Sack of Rome (410)

The sack of Rome in 410 CE was undertaken by the Visigoths led by King Alaric I. Though no longer the administrative capital of the Western Roman Empire, Rome was still considered to be the spiritual capital and its looting is considered a major landmark in the fall of the Roman Empire.^[1]

Entering the city through the Aurelian gate of Porta Salaria,^[2] Alaric and his forces began a three day long attack. The city and its people were devastated.^[1] Castel Sant'Angelo, which had been converted from Emperor Hadrian's mausoleum into a military fortress nine years prior, was pillaged and the Emperor's ashes were scattered.^[3]^[4]^[5] Basilica Aemilia, then being used as offices for money lenders and tax collectors, was burned down, with the bronze coins left behind as its occupants fled melting against the floor.^[6] The destruction of Rome weakened the Empire further,^[1] allowing for the Ostrogoths to take over the nearby city of Florence,^[7]^[8] and for a larger sacking of Rome to take place 45 years later.^[1]

In 2012, Abstergo Industries added a mnemonic set to Project Legacy themed around many different "Sacks of Rome" and added Alaric to it to represent the 410 event.^[9]

Appearances[]

Assassin's Creed II (first mentioned) (mentioned in Database entry only)
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (mentioned in Database entry only)
Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (mentioned in Database entry only)
Assassin's Creed: Identity (mentioned in Database entry only)

References[]

Timeline

Before Common Era

Prehistory	Isu Era (War of Unification • Human-Isu War • Great Catastrophe) • Assassin-Templar War (ongoing)

13th–6th centuries BCE	Battle of Kadesh • Siege of Dapur • Trojan War • Second Messenian War • Battle of the Champions

5th century BCE	Greco-Persian Wars (Battle of Marathon • Battle of Thermopylae • Battle of Salamis • Battle of Plataia • Battle of the Eurymedon) • Peloponnesian War (Battle of Potidaea • Blockade of Megaris • Mytilenean revolt • Battle of Boeotia • Battle of Megaris • Battle for the Silver Islands • Battle of Pylos • Battle of Sphakteria • Battle of Amphipolis • Sicilian Expedition) • Plague of Athens

4th-2nd centuries BCE	Battle of the Hydaspes

1st century BCE	Caesar's Civil War • Hunt for the Snake • Alexandrine Civil War (Siege of Alexandria • Battle of the Nile) • Assassination of Julius Caesar • Liberators' civil war (Battle of Philippi) • Last war of the Roman Republic (Battle of Actium)

5th–13th centuries

5th–7th centuries	410 Sack of Rome

8th century	Abbasid Revolution • Battle of Talas • An Lushan Rebellion (Fall of Luoyang • Battle of Changshan • Mawei Station mutiny • Fall of Chang'an)

9th century	Islamic Golden Age (Fourth Fitna • Anarchy at Samarra • Zanj Rebellion) • Viking expansion (Lindisfarne raid • Siege of Paris • Great Heathen Army • Viking Capture of York • Battle of Reading • Battle of Ashdown • Battle of Bedwyn • Battle of Meretun • Assault on Grantebridge • Assault on Tamworth Fortress • Assault on Burgh Castle • Assault on Caustow Castle • Assault on Cyne Belle Castle • Assault on Anecastre • Assault on Rouecistre Fortress • Siege of Portcestre • Assault on Magnis Fortress • Battle of Cynwit • Battle of Chippenham • Battle of Edington • Assault on Armagh • Assault on Cashelore • Siege of Paris) • Unification of Norway (Assault on Kjotve's Fortress • Battle of Hafrsfjord)

10th century	Battle of Fýrisvellir

11th century	First Crusade (Siege of Jerusalem)

12th century	Second Crusade • Siege of Masyaf • Battle of Hattin • Third Crusade (Assault on Masyaf • Siege of Acre • Quest for the Chalice • Defense of Masyaf • Hunt for the Nine • Battle of Arsuf • Retaking of Masyaf)

13th century	Fourth Crusade • First Barons' War • Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' • Assassination of Genghis Khan • Decline of the Levantine Assassins • Medieval Inquisition • Fall of Masyaf • Sack of Baghdad • Mongol conquest of China (Siege of Diaoyu Castle) • Battle of Legnica • First War of Scottish Independence (English invasion of Scotland • Sack of Berwick • Action at Lanark)

14th–17th centuries

14th century	Persecution of the Templars • Hundred Years' War (Battle of Agincourt • Siege of Orléans • Battle of the Herrings • Battle of Jargeau • Battle of Meung-sur-Loire • Battle of Beaugency • Battle of Patay • March to Reims • Siege of Paris • Trial of Jeanne d'Arc) • Black Death

15th century	Renaissance • 1402 Chinese Assassin purge • Battle of Anghiari • Fall of Constantinople • Defense of Monteriggioni • Assassination of Galeazzo Maria Sforza • Pazzi conspiracy • Reconquista (Mission to Aragon • Granada War) • Venetian conspiracy • Battle of Forlì • Age of Discovery • Italian Wars (Bonfire of the Vanities) • Ottoman–Venetian War • Confrontation in the Vatican

16th century	Siege of Monteriggioni • Liberation of Rome (Skirmish in the Campagna District) • Search for Cesare Borgia (Attack on Valencia • Siege of Viana) • Italian Wars (War of the League of Cambrai (Battle of Agnadello) • Assassination of Niccolò di Pitigliano) • Little Judgment Day • Prince of Anhua rebellion • Ottoman Civil War (Attack on Prince Suleiman) • Riot at the Harbor of Theodosius • Prince of Ning rebellion • Destruction of the Great Chain • Fight for the Masyaf Keys • Age of Discovery (Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (Night of Sorrows) • Battle of Mactan • Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire (Siege of Cuzco)) • Second Assassin expedition to the Mekong • Great Rites Controversy • 1526 Macau fires • 1527 Sack of Rome • Roman Inquisition • Battle of Gogunda • Sengoku period (Tenshō Iga War • Honnō-ji incident • Imjin War • Battle of Sekigahara)

17th century	Labourd witch-hunt of 1609 • Siege of Osaka • English Civil War • Battle of Lowestoft • Great Fire of London • Glorious Revolution • Salem witch trials • Great Recoinage of 1696

18th century

1701-1730	War of the Spanish Succession • Golden Age of Piracy (Sinking of the Treasure Fleet • Attacks on Tulum • Siege of Charles-Towne • Blockade of Nassau • Attack on Ocracoke) • 1720s Chinese Assassin purge • Shimazu clan civil war • 1725 Manila riot • Battle of Sulu • Battle of the Strait of Malacca

1731-1769	Maroon Rebellion • French Geodesic Mission • 1745 Siege of Louisburg • 1751 Port-au-Prince earthquake • Seven Years' War (Albany Congress • Battle of Fort Necessity • Braddock Expedition (Battle of the Monongahela) • Siege of Fort William Henry • Siege of Louisbourg • Battle of Quiberon Bay • Battle of Labrador) • 1755 Lisbon earthquake • Colonial Assassin purge • Louisiana Rebellion

1770-1785	American Revolution (Boston Massacre • Boston Tea Party) and American Revolutionary War (Battles of Lexington and Concord • Siege of Boston • Battle of Bunker Hill • Great Fire of New York • Conway Cabal • Sullivan Expedition • Battle of Monmouth • Battle at Rhode Island • Battle of West Point • Battle of the Chesapeake • Attack on Fort George • Siege of Yorktown)

1786-1800	French Revolution (Estates-General of 1789 • Paris Commune (1789–1795) • Storming of the Bastille • Great Fear • Women's March on Versailles • Flight to Varennes • 10 August • September Massacres • Execution of Louis XVI • Reign of Terror • Festival of the Supreme Being • Thermidorian Reaction • Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise) • Haitian Revolution • St. Clair's Defeat • French Revolutionary Wars (Siege of Toulon • 13 Vendémiaire)

19th–21st centuries

19th century	Napoleonic Wars (Battle of Ulm) • Trienio Liberal • First Anglo-Afghan War (1842 retreat from Kabul) • Mexican-American War • California Gold Rush • Great Exhibition • Assassination attempt on Franz Joseph I of Austria • Crimean War (Battle of Balaclava) • Orsini affair • American Civil War (1863 New York City draft riots) • Battle of Camarón • Icarus affair • Boshin War (Battle of Toba–Fushimi • Battle of Aizu) • Liberation of London • Franco-Prussian War • Paris Commune (1871) • Assassination of Alexander II of Russia • Borki train disaster • Whitechapel murders

20th century	Modern times • Tunguska explosion • World War I (Battle of Mons • Christmas truce) • Russian Revolution (Execution of the Romanov family • Kazan Operation) • Irish War of Independence • Red Scare (Palmer Raids) • Shanghai massacre of 1927 • Invergordon Mutiny • Spanish Civil War • World War II (The Blitz • Operation Weserübung • Operation Sealion • Operation Barbarossa • Operation Silver Fox • Manhattan Project • Second Battle of El Alamein • Normandy landings • Japanese invasion of Burma • Battle of Tinian • Battle for Brest • Yalta Conference) • Philadelphia Project • Bretton Woods Conference • Cold War (1954 Guatemalan coup d'état • Vietnam War • Assassination of John F. Kennedy • Apollo 11 • 1973 Chilean coup d'état • Operation Gardel • Iranian Revolution • Dissolution of the Soviet Union)

21st century	Great Purge • War on Terror (Iraq War) • Beagle 2 launch • Deepwater Horizon oil spill • 2011 Egyptian revolution • DIA satellite accident • Project Siren • Second Disaster • 2013 Egyptian coup d'état • Chicago incident • Raids on the Aerie • Mission to Egypt • Resurrection Day • Search for the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus • Brexit • COVID-19 pandemic • Myanmar Civil War