Dining With the Scourge of God, 448 AD

In the f4h century an invasion of nomadic tribes exploded out of the steppes of Central Asia into Europe

,throwing the Roman Empire into disarray and eventually destroying it.

By the 5th Century, the once mighty Roman Empire ,was in irreversible decline.

The Huns, who terrorized Europe ,in the late 4th to mid-5th centuries,

were not Hungarians despite the “Hun” in both their names.

Scant archaeological evidence suggests, the Huns derive from the Hsiung–Nu,

people whose origins trace to the late 3d-century BC. in northern China.

Repelled by the Han Dynasty, the Hsiung-Nu splintered into factions.

The northern faction was driven from China somewhere between 91-93 AD.

These refugees, who migrated west to the Siberian-Kazakhstan steppes,

most likely became the European Huns, according to many scholars.

Others refute the link to the Hsiung-Nu culture yet still place the origins of the Huns in Kazakhstan.

First mention of the tribe appears in European historical records at the end of the 3rd century AD.

It was in 374 or 375 that the Huns made their first really important advance into Europe.

Jornandes tells us their leader was named Balamir.

Ammianus relates, the Huns, being excited by an unrestrained desire of plundering the possessions of others

, went on ravaging and slaughtering all the nations near them, till they reached the Alani.

Having attacked and defeated them, they enlisted them in their service,

and then proceeded to invade the empire of the Ostrogoths, or Grutungs, ruled over by Ermanric.

Having been beaten in two encounters with them, Ermanric committed suicide.

His son, Vithimar, continued the struggle; but was also defeated and killed in battle,

and the Ostrogoths became subject to the Huns.

 

The latter now marched on towards the Dniester, on which lived the Visigoths or Thervings.

Athanaric, the king of the Visigoths, took great precautions,

but was nevertheless surprised by the Huns, who forded the river in the night,

fell suddenly upon his camp, and utterly defeated him.

He now attempted to raise a line of fortifications between the Pruth and the Danube,

behind which to take shelter; but was abandoned by the greater portion of his subjects,

who, under the command of Alavivus, crossed the Danube, and, by permission of Valens, settled in Thrace.

The Huns now occupied the country vacated by the Goths.

They did not disturb the Roman world by their invasions for fifty years,

but contented themselves with overpowering the various tribes who lived north of the Danube, in Sarmatia and Germany.

Many of them, in fact, entered the service of the Romans.

Thus, in 405, one Uldin, a king of the Huns,

assisted Honorius in his struggle against the Visigoths of Ladagasius,

and decided by a rigorous charge of horse, the battle of Florence.

He had already befriended Arcadius.

During the regency of Placidia, sixty thousand Huns were in the Roman service.

Meanwhile, although they did not attack Rome directly,

the Huns were gradually forcing the tribes of Germany,

the Suevi, the Vandals, Alans, etc., across the Rhine,

and gradually pushing themselves along the valley of the Danube.

In 407, they appeared under their chief, Octar, in the valley of the Rhine, and fought with the Burgundians on the Main.

Octar was the brother of Mundzukh, the father of Attila; there were

two other brothers, Abarre, and Ruas, who divided between them the greater part of the Hunnic tribes.

The latter became a notable sovereign, and has lost a reputation,

as so many others have, by having a more fortunate successor.

The emperor Theodosius the second, paid him an annual stipend of three hundred and fifty pounds of gold, and created him a Roman general.

Theodosius Cistern Instanbul,Turkey

Writing at the end of the fourth century,the Roman historian, Ammianus Marcellinus, described the Huns as the most barbarous of Rome’s enemies:

---

“And though they do just bear the likeness of men of a very ugly pattern they are so little advanced in civilization that they make no use of fire, nor any kind of relish, in the preparation of their food, but feed upon the roots which they find in the fields, and the half-raw flesh of any sort of animal. When attacked, they will sometimes engage in regular battle. Then, going into the fight in order of columns, they fill the air with varied and discordant cries. More often, however, they fight in no regular order of battle, but by being extremely swift and sudden in their movements, they disperse, and then rapidly come together again in loose array, spread havoc over vast plains, and flying over the rampart, they pillage the camp of their enemy almost before he has become aware of their approach. When in close combat with swords, they fight without regard to their own safety, and while their enemy is intent upon parrying the thrust of the swords, they throw a net over him and so entangle his limbs that he loses all power of walking or riding.” (Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire)

It is estimated the most famous leader of the Huns,  Attila was born between 370 and 400 AD.

Hunters and gatherers, the Huns traveled with flocks of sheep, which provided food and leather.

They spent their lives atop their hardy horses, likely Mongolian ponies, and were said to dismount only when absolutely necessary.

Attila was trained in horsemanship and shooting from an early age.

 

Fierce fighters and superb horseman, the Huns struck fear into both the German tribes and the Romans.

Warfare on horseback made the Huns faster and more maneuverable than their enemies. The Hun horse was a different breed from the “civilized” Roman horse. Maenchen-Helfen writes: “The only author to give a good description of the Hun horse is Vegetius.” He then goes on saying “These people overlook that the horses of the barbarians are quite different from Roman horses. Hardy creatures, accustomed to cold and frost, the horses of the barbarians need neither stables or medical care. The Roman horse is a much more delicate constitution; unless it has good shelter and a warm stable, it will catch one illness after another” (The World of the Huns). Vegetius concludes that when it comes to warfare the Hun horse was far superior, but the Roman horse was much finer looking, more docile, and had a more noble character.

 

 

Romans became hounded and harassed by nomadic tribes such as the Visigoths and Ostrogoths hailing from the East,

though now they would soon face an even greater enemy, a race of warrior tribesmen from the plains,

 

the Huns, and their fearsome leader, Attila – the Scourge of God.

The mere mention of the name Attila the Hun, conjures nightmarish images of a demonic barbarian,

leading his hoards on a rampage of rape, pillage, and death across the lands of the Roman Empire.

A closer look at the 5th century AD military leader, while not disputing his barbarity, offers a glimpse into the complexities of his nature.

Far from the stereotype of the uneducated , Attila was born into the most powerful family north of the Danube River.

The Huns later settled in Hungary and developed an infantry army.

They differed from other barbarian tribes on the Roman frontier by their ability to conduct successful sieges of fortified cities.

His uncles, Octar and Rugila (also Ruga or Rua), jointly ruled the Hun Empire in the late 420s and early 430s.

Attila and his elder brother, Bleda, received instruction in archery, sword fighting and how to ride and care for horses.

They also spoke–and perhaps read–both Gothic and Latin, and learned military and diplomatic tactics.

 

The two brothers were likely present, when their uncles received Roman ambassadors.

Attila’s uncle ruled the confederation of the Huns, until his death in 434, leaving the kingdom to Attila and his brother Bleda.

With the deaths of their uncles in 434, Bleda and Attila inherited joint control over the Hun Empire.

The siblings co-ruled for about 10 years.

Their first step was to negotiate a treaty, with the Eastern Roman Empire,

in which Emperor Theodosius II agreed to pay some 700 pounds of gold annually,

as a promise of peace between the Huns and Romans.

But just a few years later, Attila claimed the Romans had violated the treaty,

and led a devastating series of attacks through Eastern Roman cities in 441.

With Hun forces looming just 20 miles of Constantinople, Theodosius was forced to make terms, and agreed to pay Attila the staggering sum of 2,100 pounds of gold per year.

After that peace treaty was concluded in 443, the Huns returned to the Great Hungarian Plain.

Roman sources are hazy about what happened there over the next several years, but it seems clear that at some point ,

Attila decided to challenge Bleda ,for sole power over the empire.

The Roman writer Priscus, who provided, what was considered the most reliable Roman account of the Huns, claimed that in 445 “Bleda, king of the Huns, was assassinated as a result of the plots of his brother Attila.”

Before Bleda’s death, the Huns primarily attacked territories in the Eastern Roman Empire, but once in charge Attila trained his sights on both parts of the empire. 

Two years later, Attila led another, even more ambitious assault on the Eastern Roman Empire.

Once Attila’s command was uncontested , the Huns stormed through the Balkans and into Greece, and the Romans finally managed to stop them at Thermopylae, after which the Huns and Romans negotiated another complicated treaty with even harsher terms for the Romans.

In the spring of 450, Honoria, the ambitious sister of Valentian III, emperor of Western Rome,

sent Attila a ring and asked him to help her get out of the impending marriage

to a Roman aristocrat her brother was forcing on her.

Attila, who already had several wives (the exact number is unknown), took Honoria’s overture as a proposal.

He claimed her as his newest bride, and half the Western Empire as her dowry.

Honoria claimed to have intended no such thing, but her brother, furious at his sister’s scheming,

was ready to send her across the Danube, to placate Attila.

He eventually relented, allowing her to marry the boring Roman aristocrat, after all.

Attila wouldn’t give up so easily, however, and would wage his next two military campaigns in Honoria’s name.

 

 

In 451, Attila led his hordes into the heart of Western Europe but was defeated

by Rome and its Ostrogoth Allies at the Battle of Chalons, now considered one of the great turning points of history.

Their appearance forced the resident Visigoths, Ostrogoths 

and other Germanic tribes to move westward and southward and into direct confrontation with the Roman Empire.

Attila suffered his first and only defeat at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains.

Some 200,000 of Attila’s Hun forces invaded Gaul.

As they moved through the countryside, leaving slaughter and devastation in their wake, the Romans (commanded by General Flavius Aetius, previously on good terms with Attila) formed an alliance with King Theodoric I of the Visigoths.

The combined Roman-Goth army confronted Attila ,

in the decisive Battle of Catalaunian Plains, f

inally defeating the great Hun leader in one of the bloodiest conflicts in history.

Theodoric was killed in the clash, while Attila withdrew his forces and subsequently retired from Gaul.

But for Attila it was merely a setback and he would return the following year to rampage across Italy looting and pillaging at will.

Yet he turned back at the Gates of Rome when the city appeared to be at his mercy.

Why, remains a mystery.

 

It is written,  Pope Leo I met Attila in northern Italy, and a great miracle occurred.

Saints Peter and Paul presented themselves,

to Attila and threatened the Hunnic leader, with death if he ignored the appeals of the Pope.

However, Attila did abandon the invasion, and Italy was saved.

Attila died the next year from a nosebleed, we are told, while celebrating his marriage to a new, young wife.

According to Priscus, an Eastern Roman envoy and historian ,

who visited Attila’s headquarters on the Great Hungarian Plain,

along with visiting Roman ambassadors in 449, the Hun leader threw a banquet.

Later in his life, Priscus recorded his travels through the barbarian country and his meeting with Attila

and other uncanny characters he came across in those savage lands.

One of them was a Greek who adopted the lifestyle of the Scythians

and chose to live among the Huns, telling Priscus that life in the Hunnic Empire was far better,

than in the Roman Empire, which was corrupt and unjust.

But the most unusual and seemingly out-of-place character, Priscus

encountered in Attila’s Empire, was a deformed Moorish midget ,called Zercon.

Short and mangled, hunchbacked and disfigured with a “flat nose revealed only by the two nostrils”, Zercon

was also twisted of the feet, which rendered him limp.

He was afflicted by stammering and lisping as well, and because of his unfortunate appearance coupled with his speech impediments, Zercon was a great source of amusement and laughter.

It was a Roman general named Aspar, who first owned Zercon the Moor,

receiving him as a gift while campaigning in North Africa, against the Vandals.

After a few years, when Aspar was needed in Thrace to fight the Huns,

Zercon was captured by the invaders and taken by Bleda, brother of Attila and co-ruler of the Huns.

Bleda seems to have been quite fond of the midget,

making him his personal jester and even crafting a special armor for him to wear and mimic a soldier.

Attila on the other hand did not like Zercon – at all,

much to his relief the midget disappeared at one point, attempting to escape with a group of runaway slaves.

However, they were all captured and while the others were punished, Zercon was forgiven.

Bleda asked him why he had run off, to which the midget replied that he simply wanted to find a wife.

Upon hearing this, Bleda just laughed and married Zercon ,to a noblewoman as (what he thought to be) a hilarious prank.

Zercon’s new life as a married man would not last,

, as soon afterwards his patron died and Attila, who was repulsed and annoyed by the deformed midget,

quickly had him sent as a gift to Flavius Aetius, the most influential man,

in the Western Roman Empire at the time.

In turn, Aetius sent Zercon ,to none other than Aspar, the midget’s original owner.

It is uncertain what happened next, but Zercon returned to Attila’s court, at the same time when Priscus and his fellow diplomats were there.

According to Priscus’ account, Zercon presented himself in front of Attila, to reclaim his wife.

The Scourge of God, was not amused nor moved

by the midget’s sincere and simple plea, and infuriated with his return denied his request.

Priscus, who witnessed this scene, tells us that:

Zerkon, the Moorish dwarf, entered. He had been sent by Attila as a gift to Aetius, and Edecon

had persuaded him to come to Attila in order to recover his wife, whom he had left behind him in Scythia; the lady was a Scythian

whom he had obtained in marriage through the influence of his patron Bleda.

 

He did not succeed in recovering her, for Attila was angry with him for returning.

On the occasion of the banquet he made his appearance, and threw all except Attila into fits of unquenchable laughter

by his appearance, his dress, his voice, and his words, which were a confused jumble of Latin, Hunnic, and Gothic.

Attila, however, remained immovable and of unchanging countenance nor by word or act did he betray anything approaching to a smile of merriment . . .

Whatever happened next and what became of Zercon is lost to history;

Priscus does not mention him again after this passage and no other source relating to Zercon is known.

Priscus description of the banquet is below:

In the Presence of the “Scourge of God”

A man of fierce demeanour who struck terror into the hearts of those brought before him,

Attila was someone whom it was wise not to offend.

Priscus was an envoy of the Eastern Roman Empire sent to meet with Attila, at his encampment.

 

His visit coincided with that of representatives of the Western Roman Empire.

 

We join Priscus‘ account as he and the other envoys are invited to dine with the leader of the Huns:

“When we had returned to our tent, Orestes‘ father came to say that Attila invited both parties of us to dine with him about 3 o’clock that afternoon.

We waited for the time of the invitation, and then all of us, the envoys from the Western Romans as well, presented ourselves in the doorway facing Attila.

In accordance with the national custom the cupbearers gave us a cup for us to make our libations before we took our seats. When that had been done and we had sipped the wine, we went to the chairs where we would sit to have dinner. All the seats were ranged down either side of the room, up against the walls.

In the middle Attila was sitting on a couch with a second couch behind him.

Behind that a few steps led up to his bed, which for decorative purposes was covered in ornate drapes made of fine linen,

like those which Greeks and Romans prepare for marriage ceremonies.

I think that the more distinguished guests were on Attila’s right, and the second rank on his left, where we were with Berichos, a man of some renown among the Scythians (the ancient Greek name for the nomads of Central Asia), who was sitting in front of us.

Onegesios was to the right of Attila’s couch, and opposite him were two of the king’s sons on chairs.

The eldest son was sitting on Attila’s own couch, right on the very edge, with his eyes fixed on the ground, in fear of his father.

When all were sitting properly in order, a cupbearer came to offer Attila an ivy-wood bowl of wine, which he took and drank a toast to the man first in order of precedence. The man thus honored rose to his feet and it was not right for him to sit down again until Attila had drank some or all of the wine and had handed the goblet back to the attendant.

The guests, taking their own cups, then honored him in the same way, sipping the wine after making the toast. One attendant went round to each man in strict order after Attila’s personal cup bearer had gone out. When the second guest and then all the others in their turn had been honored, Attila greeted us in like fashion in our order of seating.

A lavish meal, served on silver trenchers, was prepared for us and the other barbarians, but Attila just had some meat on a wooden platter, for this was one aspect of his self-discipline.

For instance, gold or silver cups were presented to the other diners, but his own goblet was made of wood. His clothes, too, were simple, and no trouble was taken except to have them clean.

The sword that hung by his side, the clasps of his barbarian shoes and the bridle of his horse were all free from gold, precious stones or other valuable decorations affected by the other Scythians.

As twilight came on torches were lit, and two barbarians entered before Attila to sing some songs they had composed, telling of his victories and his valor in war. The guests paid close attention to them, and some were delighted with the songs, others excited at being reminded of the wars, but others broke down and wept if their bodies were weakened by age and their warrior spirits forced to remain inactive.

After the songs, a Scythian entered, a crazy fellow who told a lot of strange and completely false stories, not a word of truth in them, which made everyone laugh.

Following him came the moor, Zerkon, totally disorganized in appearance, clothes, voice and words. By mixing up the languages of the Italians with those of the Huns and Goths, he fascinated everyone and made them break out into uncontrollable laughter, all that is except Attila.

He remained impassive, without any change of expression, and neither by word or gesture did he seem to share in the merriment except that when his youngest son, Ernas, came in and stood by him, he drew the boy towards him and looked at him with gentle eyes.

I was surprised that he paid no attention to his other sons, and only had time for this one.

But the barbarian at my side, who understood Italian and what I had said about the boy, warned me not to speak up, and said that the seers had told Attila that his family would be banished but would be restored by this son.

After spending most of the night at the party, we left, having no wish to pursue the drinking any further.”

Though gruesome, Attila’s death was not the fate you might have predicted for a great warrior and military leader.

Even while pursuing his claim on Honoria, he decided to take yet another wife, a beautiful young woman named Ildico.

They married in 453, just as Attila was preparing another attack on the Eastern Roman Empire and its new emperor, Marcian.

During the wedding at Attila’s palace, the groom feasted and drank late into the night.

The next morning, after the king failed to appear, his guards broke down the door of the bridal chamber and found Attila dead, with a weeping, hysterical Ildico at his bedside.

No wound could be found, and it appeared that Attila had suffered a bad nosebleed while lying in a stupor and choked to death on his own blood. Some suggested that Ildico played a part in his death, or that he fell victim to a conspiracy engineered by Marcian; others dismissed it as a freak accident, or a cautionary tale about the dangers of binge drinking.

According to Priscus, Attila’s army grieved their lost leader by smearing their faces with blood and riding their horses in circles around the tent holding his body. That night, his body was encased in three coffins–one gold, one silver, one iron–and buried in a tomb filled with the weapons of his defeated enemies, along with jewels and other treasures.

As legend has it, a river was diverted so that Attila could be buried in its bed, and the waters were then released to flow over the grave. The servants who buried Attila were subsequently killed to prevent them from revealing his final resting place. The location of the burial site, believed to be somewhere in Hungary, remains unknown to this day.

Huns have become synonymous with savagery, and in modern times the German army, especially in World War I, was compared with the Huns. (The term was first used in modern times when the German kaiser sent troops to help quell the Boxer Rebellion, encouraging them to fight like Huns.) Attila left no strong leader to replace him, and the Huns quickly disappeared from the pages of history.