Searching for the Lost Treasure of Alaric the Visigoth

For those with a mind to search for them, there are many rumoured lost treasures out there. Some are certainly waiting to be find, sunken ships loaded with valuables or hidden caches. Others are more fanciful.

The sad truth is that most “lost” treasures were simply disappeared into the pockets of whoever happened to be nearby and in charge. When Catholic Spain funded a Scottish rebellion in 1745 in support of Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Catholic pretender to the English crown, half the gold had gone missing before it reached its destination, not so much “lost” as “stolen.”

Similarly, those seeking the legendary Incan treasure supposedly cached somewhere in the Ecuadorian Andes en-route to ransom their king Atahualpa will probably never find it. The gold ransom disappeared shortly after the Atahualpa was murdered, said to be hidden but much more likely divided up and taken.

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Generally, the newer the treasure the more likely it is to be real, but there are certainly treasures passing back through history which are solid candidates for truly being lost. Among the most valuable, both in terms of precious metals and historical value, belonged to Alaric I, King of the Visigoths.

But it had not belonged to him for long. In 410 AD Alaric I had brought his armies into the Italian peninsula, advanced on Rome, and sacked the great city. His treasure was nothing less than the wealth of the greatest city in Europe at the time, a vast and priceless collection of artifacts from the golden age of the Roman Empire.

Alaric never lived to enjoy the spoils of victory, and in truth the treasure could not have travelled far. We know from historical accounts what happened, we have the clues to find the treasure, and yet it has stubbornly eluded treasure seekers for over 1,500 years.

The Treasure of an Empire

Rome’s fall in 410 AD was largely due to the overconfidence of one man. However it could be argued that Honorius, Emperor of Rome, was right to be confident, at least in the beginning.

For at least the previous decade Alaric had attacked Rome’s territories with his vast Visigoth army, and the city had held against the onslaught. The Goths had been forced into a retreat, and it seemed for the moment that Rome would continue to endure.

The Visigoths had been turned back in a large part due to the military genius of one man: Stilicho, great General of Rome. However Honorius, recognizing that Stilicho’s star was rising in the months following his victory and fearful of a popular man, had him sentenced to death and executed in 408.

Stilicho had held together the Western part of the Roman Empire for more than a decade at this point, serving first Emperor Theodosius and then his son Honorius. The new, young Emperor had made a key mistake in losing his greatest defender.

The death of Stilicho fomented rebellion and infighting in Rome’s military, sowing dissent and it was this, in part, which allowed Alaric to advance into Italy as never before. Honorius expected reinforcements to defend Rome but these were defeated by Alaric before they ever arrived; it was said that only 100 soldiers out of the expected five legions made it to the city itself.

Rome in such a state was indefensible, and although Alaric was open to parley with he Emperor he changed his mind once the invitation turned out to be a trap and the Romans tried to kill him. Enraged, Alaric trashed the place.

Famous places such as the Gardens of Sullust were torched, never to rise again. The mausoleums of Augustus and Hadrian were ransacked, the ashes of dead emperors going back four centuries scattered and lost. 

Her citizens pressed into slavery, Rome was forced to give up her treasures. The Visigoths took everything that wasn’t nailed down, even an enormous canopy entirely of silver, weighing over 1,000 kg.

Over three brutal days the city was stripped of her every valuable, and although many of her most famous buildings remained intact it was said that Alaric, when he rode away in triumph, took the entire wealth of the city with him.

In triumph? Well, almost: Roman reinforcements were fast approaching and Alaric feared that his route to the north was blocked. His army headed instead south, pillaging the countryside as they headed with their spoils for the island of Sicily.

But, only a few months after Rome’s sack, Alaric suddenly died of an unknown illness. He would never again leave the Italian peninsula.

It is extremely unlikely that the entirety of the treasures of Rome were buried with him, but it is said that many of the most beautiful and costly artifacts were entombed. The Visigoths, recognizing the need to remove themselves before they were overtaken by Rome’s vengeful legions, quickly elected Alaric’s half brother king and made for Gaul (France) with what remained.

Here they would found their own kingdom in southern Gaul a decade later, with the treasures of Rome ensuring they had a wealthy start. But what of the treasure buried with Alaric?

It is said that his tomb was concealed beneath a river bed, and that the (Roman) slaves who buried him were then themselves killed to keep the location a secret. This offers a weirdly similar parallel to the stories of the tomb of Genghis Khan, but unlike him we know the name of the river under which Alaric is buried.

The Busento is not a large river. A tributary of the Crati, the largest river in Calabria in southern Italy, it is only some 36 km long. The treasure of Alaric must be well hidden indeed, for no trace to survive of his resting place along so short a stretch.

Or perhaps, like the Jacobite gold or the Inca treasure, there is a more prosaic reason that the treasure has not been found. Perhaps Alaric was not buried there at all, as you might suspect given the too-convenient story of only dead slaves knowing its location.

Perhaps Alaric’s half-brother wanted to give the conqueror of Rome the send-off he deserved, at least in appearance. Perhaps, once the funeral was over and the Visigoths turned north, all the treasures of Rome went with them into Gaul.

Top Image: The dead King Alaric being entombed along with the treasures of Rome. Source: Heinrich Leutemann / Public Domain.