Trying Something <3 . . . The sack of Rome in 455 was carried out by the Vandals led by their king Gaiseric. A 442 treaty between the Western Roman Empire and Vandal Kingdom included a marriage of state between the daughter of Roman Emperor Valentinian III and the son of Gaiseric. Valentinian's successor Petronius Maximus violated the treaty by marrying his son to Valentinian's daughter, and Gaiseric retaliated with an invasion of Italy. Maximus did not organise a defence of Rome and was lynched by a Roman mob while trying to escape the city. Pope Leo I convinced Gaiseric to avoid the use of violence against residents of the city. The Vandals looted Rome for two weeks, stripping it of most of its valuables and taking some residents as slaves. Maximus' successor Avitus had little support which led to the outbreak of the Roman civil war of 456. The Sack of Rome in 455 and the Visigothic sack of 410 shocked the Roman world and symbolized the decline and impending fall of the Western Roman Empire, marking a pivotal moment in European history. . . . Since its founding in 395 AD, the Western Roman Empire was in a prolonged state of decline. One of its major issues was a mass migration of Germanic and other non-Roman peoples known as the Migration Period. This led to the sack of Rome in 410 by the Germanic Visigoths under Alaric.[2] It was the first time the city had fallen since c. 387 BCE.[3] A peace treaty was signed between the Romans and Vandals in 442, in which the Vandals acquired Africa Proconsularis, Byzacena, eastern Numidia, and western Tripolitania while the Romans retained Mauretania Caesariensis, Mauretania Sitifensis, and western Numidia. A marriage alliance between Huneric and Eudocia, the daughter of Emperor Valentinian III, was also made.[4] Petronius Maximus is alleged to have influenced Valentinian III to have Flavius Aetius killed on 21 September 454. Maximus then conspired to have Valentinian III murdered on 16 March 455, and Maximus rose to become emperor on 17 March.[5] Maximus, in order to legitimize his rule, married Licinia Eudoxia, the widow of Valentinian III, and married Eudocia to his son Palladius. Licinia Eudoxia, however, in revenge for her husband's murder and forced marriage, conspired with the Vandals against Maximus.[6] Gaiseric proclaimed that the broken betrothal between Huneric and Eudocia invalidated the peace treaty and exploited the situation as a casus belli to invade Rome, gathering a large force and sailing from Carthage. Rome had ceased to be the capital of the empire by the beginning of the 4th century and a multitude of cities served as the capital of the western empire.[7] Theodosius I is the only emperor that is definitely known to have visited Rome between 363 and 395.[8] Valentinian III moved his court to Rome in 450 and stayed there for the remainder of his life.[9] The population of the city had fallen from 700,000–1,000,000 at the end of the 4th century to 300,000–500,000 by 455.[10] . . . Gaiseric and his army looted great amounts of treasure from Rome. They "tore off half the roof" of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus by stripping away the gilt bronze roof tiles,[15] hence the modern term vandalism.[16][17] The two-week Vandal sack of 455 is generally considered more destructive than the three-day Visigoth sack of 410.[18] Victor of Vita records that several shiploads of slave captives arrived in Africa from Rome, who were then divided between the Vandals. Deogratias, the Bishop of Carthage, bought the freedom of some of the Romans by selling all of the valuables from his church. Deogratias hosted and fed them in larger churches in Carthage until they could be repatriated back to Rome. . . . References Clover 1978, p. 176. Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians, (Oxford University Press, 2006), 378. Lee 2013, pp. 113–114. Conant 2012, pp. 21–23. Salzman 2021, pp. 148, 152–153. . . . For Educational Purposes <3 . . . No Hate <3 . . . I Love Flowers <3 - @general_sarbani