{"id":9906,"date":"2023-10-20T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T08:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.learnancientrome.com\/?p=9906"},"modified":"2023-10-20T09:00:15","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T08:00:15","slug":"who-were-the-vandals-in-ancient-rome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnancientrome.com\/who-were-the-vandals-in-ancient-rome\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Were The Vandals In Ancient Rome"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Who Were the Vandals in Ancient Rome?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Vandals were an ancient Germanic tribe that left their homeland in the 3rd century AD and marched their way through Gaul, Spain and across the Mediterranean to Africa. They are primarily known for their sack of Rome in 455 AD and their role in the decline of the Roman Empire. The name ‘Vandals’ is derived from an ancient Germanic root word for ‘to plunder’, and the Vandals certainly lived up to their name. They were ruthless looters, pillagers, and raiders. They plundered anything of value and left death and destruction in their wake. Their rampage through the Roman Empire has forever branded them as destructors and enemies of civilization.<\/p>\n

Historians have had a difficult time discerning facts from fiction about the Vandals. Many ancient Roman accounts depict them as wild, lawless barbarians, taking what they wanted and leaving destruction in their wake. Modern historians have found this to be a bit of an exaggeration, and attribute their ferocity more to the nature of their extraordinary circumstances than to any inherent savagery. It is now believed that the Vandals were driven out of their homelands by a combination of famine, population pressure and the Roman imposition of limits on Germanic settlement. <\/p>\n

The Vandals are known to have been Arians, meaning they rejected the doctrine of the Nicene Creed of 325 AD. This was a direct challenge to the authority of the Roman Church. As Rome grew more powerful and influential, the doctrine of Christianity became increasingly important to the Roman identity. To the Romans, the Vandals were not only an external enemy, they were also a threat to their faith and civilizational order. Therefore, their destruction of Rome was seen as an attack on a way of life, rather than on an Empire.<\/p>\n