Alaric, a young prince of the Balti dynasty, led the Visigoths, Huns and other tribes from the left bank of the Danube in the invasion of Thrace. Alaric was the first real chief of the Visigoths: after twenty years of constant and unceasing war, this people had understood the need for the figure of a king who would hold supreme power and not simply be an advisor or leader when necessary.

King Alaric is most famous for the Sack of Rome. After three days of looting, loaded with treasures and prisoners, he led his army southwards to spend the winter in the ancient region of Calabria.

On his way through Campania Alaric captured the cities of Capua and Nola. During orgies, his Goths would get drunk on Falerno wine, served to them in golden cups by the daughters and sons of Roman senators. They rode over the hills of the Altomonte to reach the Bruttian city of Cosentia (now Cosenza), where King Alaric suddenly fell ill and died. Legend has it that he was buried with his treasures in the bed of the river Busento, on Calabrian soil, and that the slaves who worked on the temporary diversion of the river were killed so to keep the exact location of his burial secret.