Sack of Aquileia

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Sack of Aquileia
Part of the Germanic Wars
Date 452 CE
Location Aquileia,  Italy
Result Hunnic/Ostrogothic victory
Belligerents
Huns
Ostrogoths 		Roman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Attila the Hun

The Sack of Aquileia occurred in 452, and was carried out by the Huns under the leadership of Attila.[1]

A year after Attila's defeat at the Battle of Catalaunian Fields,[2] Attila launched an invasion of Italy, during which he razed Aquileia to the ground. It was only when Saint Leo arrived beseeching Attilia to turn back[3] was his invasion halted.

Before its destruction, Aquileia was a center of government (with an imperial residence), commerce and finance (with a mint), military defense, and Christianity (with a bishop).[4] Its destruction and Attila's subsequent unimpeded ravaging of the province of Venetia (modern Veneto and Friuli) paved the way for the rise of Venice which within a few centuries replaced and even surpass it in importance.

Popular culture

This sack appears as part of the final scenario in the Attila the Hun campaign in the Microsoft computer game Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. The destruction of Aquileia also figures prominently into the background of several characters in the novel The Last Legion.

References

  1. ↑ "Valentinian III". www.livius.org. Retrieved 7 September 2012. 
  2. ↑ "Aquileia". www.eyewitnesstohistory.com. Retrieved 7 September 2012. 
  3. ↑ "Saint Leo the Great". www.catholic-saints.info. Retrieved 7 September 2012. 
  4. ↑ "Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia". whc.unesco.org. Retrieved 7 September 2012. 


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