Portrait Gallery of Roman Emperors

Obverse of Gold Solidus of Honorius
Victoria Auggg Reverse of Gold Solidus of Honorius

An Ineffectual Reign

As Honorius was still a child at the time of his ascendency, effective power remained in the hands regents and officials. Honorius eventually married the daughter of the Magister Millitum, Stilicho, who played a partially successful role in holding back the barbarians who threatened Gaul and Italy, although his failure to utterly destroy the Visigothic king Alaric when he had the opportunity to do so would have devastating consequences for Rome later on. The downfall of Stilicho, partly due to the intrigues of Honorius' court and the subsequent persecution of the German barbarians within the Roman Army led to a situation whereby the Western Empire had no forces capable of countering the resurgent Alaric and his barbarian army, now swelled by German fugitives from the Roman armies.

Rome Sacked and The End of Roman Rule in Britain

Alaric, although a barbarian, was nevertheless a very Romanised one. He would have had designs on the purple himself, had it not been politically and socially impossible for a man of his station to become dejure emperor. For this reason, he sought to seize control through the use of a puppet emperor, Priscus Attalus, whom he appointed with the apparent blessing of the Roman Senate, either through fear or hostility to Honorius. The weakness, fear, indecisiveness and/or even stupidity* of Honorius led one of the most notorious events in Roman history, when in 410, Rome was sacked by Alaric's Visigothic army when a traitor opened one of the gates to allow them in. Being pious christians, the churchs and other Christian buildings were largely left alone, but the final resting places of previous pagan Roman emperors proved not to be as final as they had intended however, and their tombs were looted and their ashes scattered by the rampaging Goths. For the first time since the days of the early Roman Republic, Rome had been overrun by a foreign army, and although Rome had not been the defacto capital of the Empire for many years (the Capital of the West at this point was Ravenna, where Honorius resided) the sacking of the city which had given birth to this once great Empire sent shockwaves throughout the Roman world and beyond. Having demonstrated the lack of ability even to defend Rome itself, it was around this time that Honorius sent his infamous letter to the British provincials, telling them to look to their own defences in response to a letter from the Romano British pleading for aid against Saxon invaders and raiders. Honorius had effectively abandoned Britain, and this letter marked the end of Roman rule there.

Death and the Decline of the West

Honorius' death from dropsy in 423 did not bring about an improvement in the Western Empire's fortunes. Honorius' court was effectively staffed by bigoted and incompetent officials, whose only real skill lay in intrigue and jockeying for position within the Imperial court, not in administering the Empire and defending it from barbarians. Indeed, the power struggles which took place in the aftermath of Honorius' death probably only made the situation worse, and the decline of the Empire continued with a vengeance, and by the end of the century, the Western Empire was no more.

*According to one account, which may not be entirely reliable, when told of the downfall of the city of Rome at the hands of Alaric, Honorius at first believed that he was being informed that his pet chicken, whom he had named 'Roma' had died. He was apparently visibly relieved to be corrected in this belief when he was told that it was the city, and not his pet which had 'perished'.

Roman Emperors Portrait Gallery
You may wish to visit our portrait gallery of Roman emperors. Although it is not complete, we add new and better coins when we can. We are always keen to buy superior quality Roman coins to upgrade our photo gallery.

Roman Emperors Portrait Gallery
You may wish to visit our portrait gallery of Roman emperors. Although it is not complete, we add new and better coins when we can. We are always keen to buy superior quality Roman coins to upgrade our photo gallery.