3 ms·

> “We know Alaric, who was king of the Visigoths, raided Greece in 397AD,” he said. Historians believe he destroyed cities partly to gain wealth, but also to s

> “We know Alaric, who was king of the Visigoths, raided Greece in 397AD,” he said. Historians believe he destroyed cities partly to gain wealth, but also to spread Christianity. “We discovered a coin that was issued by Alaric’s people. We also found a house that had been destroyed by a cannonball from around that year.” ... a cannonball in 397AD? The editing is a little strange.

willvarfar 7y ago
I have no idea what the truth is, but its possible that they mean they have found a coin issued by Alaric and that the house was (later) destroyed by a cannonball?
- rgblambda 7y ago
  That was my guess as well. Maybe a first part of a sentence was edited out by accident.
  - calagus 7y ago
    I am very happy that you spotted the cannon ball mistake. In fact, it was a projectile from a ballista. As for the coin, it was a barbaric imitation of a coin of Constantine I. According to most publications, it was issued in the 380s AD by a mint in the area occupied then by the Goths. Close to this coin, a late Roman arrowhead was found. These were surface finds a few meters from the excavated house that was burned down and the ballista projectile was recovered from its interior. (a member of the Tenea Project Team)
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
shamir 7y ago
No cannons then, but it might have been destroyed by a projectile from a ballista (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballista https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballista) or an onager (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onager_(weapon) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onager_(weapon))
paganel 7y ago
> “We know Alaric, who was king of the Visigoths, raided Greece in 397AD,” he said. Historians believe he destroyed cities partly to gain wealth, but also to spread Christianity It's interesting to note that Alaric was an Arian [1], and not an Orthodox Christian (even though I don't know for sure if by 397 AD the term "Orthodox" was already in use or not). A fellow Arian Christian from that era and area (the Northern Balkans) was Ulfilas, who "is credited with the translation of the Bible into the Gothic Bible" [2]. If you're going to tell a random someone that the first Gothic alphabet was "invented" in present-day Northern Bulgaria not a lot of people will believe you, especially now when there's lots of talk about "origins" and borders keeping the people "not of our culture" out. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulfilas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulfilas
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- coldtea 7y ago
  >It's interesting to note that Alaric was an Arian [1], and not an Orthodox Christian (even though I don't know for sure if by 397 AD the term "Orthodox" was already in use or not) It was used, but not with the current meaning at the time -- that appeared after the East/West split, half a millennium plus a few centuries later. Before the split, it was occasionally seen early on (2-3 century) but it was more used after the council of Ephesus at the 5th century, again, with a different meaning than today. It was used from both "catholic" and "orthodox" populations (who were one faith at the time), against smaller denominations. >If you're going to tell a random someone that the first Gothic alphabet was "invented" in present-day Northern Bulgaria not a lot of people will believe you, especially now when there's lots of talk about "origins" and borders keeping the people "not of our culture" out. Well, the fact that nations influenced one another, doesn't mean it was some "free for all" back in the day either. People at the time fought hard to keep people "not of their culture out", often with huge human toll -- from the Ancient Greeks fighting to keep the Xerxes etc armies out, to the Roman empire falling to barbaric tribes, all the way to the Battle of Vienna... Romans would have very much preferred to keep their empire, than to have their cities plundered, suffer a millennium of decline and "dark ages", and gain some cultural artifacts and new recipes in exchange...

willvarfar 7y ago

I have no idea what the truth is, but its possible that they mean they have found a coin issued by Alaric and that the house was (later) destroyed by a cannonball?

rgblambda 7y ago
That was my guess as well. Maybe a first part of a sentence was edited out by accident.
- calagus 7y ago
  I am very happy that you spotted the cannon ball mistake. In fact, it was a projectile from a ballista. As for the coin, it was a barbaric imitation of a coin of Constantine I. According to most publications, it was issued in the 380s AD by a mint in the area occupied then by the Goths. Close to this coin, a late Roman arrowhead was found. These were surface finds a few meters from the excavated house that was burned down and the ballista projectile was recovered from its interior. (a member of the Tenea Project Team)
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

shamir 7y ago

No cannons then, but it might have been destroyed by a projectile from a ballista (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballista https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballista) or an onager (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onager_(weapon) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onager_(weapon))

paganel 7y ago

> “We know Alaric, who was king of the Visigoths, raided Greece in 397AD,” he said. Historians believe he destroyed cities partly to gain wealth, but also to spread Christianity It's interesting to note that Alaric was an Arian [1], and not an Orthodox Christian (even though I don't know for sure if by 397 AD the term "Orthodox" was already in use or not). A fellow Arian Christian from that era and area (the Northern Balkans) was Ulfilas, who "is credited with the translation of the Bible into the Gothic Bible" [2]. If you're going to tell a random someone that the first Gothic alphabet was "invented" in present-day Northern Bulgaria not a lot of people will believe you, especially now when there's lots of talk about "origins" and borders keeping the people "not of our culture" out. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulfilas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulfilas

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
coldtea 7y ago
>It's interesting to note that Alaric was an Arian [1], and not an Orthodox Christian (even though I don't know for sure if by 397 AD the term "Orthodox" was already in use or not) It was used, but not with the current meaning at the time -- that appeared after the East/West split, half a millennium plus a few centuries later. Before the split, it was occasionally seen early on (2-3 century) but it was more used after the council of Ephesus at the 5th century, again, with a different meaning than today. It was used from both "catholic" and "orthodox" populations (who were one faith at the time), against smaller denominations. >If you're going to tell a random someone that the first Gothic alphabet was "invented" in present-day Northern Bulgaria not a lot of people will believe you, especially now when there's lots of talk about "origins" and borders keeping the people "not of our culture" out. Well, the fact that nations influenced one another, doesn't mean it was some "free for all" back in the day either. People at the time fought hard to keep people "not of their culture out", often with huge human toll -- from the Ancient Greeks fighting to keep the Xerxes etc armies out, to the Roman empire falling to barbaric tribes, all the way to the Battle of Vienna... Romans would have very much preferred to keep their empire, than to have their cities plundered, suffer a millennium of decline and "dark ages", and gain some cultural artifacts and new recipes in exchange...