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Alaric (born c. 370, Peuce Island [now in Romania]—died 410, Cosentia, Bruttium [now Cosenza, Italy]) was the chief of the Visigoths from 395 and leader of the army that sacked Rome in August 410, an event that symbolized the fall of the Western Roman Empire. A nobleman by birth, Alaric served for a time as commander of Gothic troops in the Roman army, but shortly after the death of the emperor Theodosius I in 395,...