Professor Douglas Boin discusses the Goths and ancient Gothia and why they are often misunderstood.  He talks about the difficulty of researching a people that did not have a written language for much of their existence.  He explains Roman stereotypes and prejudices against the Goths and the world that Alaric grew up in on the border of the Roman Empire.  Boin covers how many Goths were converted to Christianity through Roman missionaries as well as the difference between the Arian form of Christianity practiced by Alaric and the Nicaean form practiced by most Romans during that time.  He explains the exploitation of the Goths and how that led to hunger, raids, and pillaging by Alaric.  The author goes into the interesting political intrigue and deception that followed the death of Emperor Theodosius and how that destabilized an already challenged empire.  He discusses the importance of the Roman General Stilicho who was half-Vandal which caused some in the leadership to question him and eventually led to his execution.  Boin talks about Alaric's rise to military power, his problems with the Romans and why the death of Stilicho led to his decision to sack the imperial city of Rome in 410 A.D.  He finishes with what we can learn today from the fractured and complicated relationship between the Romans and the Goths.

HOST:  Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW:  Southern Gothic Unfiltered Pilsner, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, California

BOOK:  Alaric the Goth: An Outsider's History of the Fall of Rome
https://www.amazon.com/Alaric-Goth-Outsiders-History-Fall/dp/0393635694/ref=asc_df_0393635694/?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=&hvpos=&hvnetw=o&hvrand=&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583795269210872&psc=1

MUSIC:  Bones Fork