“That Rome is not as the epic sword-and-sandal films portray it, with hawk-nosed legionaries, sweaty gladiators, haughty patricians, and high-born ladies in clean, neatly draped stolas, a Rome still bending the world to its will . . . . Our Rome was spiraling down into chaos.” (p. 21)

British historian Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) wrote 1.6 million words on the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Since then, many diligent researchers and gifted writers have tackled the question, and offered an array of explanations.

This new book focuses on the years from 378 to 410 C.E., and the intertwined lives of two leaders who played a major role in the dramatic events of this era, the half-Vandal Roman general Stilicho (c. 359-408), and the Visigothic warlord Alaric (c. 370-411). We know what Stilicho looked like, because a skilled contemporary craftsman carved his likeness on an ivory panel, preserved today in the cathedral of Monza, Italy.* No comparable image of Alaric survives.

The book consists of thirty chapters organized chronologically in three parts, plus an Epilogue. The story begins with a flashback to 378 B.C.E., when an army of invading Gauls sacked the city of Rome. The invaders were driven out, but the bitter humiliation left a deep imprint on Rome’s subsequent history.

As young men, both Alaric and Stilicho were probably present, on opposite sides, at the battle of Adrianople, (August 9, 378) when the Goths destroyed the Roman army of the East, killing the emperor Valens. As a junior officer, Stilicho made a brilliant marriage to Serena, daughter of eastern emperor Theodosius.

Alaric became the leader of a successful bandit gang in the Balkans, nearly capturing Theodosius as he made his way back to Constantinople. Recruited as auxiliaries (foederati) into Roman service, he and his Goths fought at the battle of the Frigidus in northern Italy (September 5-6, 394) where the usurper Eugenius was defeated by Theodosius. Stilicho served there as an imperial bodyguard. His daughter, Maria married the young emperor Honorius, who proved utterly incompetent. When court officials persuaded Honorius that Stilicho was scheming to seize the throne for himself, he was arrested and executed (August 23, 408).

The death of Stilicho left the Western empire defenseless, and eventually Alaric and the Goths captured and sacked Rome (August, 410). Shortly after, Alaric died, probably from malaria, which was endemic to the marshes around the city, and to which the Goths had no immunity. According to legend, Goths diverted a river, buried him in the river bed with an immense treasure, then restored the channel, and killed all the diggers to preserve the secret location. The treasure has never been found.

Hollway ‘s concluding Epilogue offers this insightful judgment about Alaric:

“He had always aspired to be civilized, to be Roman. What he perhaps did not realize however was that the Romans were just another breed of barbarian, a people we today would hardly call civilized . . . socially still savage, as evidenced by too many facets of their culture.” (p. 349)

A talented storyteller with a solid mastery of the difficult and often contradictory ancient sources, Hollway describes himself as an “author, illustrator and historian.” His first book, The Last Viking (2021), a biography of Norwegian king Harald Hardrada, was reviewed by this reviewer, https://strategypage.com/bookreviews/2264.

At the Gates of Rome clearly explains the complex palace intrigues and repeated barbarian invasions that dominated this troubled era. It will be read with interest and enjoyment by lovers of ancient history.

www.nymas.org