Alaric and Stilicho

[Lothia]

Ave civitas,

In my research, I cannot find dates (I know 395)  (or even a month)  when Stilicho confronted Alaric in Thessaly.
Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance.

Tom

[Nathan Ross]

Accurate dates are unavailable for this whole confused period, as all we have to go on are allusions in Claudian and a few small mentions elsewhere.

I find the best treatment of events is in Alan Cameron's Claudian: Poetry and Propaganda at the Court of Honorius (1970). On p.66 he writes that 'in about September 395 [Stilicho] invaded Thessaly with both eastern and western armies, and soon ran Alaric to earth'.

Cameron provides no note to explain the date, but it perhaps relates to Claudian's later comment that Stilicho's men did not plunder farms and vineyards (as, we must assume, some had alleged). This would only make sense in the context of the harvest period of late summer and autumn.

[Lothia]

Nathan,
Thank you very much for your speedy reply.
I will get that book.
Appreciate your help

[Justin I]

Thomas Burns' Barbarians Within the Gates of Rome covers this period in detail as well.

[Lothia]

Justin,

Thanks. I have that book. Read it back when I first thougt of writing about Alaric, maybe in 2006. Forgotten all about it. How do you guys keep all this stuff acive in your memory?

[Nathan Ross]

Thomas Burns' Barbarians Within the Gates of Rome covers this period in detail as well.

Yes, Burns is good - if very confusingly written at times.

You've also reminded me how good his book smells. I've noticed before that many US academic presses (Indiana UP in this case) use a particularly sweet-smelling ink; I've never found it in any UK publication...!

[Justin I]

Ha, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that book had a unique smell! Yes, his writing is a bit dense and convoluted at times. I had to read one page about the various magistri of the Balkans in the late 4th century probably three or four times before it started to make sense. Of course, part of that is because the source material itself is confusing, as you mentioned earlier.

I remember a lot of the literature on this period because it just happens to be the part of Roman history I'm most interested in, along with the Punic Wars. I'm not really sure why, I've just always enjoyed reading about those two periods in particular.

Loth, are you writing fiction about Alaric?