Locksley
Well-Known Member
Legend of King Alaric
In 410 AD Alaric, king of the Visigoths, captured the great city of Rome and became the first foreign enemy to capture this city in over 800 years. When he left Rome, Alaric had amassed a great amount of treasure from his conquest of the city. As legend has it, Alaric left Rome and headed south with his troops. When they reached the area of Cosenza, he died. No one is for certain as to how this happened. Some believe he contracted a disease that took his life. Others feel that his death came from an attack by enemy forces. In any case, his troops honoured their King by burying him in a tomb. This was no normal tomb. His burial place is said to have been at the confluence of the Busento and Crathis rivers. A horde of slaves were used to divert the water from the Busento allowing them to dig a tomb large enough for Alaric, his horse and all of the treasure amassed from his conquests. Once the tomb was completed, the river was returned to its original site and the tomb covered with water. To ensure that no one would reveal this location to anyone, Alaric's troops killed all of the slaves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosenza#Le ... ing_Alaric
Busento River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Busento)
The Busento River, as seen in Cosenza's historical centreThe Busento River is a left side tributary of the Crathis (Crati in Italian) River. It flows about 95 kilometers in Calabria, a region of southern Italy, from the Apennines to the Ionian Sea. The Busento River joins the Crathis in the centre of Cosenza.
Death of Alaric I, buried in the bed of the Busento RiverIts fame is due to an historic event occurred in 412, when Alaric, king of the Goths, died during the siege of the town. According to the legend, his body was buried under the riverbed, the stream being temporarily turned aside from its course while the grave was dug. The king's grave and its fabulous treasure has never been found. The German poet August Graf von Platen-Hallerm�nde celebrated this event with his poem "Das Grab im Busento".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busento
The Rhine frontier, denuded of troops for the defense of Italy, was crossed by a great wave of migrants, chiefly eastern Germans: Vandals, Sueves, and Alans (non-German). The usurper Constantine having crossed from Britain to Gaul, Alaric in Noricum was paid a huge sum of gold by the senate as a sort of retainer for his services against Constantine. Stilicho, his popularity undermined by these events and by the hostility of Constantinople, was beheaded (408). Stilicho was the archetypal barbarian army general exercising power in the name of a weak emperor. There is no evidence of treason by Stilicho. His execution was followed by a general massacre of the families of the barbarian auxiliaries in Italy, and some 30,000 of them went over to Alaric in Noricum. 8
410
Alaric took Rome after alternate sieges and negotiations. He sacked it, then moved south toward Africa, the granary of Italy. Turned back by the loss of his fleet, Alaric died and was buried in the bed of the Busento River. His brother-in-law Ataulf was elected to succeed him. Ataulf, originally bent on the destruction of the very name of Rome, now bent his energies to the fusion of Visigothic vigor and Roman tradition. 9
412
http://www.bartleby.com/67/403.html
In 410 AD Alaric, king of the Visigoths, captured the great city of Rome and became the first foreign enemy to capture this city in over 800 years. When he left Rome, Alaric had amassed a great amount of treasure from his conquest of the city. As legend has it, Alaric left Rome and headed south with his troops. When they reached the area of Cosenza, he died. No one is for certain as to how this happened. Some believe he contracted a disease that took his life. Others feel that his death came from an attack by enemy forces. In any case, his troops honoured their King by burying him in a tomb. This was no normal tomb. His burial place is said to have been at the confluence of the Busento and Crathis rivers. A horde of slaves were used to divert the water from the Busento allowing them to dig a tomb large enough for Alaric, his horse and all of the treasure amassed from his conquests. Once the tomb was completed, the river was returned to its original site and the tomb covered with water. To ensure that no one would reveal this location to anyone, Alaric's troops killed all of the slaves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosenza#Le ... ing_Alaric
Busento River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Busento)
The Busento River, as seen in Cosenza's historical centreThe Busento River is a left side tributary of the Crathis (Crati in Italian) River. It flows about 95 kilometers in Calabria, a region of southern Italy, from the Apennines to the Ionian Sea. The Busento River joins the Crathis in the centre of Cosenza.
Death of Alaric I, buried in the bed of the Busento RiverIts fame is due to an historic event occurred in 412, when Alaric, king of the Goths, died during the siege of the town. According to the legend, his body was buried under the riverbed, the stream being temporarily turned aside from its course while the grave was dug. The king's grave and its fabulous treasure has never been found. The German poet August Graf von Platen-Hallerm�nde celebrated this event with his poem "Das Grab im Busento".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busento
The Rhine frontier, denuded of troops for the defense of Italy, was crossed by a great wave of migrants, chiefly eastern Germans: Vandals, Sueves, and Alans (non-German). The usurper Constantine having crossed from Britain to Gaul, Alaric in Noricum was paid a huge sum of gold by the senate as a sort of retainer for his services against Constantine. Stilicho, his popularity undermined by these events and by the hostility of Constantinople, was beheaded (408). Stilicho was the archetypal barbarian army general exercising power in the name of a weak emperor. There is no evidence of treason by Stilicho. His execution was followed by a general massacre of the families of the barbarian auxiliaries in Italy, and some 30,000 of them went over to Alaric in Noricum. 8
410
Alaric took Rome after alternate sieges and negotiations. He sacked it, then moved south toward Africa, the granary of Italy. Turned back by the loss of his fleet, Alaric died and was buried in the bed of the Busento River. His brother-in-law Ataulf was elected to succeed him. Ataulf, originally bent on the destruction of the very name of Rome, now bent his energies to the fusion of Visigothic vigor and Roman tradition. 9
412
http://www.bartleby.com/67/403.html
