Alaric entering Athens (colour litho)

Alaric entering Athens. In the year 395 AD, Alaric the Goth entered Greece through the unguarded pass of Thermopylae. He ravaged Attica, but spared Athens, which surrendered to him at once. Penetrating into Peloponnesus, he captured its most famous cities, Corinth, Argos and Sparta, selling many of their inhabitants into slavery. After this, however, his victorious career ended; he was nearly entrapped by the Imperial forces under Stilicho, and with difficulty escaped north into Epirus. Illustration for Hutchinson's History of the Nations (Hutchinson, c.1920).