugila, chieftain of the Huns, attacked the dioceses of Dacia and Thrace (Balkans). Theodosius II allowed Pannonian Ostrogoths to settle in Thrace, to defend the Danube frontier. The Franks conquered new territories in their kingdom and sacked the old Roman capital Augusta Treverorum (modern Trier).

Europe 421 CE      (Map: omniatlas.com)

And there we leave it.

Ancient Rome lasted 1,229 years in the West from its beginning in the 8th century BCE to its final demise in 476 CE. But over a mere twenty-six years from 395 to 421 CE, it had completely ceded control (or had it wrested from them) a considerable part of their territory. Although technically still ‘the Roman Empire’, much was governed by ‘allies’ (foederati) and tribes such as the Franks and Huns were gaining confidence and pushing across every remaining border.

Fifty-five years later, it was all over.

——————

Some references:

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – Edward Gibbon (J B Bury, ed.)
Galla Placidia: the last Roman Empress – Hagith Sivan
Notitia dignitatum (Wm. Fairley)
The Later Roman Empire AD 354-378 – Ammianus Marcellinus  (Andrew Wallace-Hadril, ed.)
The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization – Bryan Ward-Perkins
Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300 – Peter Heather
The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World – Catherine Nixey
The World of Late Antiquity – Peter Brown

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers –  INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO,  AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO  and RETALIO,  and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories.  Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA,  Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.

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