Vandal sack of Rome
Gaiseric’s Vandals landed from Africa and plundered Rome for two weeks, carrying off its treasures and the widowed empress; Pope Leo I persuaded them to spare the city from fire and slaughter.
- Date
- 2–16 June 455exact date · duration: 14 daysDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Rometoday: Rome, Italy · Western and Central Europe
- Participants
- Vandals, Gaiseric, Western Roman Empire, Pope Leo I
- Threads
- Europe in the Roman age (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Sack of Rome (455); Разграбление Рима (455); Захват Рима вандалами
After Valentinian III was murdered on 16 March 455, the senator Petronius Maximus seized the throne and married his son to the late emperor’s daughter Eudocia, who had been betrothed to Gaiseric’s son Huneric. Gaiseric sailed for Italy; Maximus was killed by a Roman mob as he tried to flee on 31 May, and on 2 June the Vandals entered the city unopposed. At the plea of Pope Leo I, Gaiseric agreed not to burn buildings or massacre the inhabitants.
For fourteen days the Vandals methodically stripped Rome — even the gilded roof tiles of the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol and, according to Procopius, the treasures of the Temple of Jerusalem taken by Titus — and carried off the empress Licinia Eudoxia, her daughters and many captives. The word vandalism, coined during the French Revolution, keeps the memory of the sack alive.
Connections
Causes and preconditions
- Vandal conquest of Roman AfricaMay 429 – 442 · Africa
Related events
- Siege of JerusalemApril 70 – 8 September 70 · Middle East and Egyptthe Temple treasures brought to Rome by Titus were taken to Carthage
- Vandalic WarJune 533 – March 534 · AfricaThe Vandal treasure taken to Constantinople included spoils from the sack of Rome in 455
Same participants
- Battle of the Catalaunian Plains20 June 451 · Western and Central Europevia Western Roman Empire
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Pope Leo I
- Deposition of Romulus Augustulus4 September 476 · Western and Central Europevia Western Roman Empire
Same place
- Great Fire of Rome19 July 64 – c. 27 July 64 · Western and Central Europe
- Inauguration of the Colosseum80 · Western and Central Europe
- Antonine Plague165–180 · Western and Central Europe
- Constitutio Antoniniana212 · Western and Central Europe
- Crisis of the Third CenturyMarch 235 – 20 November 284 · Western and Central Europe
- Aurelian Walls271–275 · Western and Central Europe
- Battle of the Milvian Bridge28 October 312 · Western and Central Europe
- Sack of Rome by the Visigoths24–27 August 410 · Western and Central Europe
- Gothic War (535–554)535–554 · Western and Central Europe
- Coronation of Charlemagne25 December 800 · Western and Central Europe
- Imperial coronation of Otto I2 February 962 · Western and Central Europe
- Fourth Council of the Lateran11–30 November 1215 · Western and Central Europe
- “Summa Theologica” by Thomas Aquinas1265–1274 · Western and Central Europe
- Sack of Rome (1527)6 May 1527 · Western and Central Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Eastern Europe
- Early Slavic cultures: Prague-Korchak, Penkovka and Kolochinc. 450 – c. 700
- Chernyakhov culturebetween 200 and 250 – between 400 and 430
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430
Balkans and Anatolia
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451
Africa
- Vandal conquest of Roman AfricaMay 429 – 442
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Sack of Rome (455)
- Wikipedia (Russian): Разграбление Рима (455)
- Merrills A., Miles R. The Vandals. — Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
- Wikidata: Q1463832