Rome falls to the Ostrogoths

Sacking of city in 546 left city a shadow of its former self

Francesco Salviati's portrait of the Ostrogoth
king Totila, painted in about 1549

The Ostrogoths, the Germanic tribe that took over large parts of the Italian peninsula with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, achieved a symbolic victory on this day in 546 when an army under the leadership of King Totila captured and sacked Rome following a year-long siege of the Eternal City.

The event was part of the Gothic War between the Ostrogoths, who had originated on the Black Sea in the area now known as Crimea, and the Byzantine (Eastern) Empire, between 535 and 554.

Totila led a fightback by the Ostrogoths after the fall of the Gothic capital at Ravenna in 540 signalled the apparent reconquest of Italy by the Byzantines.

He had swept south with his forces and was based at Tivoli, east of Rome, as he plotted how he would recapture the region of Latium. In 545, he laid siege to the city.

Bessas, the commander of the imperial garrison charged with protecting the city, was stubborn but cruel to the Roman citizens.  Although he had a stock of grain, he would not let it be used to feed the population unless they paid for it, while at the same time refusing requests from citizens to leave the city.  He set grain prices impossibly high and many Romans starved.

Pope Vigilius, who had taken refuge in Syracuse in Sicily, sent a flotilla of grain ships in a bid to relieve the crisis but these were intercepted by Totila’s navy at the mouth of the Tiber and never reached the city.

A historical illustration said to show the
army of Totila entering Rome

When Bessas relented and allowed citizens to leave, many were so weak with hunger they died en route to safety, either picked off by Ostrogoth soldiers or collapsing from malnutrition.

An attempt by an imperial army led by renowned general Belisarius only narrowly failed to defeat the Ostrogoth forces, its efforts hampered when Belisarius was taken ill and handed command to less-able subordinates.

Totila entered Rome on December 17, 546 after his men scaled the walls at night and opened the Asinarian Gate - the Porta Asinaria - supposedly with the help of treacherous Isaurian troops from the imperial garrison who had arranged a secret pact with the Goths.

As the Goths were advancing, not knowing what resistance they would encounter, many of Bessas’s supposed defenders of the city were making their escape through another gate, leaving only about 500 soldiers still inside the walls.

In the event, resistance was minimal, with reportedly only 26 soldiers and 60 civilians killed. Rome was plundered, but Totila, having vowed the reduce the once-great city to a sheep pasture, relented and contented himself with tearing down part of the defensive walls, before moving on in pursuit of Byzantine forces in Apulia.

Yet even with most it buildings still standing, Rome was left a barren ruin. Where it boasted more than a million inhabitants during the glory days of the Empire, its population had dwindled to only a few hundred.

The Porta Asinaria was a small entrance through which
farmers could enter Rome with their livestock

Travel tip:

The Porta Asinaria (Asinarian Gate) can be found about 1.6km (1 mile) southeast of the Colosseum along the route of the Via Appia Nuova, next to the Porta San Giovanni. When Emperor Aurelian built the walls that surround Rome, there was only a posterula - a small opening for the farmers who lived outside the walls – at this location, which explains its name Asinaria (of the donkeys). It was only after the nearby Lateran Palace became the official residence of the popes that a proper gate was built, by Emperor Honorius.

The Fountain of Neptune at the Villa d'Este

Travel tip:

Tivoli, situated in the Monti Tiburtini hills about 30km (19 miles) east of Rome. Its fresher climate made it an attractive area for moneyed Romans. Nowadays it is famous for the breathtaking gardens of the Villa d’Este, complete with its 51 fountains, designed to entertain guests of Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este, who had the villa built in the 16^th century.  Tivoli’s other major attraction is the enormous Villa Adriana (Hadrian’s Villa), which is not so much a villa as a small town, incorporating an array of temples, lakes, fountains, baths and other buildings so extensive that visitors need a whole day to explore.

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Feast day of Ercolano – patron saint of Perugia

Bishop was martyred after trying to save city

Herculanus, Bishop of Perugia, in a painting by the
artist Pietro Vannucci, known as Perugino

Today sees the Umbrian city of Perugia celebrate one of the two annual feast days of one of its patron saint, Ercolano, who according to legend was martyred on this day in 549 at the hands of the Ostrogoths, who ruled much of Italy at that time and had placed the city under siege.

Herculanus, as he is also known, was the Bishop of Perugia and as such was charged with trying to bring comfort to his flock in the face of inevitable capture by the Ostrogoths, the tribe, thought to have originated in Scandinavia, which had swept into Italy at the beginning of the sixth century.

They had a large, well-equipped army – more powerful than the army Perugia possessed, although it had enough soldiers to deter an advance – and the Ostrogoth leader, Totila, was prepared to wait outside the walls of the city for as long as it would take to starve the population into surrender.

Perugia’s authorities did all they could to prolong the siege, rationing supplies and ensuring none were wasted, but days passed into months and years and there was no evidence that the amply fed army at the gates of the city was planning to move on.

Perugia's Etruscan walls were a formidable barrier

Ercolano knew more than the ordinary people about how much longer the stalemate could be maintained and inevitably the point was reached at which there was nothing left for anyone to eat.

He knew that his own soldiers, while capable of maintaining guard on top of the walls, would be no match for Totila’s men in close combat, and he was also aware that even if all the money held in the city was gathered together, it probably would not be enough to persuade Totila to look for somewhere else to capture.

In a desperate gamble, Ercolano fell back on a traditional ruse in sieges – the art of deception.

Hoping he could fool Totila into thinking they were still well off for supplies, he wandered outside the walls, under the cover of archers, to feed the sheep that had until that point remained untouched by the besieging forces, who were reluctant to risk coming under arrow fire.

He hoped that Totila might assume that if the Perugians could still feed their animals they must have plenty left for their people.

Ercolano and Lorenzo, the twin patron
saints of Perugia, venerate the Madonna

Ercolano retreated inside the walls and waited.  But there was no immediate movement from the Ostrogoths, nor was there any in the days ahead.  By now at the point of starvation, the city had no alternative but to surrender.

It is said that on learning who was behind the attempted deception, Totila ordered Ercolano’s execution, but only after putting him through the agony of having a length of skin torn from his body, from head to toe.

Some accounts have it that he was spared that torture by being beheaded directly and his body thrown over the wall.  Either way, according to the legend, his body was recovered by some brave citizens and hastily buried where he lay.

Some 40 days later, when Totila allowed them to recover the body in order to have a proper interment, they are said to have found it was miraculously intact, the head reunited with the body, and with no evidence of any injury.

The legend also has it that a another miracle took place, either when his body was found or at a later date, in that a boy, a victim of disease, who was buried by his mother at the side of the Bishop, came back to life.

The church of Sant'Ercolano in Perugia

Travel tip:

The remains of Sant’Ercolano originally resided in Perugia’s Duomo, which was originally dedicated as the Cattedrale di San Lorenzo and Sant’Ercolano, but were transferred to a new church, the Chiesa di Sant’Ercolano, which was built between 1297 and 1326 on the spot on which he was believed to have been martyred.  The altar is a Roman sarcophagus taken from the original Duomo, which contains his remains.

Travel tip:

Perugia is a city of around 170,000 inhabitants built on a hill in Umbria, of which it is the regional capital.  Established in the Etruscan period, it remained an important city, always a target for invading armies because of its strategic value.  Nowadays, it is home to some 34,000 students at the University of Perugia and is a notable centre for culture and the arts, hosting the world-renowned Umbria Jazz Festival each July. It also hosts a chocolate festival – Perugia being the home of the Perugina chocolate company, famous for Baci.  The artist Pietro Vannucci, commonly known as Perugino, lived in nearby Città della Pieve and was the teacher of Raphael.

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