Alaric's Visigoths sacked Rome in 410 AD, shocking St. Jerome in Bethlehem, who mourned refugees flooding Syria, Egypt, and Africa. Pagans blamed Christianity for weakening Rome. Orosius countered in Histories Against the Pagans, prompting Augustine's City of God, which argued Rome's fate was irrelevant to the heavenly city.
Alaric's sack of Rome (Italy) in 410 AD sparked Christian intellectual crisis
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Key facts
- Alaric's Visigoths sacked Rome (Italy) in 410 AD
- St. JeRome (Italy), living in Bethlehem, lamented the fall of Rome (Italy) and the influx of refugees into Syria, Egypt, and Africa
- Pagan critics claimed Christianity had weakened the Roman state
- The Spanish priest Orosius compared the sack to earlier disasters like the great fire under Nero in his Histories Against the Pagans
- St. Augustine responded with The City of God, arguing the survival of the Roman Empire was irrelevant to the conflict between the earthly and heavenly city
- The Christian author Lactantius had earlier argued the world could not perish while Rome (Italy) endured
Sources
The Sacking of Rome in 410 CE - Medieval Historyhistorymedieval.com
The Sacking of Rome in 410 CE was led by the Visigoth king Alaric at a time when Rome was no longer the seat of the Western Empire.
10 Facts About Alaric and the Sack of Rome in 410 ADhistoryhit.com
On 24 August 410 AD, the Visigoth General Alaric led his forces into Rome, looting and pillaging the city for 3 days. Though a sack nonetheless, ...
The Sack of Romepenelope.uchicago.edu
The date was August 24, AD 410. Alaric died that same year. Two years later, his kinsman Athaulf led the Visigoths into southwestern Gaul, where, in AD 418, ...
Europe 410: Alaric's Sack of Romeomniatlas.com
In the summer of 410 Alaric deposed his appointed emperor Attalus and reopened talks with Honorius, but was suddenly attacked by Sarus, a Gothic general in ...
Sack of Rome (410)en.wikipedia.org
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 ...
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