On 24 August 410 AD the city of Rome was sacked by a barbarian army. Its fall shocked contemporaries, with St Jerome declaring that 'the city which had taken the whole world was itself taken'. Did the fall of the city result in the fall of the Roman West? Through illustrated lectures using contemporary written sources and archaeology, discover how the Western Roman Empire was lost. We will focus on the key personalities, such as the child Emperors Honorius and Valentinian III, generals such as Stilicho and Aetius, the barbarian warlords Alaric and Attila the Hun; and explore the events and processes which changed the Roman West into a world dominated by Barbarian kings and kingdoms. Was it overwhelmed by hordes of barbarians migrants seeking sanctuary or did it collapse from within, the victim of its own weaknesses? The potential answers to the problem of the 'Fall of Rome' will be sure to provoke and stimulate you. Lecture style with question and answer time.