
The Enigma of the Tomb of Alaric, King of the Visigoths
Legends tell that Alaric, King of the Visigoths, who sacked Rome in the fifth century AD, was buried along with his horse and a vast amount of treasure, in the bed of the Busento River in the Cosenza province of southern Italy. But have the archaeologists and treasure hunters been searching in the wrong place?
King Alaric. Illustration from the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493)(Public Domain)
Alaric, Rise of the King and Break with the Romans
Alaric, whose name means 'King of all', was born in 370 AD in Peuce, along the banks of the Danube, in present-day Romania. He is a descendant of the noble Balti family, one of the various tribes of matrix Celtic spread over time in a vast geographical area, from Scandinavia to Ukraine. At the age of 22, he was crowned king of the Visigoths, succeeding Frigiterno.