450 – 460s

Events in the 450s 2

• 434 – 453 Attila the Hun Attila rules the Hunnic Empire from 434 to 453 AD, terrorising both halves of the Roman Empire. He devastates the Balkans repeatedly, extracts enormous tribute from Constantinople, and invades Gaul in 451 AD — defeated at the Catalaunian Plains by the Roman general Aetius and his Visigothic allies in one of the most consequential battles in history. He invades Italy in 452 AD, sacking Aquileia and threatening Rome, but withdraws — perhaps due to plague, perhaps due to Pope Leo I's legendary intervention. He dies in 453 AD, apparently of a nosebleed on his wedding night.
• 455 Sack of Rome by the Vandals In June 455 AD, the Vandals under King Gaiseric sack Rome for fourteen days — a more thorough plundering than Alaric's three-day raid of 410 AD. They strip the gilded roof tiles from the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus and carry off the treasures of the Temple in Jerusalem (themselves looted by Titus in 70 AD). The Empress Eudoxia and her daughters are taken to Carthage. The word "vandalism" enters languages across the world. Rome will never recover its former wealth.