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Modern scholars largely dismiss these claims.{{sfn|Engel|2002|p=2}}{{sfn|Lendvai|2003|p=7}}{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=386}}{{sfn|Róna-Tas|1999|pp=426-427}} Regarding the claimed Hunnish origins found in these chronicles, Jenő Szűcs writes: |
Modern scholars largely dismiss these claims.{{sfn|Engel|2002|p=2}}{{sfn|Lendvai|2003|p=7}}{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=386}}{{sfn|Róna-Tas|1999|pp=426-427}} Regarding the claimed Hunnish origins found in these chronicles, Jenő Szűcs writes: |
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<blockquote>The Hunnish origin of the Magyars is, of course, a fiction, just like the Trojan origin of the French or any of the other ''origo gentis'' theories fabricated at much the same time. The Magyars in fact originated from the Ugrian branch of the Finno-Ugrian peoples; in the course of their wanderings in the steppes of Eastern Europe they assimiliated a variety of (especially Iranian and different Turkic) cultural and ethnic elements, but they had neither genetic nor historical links to the Huns.{{sfn|Szűcs|1999|p=xliv}}</blockquote> |
<blockquote>The Hunnish origin of the Magyars is, of course, a fiction, just like the Trojan origin of the French or any of the other ''origo gentis'' theories fabricated at much the same time. The Magyars in fact originated from the Ugrian branch of the Finno-Ugrian peoples; in the course of their wanderings in the steppes of Eastern Europe they assimiliated a variety of (especially Iranian and different Turkic) cultural and ethnic elements, but they had neither genetic nor historical links to the Huns.{{sfn|Szűcs|1999|p=xliv}}</blockquote> |
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Generally, the proof of the relationship between the [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] and the [[Finno-Ugric]] languages in the nineteenth century is taken to have scientifically disproven the Hunnic origins of the Hungarians.{{sfn|Lafferton|2007|p=717}} Another claim, also derived from Simon of Kéza,{{sfn|Róna-Tas|1999|p=436}} is that the Hungarian-speaking [[Székely]] people of [[Transylvania]] are descended from Huns who fled to Transylvania after Attila's death and remained their until the Hungarian conquest of Pannonia. While the origins of the Székely are unclear, modern scholarship is skeptical that they are related to the Huns.{{sfn|Lendvai|p=24}} Unlike in the legend, the Székely were resettled in Transylvania from Western Hungary in the twelfth century.{{sfn|Simon of Kéza|1999|p=71}} Their language similarly shows no evidence of a change from any non-Hungarian language to Hungarian, as one would expect if they were Huns.{{sfn|Simon of Kéza|1999|p=71}}{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=116}} While the Hungarians and the Székelys may not be descendents of the Huns, they were historically closely associated with Turkic peoples.{{sfn|Lendvai|2003|pp=14-15}} Pál Engel notes that it "cannot be wholly excluded" that Arpadian kings may have been descended from Attila, however, and believes that it is likely the Hungarians once lived under the rule of the Huns.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=2}} Hyun Jin Kim supposes that the Hungarians might be linked to the Huns via the [[Bulgars]] and [[Avars]], both of whom he holds to have had Hunnish elements.{{sfn|Kim|2015|p=140}} However, there is no genetic or linguistic evidence supporting a connection between ancient or modern Hungarians and the Huns.<ref>{{Cite book|title=History of Transylvania|last=Makkai|first=László|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2001|isbn=|editor-last=Köpeczi|editor-first=Béla|volume=I|location=New York|pages=415-416|chapter=Transylvania in the medieval Hungarian kingdom (896-1526)}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| last=Guglielmino et al. |title=Probable ancestors of Hungarian ethnic groups: an admixture analysis |journal=Annals of Human Genetics |volume=64 |issue=2 |year=2000 |pages=145-159|via=Wiley Online Library|doi=10.1046/j.1469-1809.2000.6420145.x}} </ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Csányi et al.|first=|date=2008|title=Y‐Chromosome Analysis of Ancient Hungarian and Two Modern Hungarian‐Speaking Populations from the Carpathian Basin|url=|journal=Annals of Human Genetics|volume=72|issue=4|pages=519-534|doi=10.1111/j.1469-1809.2008.00440.x|via=Wiley Online Library}}</ref> |
Generally, the proof of the relationship between the [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] and the [[Finno-Ugric]] languages in the nineteenth century is taken to have scientifically disproven the Hunnic origins of the Hungarians.{{sfn|Lafferton|2007|p=717}} Another claim, also derived from Simon of Kéza,{{sfn|Róna-Tas|1999|p=436}} is that the Hungarian-speaking [[Székely]] people of [[Transylvania]] are descended from Huns who fled to Transylvania after Attila's death and remained their until the Hungarian conquest of Pannonia. While the origins of the Székely are unclear, modern scholarship is skeptical that they are related to the Huns.{{sfn|Lendvai|p=24}} Unlike in the legend, the Székely were resettled in Transylvania from Western Hungary in the twelfth century.{{sfn|Simon of Kéza|1999|p=71}} Their language similarly shows no evidence of a change from any non-Hungarian language to Hungarian, as one would expect if they were Huns.{{sfn|Simon of Kéza|1999|p=71}}{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=116}} While the Hungarians and the Székelys may not be descendents of the Huns, they were historically closely associated with Turkic peoples.{{sfn|Lendvai|2003|pp=14-15}} Pál Engel notes that it "cannot be wholly excluded" that Arpadian kings may have been descended from Attila, however, and believes that it is likely the Hungarians once lived under the rule of the Huns.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=2}} Hyun Jin Kim supposes that the Hungarians might be linked to the Huns via the [[Bulgars]] and [[Avars (Caucasus)|Avars]], both of whom he holds to have had Hunnish elements.{{sfn|Kim|2015|p=140}} However, there is no genetic or linguistic evidence supporting a connection between ancient or modern Hungarians and the Huns.<ref>{{Cite book|title=History of Transylvania|last=Makkai|first=László|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2001|isbn=|editor-last=Köpeczi|editor-first=Béla|volume=I|location=New York|pages=415-416|chapter=Transylvania in the medieval Hungarian kingdom (896-1526)}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| last=Guglielmino et al. |title=Probable ancestors of Hungarian ethnic groups: an admixture analysis |journal=Annals of Human Genetics |volume=64 |issue=2 |year=2000 |pages=145-159|via=Wiley Online Library|doi=10.1046/j.1469-1809.2000.6420145.x}} </ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Csányi et al.|first=|date=2008|title=Y‐Chromosome Analysis of Ancient Hungarian and Two Modern Hungarian‐Speaking Populations from the Carpathian Basin|url=|journal=Annals of Human Genetics|volume=72|issue=4|pages=519-534|doi=10.1111/j.1469-1809.2008.00440.x|via=Wiley Online Library}}</ref> |
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While the notion that the Hungarians are descended from the Huns has been rejected by mainstream scholarship, the idea has continued to excert a relevant influence on Hungarian nationalism and national identity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Akçalı |first1=Emel |last2=Korkut |first2=Umut |title=Geographical Metanarratives in East-Central Europe: Neo-Turanism in Hungary |journal=Eurasian Geography and Economics |volume=53 |issue=3 |year=2012 |pages=596-614 (601-602)|ref=harv}}</ref> A majority of the Hungarian aristocracy continued to ascribe to the Hunnic view into the early twentieth century.{{sfn|Sommer|2017|p=172}} The [[Fascism|Fascist]] [[Arrow Cross Party]] similarly referred to Hungary as ''Hunnia'' in its propaganda.<ref>{{cite book| last=Kamusella |first=Tomasz |title=The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe |date=2009 |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan |location=New York |ref=harv |pages=474}} </ref> Hunnic origins also played a large role in the ideology of the modern radical right-wing party [[Jobbik]]'s ideology of [[Turanism|Pan-Turanism]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kowalczyk |first=Michał |title=Hungarian Turanism. From the Birth of the Ideology to Modernity – an Outline of the Problem |journal=Historia Polityka |volume=20 |date=2017 |pages=49-63 |ref=harv}}</ref> Legends concerning the Hunnic origins of the Székely minority in [[Romania]], meanwhile, continue to play a large role in that group's ethnic identity.{{sfn|Lendvai|2003|pp=23-24}} The Hunnish origin of the Székelys remains the most wide-spread theory of their origins among the Hungarian general public.<ref>{{cite web|title=A székelyek eredete: elméletek, tények, történelem |url=http://www.maszol.ro/index.php/kultura/25616-a-szekelyek-eredete-elmeletek-tenyek-tortenelem |first=Erika |last=Antal |website=Maszol.ro|access-date=26 October 2018}}</ref> |
While the notion that the Hungarians are descended from the Huns has been rejected by mainstream scholarship, the idea has continued to excert a relevant influence on Hungarian nationalism and national identity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Akçalı |first1=Emel |last2=Korkut |first2=Umut |title=Geographical Metanarratives in East-Central Europe: Neo-Turanism in Hungary |journal=Eurasian Geography and Economics |volume=53 |issue=3 |year=2012 |pages=596-614 (601-602)|ref=harv}}</ref> A majority of the Hungarian aristocracy continued to ascribe to the Hunnic view into the early twentieth century.{{sfn|Sommer|2017|p=172}} The [[Fascism|Fascist]] [[Arrow Cross Party]] similarly referred to Hungary as ''Hunnia'' in its propaganda.<ref>{{cite book| last=Kamusella |first=Tomasz |title=The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe |date=2009 |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan |location=New York |ref=harv |pages=474}} </ref> Hunnic origins also played a large role in the ideology of the modern radical right-wing party [[Jobbik]]'s ideology of [[Turanism|Pan-Turanism]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kowalczyk |first=Michał |title=Hungarian Turanism. From the Birth of the Ideology to Modernity – an Outline of the Problem |journal=Historia Polityka |volume=20 |date=2017 |pages=49-63 |ref=harv}}</ref> Legends concerning the Hunnic origins of the Székely minority in [[Romania]], meanwhile, continue to play a large role in that group's ethnic identity.{{sfn|Lendvai|2003|pp=23-24}} The Hunnish origin of the Székelys remains the most wide-spread theory of their origins among the Hungarian general public.<ref>{{cite web|title=A székelyek eredete: elméletek, tények, történelem |url=http://www.maszol.ro/index.php/kultura/25616-a-szekelyek-eredete-elmeletek-tenyek-tortenelem |first=Erika |last=Antal |website=Maszol.ro|access-date=26 October 2018}}</ref> |
Revision as of 12:53, 5 November 2018
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe, between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part of Scythia at the time; the Huns' arrival is associated with the migration westward of a Scythian people, the Alans.[1] By 370 AD, the Huns had arrived on the Volga, and by 430 the Huns had established a vast, if short-lived, dominion in Europe.
In the 18th century, the French scholar Joseph de Guignes became the first to propose a link between the Huns and the Xiongnu people, who were northern neighbours of China in the 3rd century BC.[2] Since Guignes' time, considerable scholarly effort has been devoted to investigating such a connection. However, there is no scholarly consensus on a direct connection between the dominant element of the Xiongnu and that of the Huns.[1] Priscus, a 5th-century Roman diplomat and historian, mentions that the Huns had a language of their own; little of it has survived and scholars have considered whether it was related to Turkic, Mongolic, or even Tungusic language families, although the almost complete lack of a text corpus renders the language unclassifiable at present. Some researchers indeed argue, the original Huns may have had a Yeniseian tribal elite, which ruled initially over various Turkic, Mongolic, and Iranian-speaking tribes.[3] Numerous other ethnic groups were included under Attila the Hun's rule, including very many speakers of Gothic, which some modern scholars describe as a lingua franca of the Empire.[4] Their main military technique was mounted archery.
The Huns may have stimulated the Great Migration, a contributing factor in the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.[5] They formed a unified empire under Attila the Hun, who died in 453; after a defeat at the Battle of Nedao their empire disintegrated over the next 15 years. Their descendants, or successors with similar names, are recorded by neighbouring populations to the south, east and west as having occupied parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia from about the 4th to 6th centuries. Variants of the Hun name are recorded in the Caucasus until the early 8th century. The memory of the Huns also lived on in various Christian saints' lives, where the Huns play the roles of antagonists, as well as in Germanic heroic legend, where the Huns are variously antagonists or allies to the Germanic main figures. In Hungary, a legend developed based on medieval chronicles that the Hungarians, and the Székely ethnic group in particular, are descended from the Huns. However, mainstream scholarship dismisses a close connection between the Hungarians and Huns.[6][7][8][9]
Origin
The Huns were "a confederation of warrior bands",[attribution needed] ready to integrate other groups to increase their military power, in the Eurasian Steppe in the 4th to 6th centuries AD.[10] Most aspects of their ethnogenesis (including their language and their links to other peoples of the steppes) are uncertain.[11][12] Walter Pohl states: "All we can say safely is that the name Huns, in late antiquity, described prestigious ruling groups of steppe warriors."[13]
The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus, who completed his work of the history of the Roman Empire in the early 390s, recorded that the "people of the Huns … dwell beyond the Sea of Azov near the frozen ocean".[14][15] Jerome associated them with the Scythians in a letter, written four years after the Huns invaded the empire's eastern provinces in 395.[16] The equation of the Huns with the Scythians, together with a general fear of the coming of the Antichrist in the late 4th century, gave rise to their identification with Gog and Magog (whom Alexander the Great had shut off behind inaccessible mountains, according to a popular legend).[17] This demonization of the Huns is also reflected in Jordanes's Getica, written in the 6th century, which portrayed them as a people descending from "unclean spirits"[18] and expelled Gothic witches.[19][20]
Since Joseph de Guignes in the 18th century, modern historians have associated the Huns who appeared on the borders of Europe in the 4th century AD with the Xiongnu who had invaded China from the territory of present-day Mongolia between the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century AD.[2] Due to the devastating defeat by the Chinese Han dynasty, the northern branch of the Xiongnu had retreated north-westward; their descendants may have migrated through Eurasia and consequently they may have some degree of cultural and genetic continuity with the Huns.[21] Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen was the first to challenge the traditional approach, based primarily on the study of written sources, and to emphasize the importance of archaeological research.[22] Thereafter the identification of the Xiongnu as the Huns' ancestors became controversial among some.[21]
The similarity of their ethnonyms is one of the most important links between the two peoples.[1] The Buddhist monk Dharmarakṣa, who was an important translator of Indian religious texts in the 3rd century AD, applied the word Xiongnu when translating the references to the Huna people into Chinese.[23] According to Zhengzhang Shangfang, Xiongnu was pronounced [hoŋ.naː] in Late Old Chinese, corresponding well to Huna.[24] A Sogdian merchant described the invasion of northern China by the "Xwn" people in a letter, written in 313 AD.[23] Étienne de la Vaissière asserts both documents prove that Huna or Xwn were the "exact transcriptions" of the Chinese "Xiongnu" name.[25] Christopher P. Atwood rejects de la Vassiere's particular etymological interpretation because of the "very poor phonological match" between the three words.[26] He instead argues that because Xiongnu begins with a velar spirant and Huna with a glottal spirant, and that Xiongnu is a two-syllable word, but Xwn only has one syllable. However, Atwood agrees with the overall idenfitication between the two, showing instead that Xwn and Greek Khōnai comes via Chinese transcription of Huní, while Sanskrit Huna comes from the transcription of Chinese Xiongnu in the 2nd or 1st century BC due to the fact Sanskrit cannot render a velar spirant or a velar nasal. He argues it was ultimately transmitted from Sanskrit to Baktrian Greek, where it became Ounna (evidenced via John Malalas and the Chinese form Wēnnàshā in the Wei Shu), as Greek cannot render a retroflex dental nasal like Sanskrit, becoming a coronal dental nasal. Likewise, he argues the glottal spirant was also lost in transcription to Baktrian Greek, since Greek tends to drop the glottal spirant, and instead became a glottal stop. Merchants then took it to the Kuban region, where it took the forms Ounnoi and Hunni in Roman Greek and Latin.[27] The Chinese Book of Wei also contain references to "the remains of the descendants of the Xiongnu" who lived in the region of the Altai Mountains in the early 5th century AD.[28] According to De la Vaissière, the Central Asian and Chinese sources prove that the Hunnic nomadic group preserved their Xiongnu identity for centuries after their movement west.[28]
Both the Xiongnu and Huns used bronze cauldrons, similarly to all peoples of the steppes.[29] Based on the study and categorization of cauldrons from archaeological sites of the Eurasian Steppes, archaeologist Toshio Hayashi concludes that the spread of the cauldrons "may indicate the route of migration of the Hunnic tribes" from Mongolia to the northern region of Central Asia in the 2nd or 3rd century AD, and from Central Asia towards Europe in the second half of the 4th century, which also implies the Huns' association with the Xiongnu.[30] This custom had already been practised in the Eurasian Steppes in the Bronze Age and in the early Iron Age, but it disappeared around 500 BC.[31] It again started to spread among the local inhabitants of the region of the Talas River and in the Pamir Mountains in the 1st century BC.[31] In addition to the Huns, the custom is also evidenced among the Yuezhi and Alans.[32] The lengthy pony-tail, which was a characteristic of the Xiongnu, was not documented among the Huns.[33]
When writing of the relationship between the Xiongnu and Huns, historian Hyun Jin Kim concludes: "Thus to refer to Hun-Xiongnu links in terms of old racial theories or even ethnic affiliations simply makes a mockery of the actual historical reality of these extensive, multiethnic, polyglot steppe empires".[34] He also emphasizes that "the ancestors of the Hunnic core tribes … were part of the Xiongnu Empire and possessed a strong Xiongnu element, and the ruling elite of the Huns … claimed to belong to the political tradition of this imperial entity."[34] Nevertheless he claims: "Huns seem to have had a core Turkic element, ruling over initially a large Turco-Iranian population."[3] Taking into account the historical gap between the Chinese reports of the Xiongnu and the European records of the Huns, Peter Heather states: "Even if we do make some connection between fourth-century Huns and first-century [Xiongnu], therefore, an awful lot of water had passed under an awful lot of bridges during 300 years worth of lost history."[33]
History
Before Attila
The 2nd century geographer Ptolemy mentioned a people called Χοῦνοι Khunnoi,[35][36] when listing the peoples of the west Eurasian steppe.[37][38] (In the Koine Greek used by Ptolemy, Χ generally denoted a voiceless velar fricative sound; hence contemporary Western Roman authors Latinised the name as Chuni or Chunni.) The Khunnoi lived "between the Bastarnae and the Roxolani", according to Ptolemy.[37][38] However, modern scholars such as E. A. Thompson have claimed that the similarity of the ethnonyms Khunnoi and Hun were coincidental.[38] Maenchen-Helfen and Denis Sinor also dispute the association of the Khunnoi with Attila's Huns.[39] However, Maenchen-Helfen concedes that Ammianus Marcellinus referred to Ptolemy's report of the Khunnoi, when stating that the Huns were "mentioned only cursorily" by previous writers.[14][39]
A tribe called the Ουρουγούνδοι Ourougoúndoi (or Urugundi) who, according to Zosimus, invaded the Roman Empire from north of the Lower Danube in 250 AD may have been synonymous with the Βουρουγουνδοι Bourougoundoi, whom Agathias (6th century) listed among the Hunnish tribes.[40] Other scholars have regarded both names as referring to a Germanic tribe, the Burgundi (Burgundians), although this identification was rejected by Maenchen-Helfen (who speculated that one or both names may have approximated an early Turkic ethnonym, such as "Vurugundi").[40]
The Romans became aware of the Huns when the latter's invasion of the Pontic steppes forced thousands of Goths to move to the Lower Danube to seek refuge in the Roman Empire in 376, according to the contemporaneous Ammianus Marcellinus.[33] Their sudden appearance in the written sources suggests that the Huns crossed the Volga River from the east not much earlier.[15] They invaded the land of the Alans, which was located to the east of the Don River, slaughtering many of them and forcing the survivors to submit themselves to them or to flee across the Don.[41][42][43] The reasons for the Huns' sudden attack on the neighboring peoples have long believed to be unknown.[44] However, recent research has shown that the El Nino Southern Oscillation caused a megadrought in 360, which spurred Inner Asian migration.[45]
After they subjugated the Alans, the Huns and their Alan auxiliaries started plundering the wealthy settlements of the Greuthungi, or eastern Goths, to the west of the Don.[33] The Greuthungic king, Ermanaric, resisted for a while, but finally "he found release from his fears by taking his own life",[46] according to Ammianus Marcellinus.[33] Marcellinus's report refers either to Ermanaric's suicide[47] or to his ritual sacrifice.[33] His great-nephew, Vithimiris, succeeded him.[47] He hired Huns to fight against the Alans who invaded the Greuthungi's land, but he was killed in a battle.[47][42]
After Vithimiris's death, most Greuthungi submitted themselves to the Huns.[47] Those who decided to resist marched to the Dniester River which was the border between the lands of the Greuthungi and the Thervingi, or western Goths.[48] They were under the command of Alatheus and Saphrax, because Vithimiris's son, Viderichus, was a child.[48] Athanaric, the leader of the Thervingi, met the refugees along the Dniester at the head of his troops.[33] However, a Hun army bypassed the Goths and attacked them from the rear, forcing Athanaric to retreat towards the Carpathian Mountains.[33] Athanaric wanted to fortify the borders, but Hun raids into the land west of the Dniester continued.[33] Most Thervingi realized that they could not resist the Huns.[33] They went to the Lower Danube, requesting asylum in the Roman Empire.[49] The Greuthingi under the leadership of Alatheus and Saphrax also marched to the river.[33] Most Roman troops had been transferred from the Balkan Peninsula to fight against the Sassanid Empire in Armenia.[33] Emperor Valens permitted the Thervingi to cross the Lower Danube and to settle in the Roman Empire in the autumn of 376.[50] The Thervingi were followed by the Greuthingi, and also by the Taifali and "other tribes that formerly dwelt with the Goths and Taifali" to the north of the Lower Danube, according to Zosimus.[50] Food shortage and abuse stirred the Goths to revolt in early 377.[49] The ensuing war between the Goths and the Romans lasted for more than five years.[33]
Support for the Gothic chieftains diminished as refugees headed into Thrace and towards the safety of the Roman garrisons.
After these invasions, the Huns begin to be noted as Foederati and mercenaries. As early as 380, a group of Huns was given Foederati status and allowed to settle in Pannonia. Hunnish mercenaries were also seen on several occasions in the succession struggles of the Eastern and Western Roman Empire during the late 4th century. However, it is most likely that these were individual mercenary bands, not a Hunnish kingdom.[1]
In 395 the Huns began their first large-scale attack on the Eastern Roman Empire.[51] Huns attacked in Thrace, overran Armenia, and pillaged Cappadocia. They entered parts of Syria, threatened Antioch, and swarmed through the province of Euphratesia. The forces of Emperor Theodosius were fully committed in the west so the Huns moved unopposed until the end of 398 when the eunuch Eutropius gathered together a force composed of Romans and Goths and succeeded in restoring peace. It is uncertain though, whether or not Eutropius' forces defeated the Huns or whether the Huns left on their own. There is no record of a notable victory by Eutropius and there is evidence that the Hunnish forces were already leaving the area by the time he gathered his forces.[1]
Whether put to flight by Eutropius, or leaving on their own, the Huns had left the Eastern Roman Empire by 398. After this, the Huns invaded the Sassanid Empire. This invasion was initially successful, coming close to the capital of the empire at Ctesiphon; however, they were defeated badly during the Persian counterattack and retreated toward the Caucasus Mountains via the Derbend Pass.[1]
During their brief diversion from the Eastern Roman Empire, the Huns appear to have threatened tribes further west, as evidenced by Radagaisus' entering Italy at the end of 405 and the crossing of the Rhine into Gaul by Vandals, Sueves, and Alans in 406.[52] The Huns do not then appear to have been a single force with a single ruler. Many Huns were employed as mercenaries by both East and West Romans and by the Goths. Uldin, the first Hun known by name,[53] headed a group of Huns and Alans fighting against Radagaisus in defense of Italy. Uldin was also known for defeating Gothic rebels giving trouble to the East Romans around the Danube and beheading the Goth Gainas around 400–401. Gainas' head was given to the East Romans for display in Constantinople in an apparent exchange of gifts.
The East Romans began to feel the pressure from Uldin's Huns again in 408. Uldin crossed the Danube and captured a fortress in Moesia named Castra Martis, which was betrayed from within. Uldin then proceeded to ransack Thrace. The East Romans tried to buy Uldin off, but his sum was too high so they instead bought off Uldin's subordinates. This resulted in many desertions from Uldin's group of Huns.
Alaric's brother-in-law, Athaulf, appears to have had Hun mercenaries in his employ south of the Julian Alps in 409. These were countered by another small band of Huns hired by Honorius' minister Olympius. Later in 409, the West Romans stationed ten thousand Huns in Italy and Dalmatia to fend off Alaric, who then abandoned plans to march on Rome, and in 433 some parts of Pannonia were ceded to them by Flavius Aetius, the magister militum of the Western Roman Empire.[54]
Under Attila and Bleda
From 434 the brothers Attila and Bleda ruled the Huns together. Attila and Bleda were as ambitious as their uncle Rugila. In 435 they forced the Eastern Roman Empire to sign the Treaty of Margus,[55] giving the Huns trade rights and an annual tribute from the Romans. The Romans also agreed to give up Hunnic refugees (individuals who could have threatened the brothers' grip on power) for execution. With their southern border protected by the terms of this treaty, the Huns could turn their full attention to the further subjugation of tribes to the west.
When the Romans breached the treaty in 440, Attila and Bleda attacked Castra Constantias, a Roman fortress and marketplace on the banks of the Danube.[56] The Eastern Romans stopped delivery of the agreed tribute, and they broke other conditions of the Treaty of Margus. The Hunnic kings turned their attention back to the Eastern Romans. Reports that the Bishop of Margus had crossed into Hun lands and desecrated royal graves further angered the Hun kings. War broke out between the two empires, and the Huns overcame a weak Roman army to raze the cities of Margus, Singidunum and Viminacium. Although a truce was signed in 441, two years later Constantinople again failed to deliver the tribute and war resumed. In the following campaign, Hun armies came alarmingly close to Constantinople, sacking Sardica, Arcadiopolis and Philippopolis along the way. Suffering a complete defeat at the Battle of Chersonesus, the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II gave in to Hun demands and in autumn 443 signed the Peace of Anatolius with the two Hun kings. The Huns returned to their lands with a vast train full of plunder.
Unified Empire under Attila
Hunnic Empire | |
---|---|
370s–469 | |
Common languages | Hunnic Gothic Various tribal languages |
Government | Tribal Confederation |
High King | |
• 370s | Balamber |
• c. 435–445 | Attila and Bleda |
• 445–453 | Attila |
• 453–469 | Dengizich |
History | |
• Huns appear north-west of the Caspian Sea | pre 370s |
• Balamber began uniting the Huns and Germanic tribes | 370s |
437 | |
• Death of Bleda, Attila becomes sole ruler | 445 |
451 | |
• Invasion of northern Italy | 452 |
454 | |
• Dengizich, son of Attila, dies | 469 |
Bleda died in 445, with some historians speculating that his death was at the hands of Attila. With his brother gone, Attila was able to establish undisputed control over his subjects. In 447, Attila turned the Huns back toward the Eastern Roman Empire once more. His invasion of the Balkans and Thrace was devastating. The Eastern Roman Empire was already beset by internal problems, such as famine and plague, as well as riots and a series of earthquakes in Constantinople itself. A last-minute rebuilding of its walls preserved Constantinople unscathed. Victory over a Roman army left the Huns virtually unchallenged in Eastern Roman lands and they raided as far south as Thermopylae. Only disease forced them to retreat, and the war came to an end in 449 with an agreement in which the Romans agreed to pay Attila an annual tribute of 2100 pounds of gold. Our only first-hand account of conditions among the Huns and of Attila himself is by Priscus, an official in the peace embassy to Attila.
Throughout their raids on the Eastern Roman Empire, the Huns had maintained good relations with the Western Empire, and in particular with Flavius Aetius, a powerful Roman general (sometimes even referred to as the de facto ruler of the Western Empire) who in his youth had spent time as a hostage with the Huns. However, this all changed in 450 when Honoria, sister of the Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III, sent Attila a ring and requested his help to escape her betrothal to a senator. Attila claimed her as his bride and half the Western Roman Empire as dowry.[57] Additionally, a dispute arose between Attila and Aetius about the rightful heir to a king of the Salian Franks. Finally, Attila's ability to distribute treasure to favoured followers was an important support to his power, and the repeated extortion from the Eastern Roman Empire had left it with little to plunder.
In 451, Attila's forces entered Gaul, accumulating contingents from the Franks, Goths and Burgundian tribes en route. Once in Gaul, the Huns first attacked Metz, then his armies continued westwards, passing both Paris and Troyes to lay siege to Orléans.
Aetius was given the duty of relieving Orléans by Emperor Valentinian III. Bolstered by Frankish and Visigothic troops (under King Theodoric), Aetius' own Roman army met the Huns at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. Although a tactical defeat for Attila, thwarting his invasion of Gaul and forcing his retreat back to non-Roman lands, the macrohistorical significance of the allied and Roman victory is a matter of debate.[58][59][60]
The following year, Attila renewed his claims to Honoria and territory in the Western Roman Empire. Leading his horde across the Alps and into Northern Italy, he sacked and razed the cities of Aquileia, Vicetia, Verona, Brixia, Bergamum and Milan. Hoping to avoid the sack of Rome, Emperor Valentinian III sent three envoys, the high civilian officers Gennadius Avienus and Trigetius, as well as Pope Leo I, who met Attila at Mincio in the vicinity of Mantua, and obtained from him the promise that he would withdraw from Italy and negotiate peace with the emperor. Prosper of Aquitaine describes the historic meeting, giving all the credit of the successful negotiation to Leo. Priscus reports that superstitious fear of the fate of Alaric—who died shortly after sacking Rome in 410—gave him pause. More practically, Italy had suffered from a terrible famine in 451 and her crops were faring little better in 452;[61] Attila's invasion of the plains of Northern Italy this year did not improve the harvest. To advance on Rome would have required supplies which were not available in Italy, and taking the city would not have improved Attila's supply situation. Secondly, an East Roman force had crossed the Danube and defeated the Huns who had been left behind by Attila to safeguard their home territories. Attila, hence, faced heavy human and natural pressures to retire from Italy before moving south of the Po. Attila retreated without Honoria or her dowry.[62]
The new Eastern Roman Emperor Marcian then halted tribute payments. From the Pannonian Basin, Attila planned to attack Constantinople. However, in 453 he married a girl with the Germanic name Ildico, and died of a haemorrhage on his wedding night.[63]
After Attila
After Attila's death in 453, the Hunnic Empire faced an internal power struggle between its vassalized Germanic peoples and the Hunnic ruling body. Led by Ellak, Attila's favored son and ruler of the Akatziri, the Huns engaged the Gepid king Ardaric at the Battle of Nedao, who led a coalition of Germanic Peoples to overthrow Hunnic imperial authority. The Amali Goths would revolt the same year under Valamir, allegedly defeating the Huns in a separate engagement.[64] However, this did not result in the complete collapse of Hunnic power in the Carpathian region, but did result in the loss of many of their Germanic vassals. At the same time, the Huns were also dealing with the arrival of more Oghur Turkic-speaking peoples from the East, including the Oghurs, Saragurs, Onogurs, and the Sabirs. In 463, the Saragurs defeated the Akatziri, or Akatir Huns, and asserted dominance in the Pontic region.[65]
In 458 some Huns served under Tudila in Majorian's army, probably belonging to a group settled under Emnetzur and Ultzindur in Dacia Ripensis.[66] The western Huns under Dengzich were experiencing difficulties in 461, when they were defeated by Valamir in a war against the Sadages, a people allied with the Huns.[67] His campaigning was also met with dissatisfaction from Ernak, ruler of the Akatziri Huns, who wanted to focus on the incoming Oghur speaking peoples.[65] In 465–466, Ernak and Dengzich sent ambassadors to Constantinople requesting a peace treaty, and asking to establish a market for the exchange of needed provisions. However these requests were rejected, and Dengzich attacked the Romans in 467, without the assistance of Ernak. He was surrounded by the Romans and besieged, and came to an agreement that they would surrender if they were given land and his starving forces given food. During the negotiations, a Hun in service of the Romans named Chelchel persuaded the enemy Goths to attack their Hun overlords. The Romans, under their General Aspar and with the help of his bucellarii, then attacked the quarreling Goths and Huns, defeating them.[68]
In 469, Anagastes, the son of Arnegisclus who was slain by Attila, brought Dengzich's head and paraded it through the streets before mounting it on a stake in the Hippodrome.[69] Some Historians, like John Man, accept this date as the end of the Hunnic Empire.[70] However others, such as Kim, argue it continued under Ernak who absorbed the incoming Oghur speakers. These people were similar to the Huns and Attila's empire continued as the Kutrigur and Utigur Hunno-Bulgars.[65] This conclusion is still subject to some controversy. Some scholars also argue that another group identified in ancient sources as Huns, the North Caucasian Huns, were genuine Huns who established a kingdom in modern Dagestan after being separated from the main group of Huns by the Sabirs around 506.[71][72] Their kingdom lasted in this area for several centuries, possibly into the eleventh century as a subkingdom of the Khazar Khaganate.[73] The rulers of various post-Hunnic steppe peoples are known to have claimed descent from Attila in order to legitimize their right to the power, and various steppe peoples were also called "Huns" by Western and Byzantine sources from the fourth century onward.[74]
Society and culture
Art and material culture
There are two sources for the material culture and art of the Huns: ancient descriptions and archaeology. Unfortunately, the nomadic nature of Hun society means that they have left very little in the archaeological record.[75] It can be difficult to distinguish Hunnic archaeological finds from those of the Sarmatians, as both peoples lived in close proximity and seem to have had very similar material cultures. Kim thus cautions that it is difficult to assign any artifact to the Huns ethnically.[76] Roman descriptions of the Huns, meanwhile, are often highly biased, stressing their supposed primitiveness.[77][78]
Archaeological finds have produced a large number of cauldrons that have since the work of Paul Reinecke in 1896 been identified as having been produced by the Huns.[79] Although typically described as "bronze cauldrons", the cauldrons are often made of copper, which is generally of poor quality.[80] Maenchen-Helfen lists 19 known finds of Hunnish cauldrons from all over Central and Eastern Europe and Western Siberia.[81] He argues from the state of the bronze castings that the Huns were not very good metalsmiths, and that it is likely that the cauldrons were cast in the same locations where they were found.[82] They come in various shapes, and are sometimes found together with vessels of various other origins.[83] Maenchen-Helfen argues that the cauldrons were cooking vessels for boiling meat,[84] but that the fact that many are found deposited near water and were generally not buried with individuals may indicate a sacral usage as well.[85] The cauldrons appear to derive from those used by the Xiongnu.[86][87] Ammianus also reports that the Huns had iron swords. Thompson is skeptical that the Huns cast them themselves,[88] but Maenchen-Helfen argues that "[t]he idea that the Hun horsemen fought their way to the walls of Constantinople and to the Marne with bartered and captured swords is absurd."[89]
Both ancient sources and archaeological finds from graves confirm that the Huns wore elaborately decorated golden or gold-plated diadems.[90] Maenchen-Helfen lists a total of six known Hunnish diadems.[91] Hunnic women seem to have worn necklaces and bracelets of mostly imported beads of various materials as well.[92] The later common early medieval practice of decorating jewelry and weapons with gemstones appears to have originated with the Huns.[93] They are also known to have made small mirrors of an originally Chinese type, which often appear to have been intentional broken when placed into a grave.[94]
Archaeological finds indicate that the Huns wore gold plaques as ornaments on their clothing, as well as imported glass beads.[95] Ammianus reports that they wore clothes made of linen or the furs of marmots and leggings of goatskin.[96]
Ammianus reports that the Huns had no buildings,[97] but in passing mentions that the Huns possessed tents and wagons.[89] Maenchen-Helfen believes that the Huns likely had "tents of felt and sheepskin": Priscus once mentions Attila's tent, and Jordanes reports that Attila lay in state in a silk tent.[98] However, by the middle of the fifth century, the Huns are also known to have also owned permanent wooden houses, which Maenchen-Helfen believes were built by their Gothic subjects.[99]
Artificial cranial deformation
Artificial cranial deformation was practiced by the Huns and sometimes by tribes under their influence.[101][102][103][104] Artificial cranial deformation of the circular type can be used to trace the route that the Huns took from north China to the Central Asian steppes and subsequently to the southern Russian steppes.[105] The people who practiced annular type artificial cranial deformation in Central Asia were Yuezhi/Kushans.[106][107][108]
Some artificially deformed crania from the 5th–6th Century AD have been found in Northeastern Hungary and elsewhere in Western Europe. None of them have any Mongoloid features and all the skulls appear Europoid; these skulls may have belonged to Germanic or other subject groups whose parents wished to elevate their status by following a custom introduced by the Huns.[31]
Economic relations with the Romans
The Huns received a large amount of gold from the Romans, either in exchange for fighting for them as mercenaries or as tribute.[109] Raiding and looting also furnished the Huns with gold and other valuables.[110] Civilians and soldiers captured by the Huns might also be ransomed back, or else sold to Roman slave dealers as slaves.[111] The Huns themselves, Maenchen-Helfen argues, had little use for slaves due to their nomadic pastoralist lifestyle.[112] Those slaves that existed likely performed menial tasks; Thompson argues that all Hunnic slaves appear to have been captives from war.[113]
The Huns also traded with the Romans. E. A. Thompson argued that this trade was very large scale, with the Huns trading horses, furs, meat, and slaves for Roman weapons, linen, and grain, and various other luxury goods.[114] While Maenchen-Helfen concedes that the Huns traded their horses for what he considered to have been "a very considerable source of income in gold", he is otherwise skeptical of Thompson's argument.[115] He notes that the Romans strictly regulated trade with the Barbarians and that, according to Priscus, trade only occurred at a fair once a year.[116] While he notes that smuggling also likely occurred, he argues that "the volume of both legal and illegal trade was apparently modest".[116] He does note that wine and silk appear to have been imported into the Hunnic Empire in large quantities, however.[117] Roman gold coins appear to have been in circulation as currency within the whole of the Hunnic Empire.[118]
Government
Hunnic governmental structure has long been debated. Peter Heather argues that the Huns were a disorganized confederation in which leaders acted completely independently and that eventually established a ranking hierarchy, much like Germanic societies.[119] Thompson argues that permanent kingship only developed with the Huns invasion of Europe and the near constant warfare that followed.[120] Kim, however, argues that the Huns continued the Xiongnu organization, in which their polity was divided into Left, Right, South, and North, in that order of priority.[121] Kim argues that the Huns continued the council of "six horns/nobles" that the Xiongnu had under their emperor.[122] Likewise, Kim suggests that the Huns continued to use the decimal military organization of the Xiongnu as well.[123]
Ammianus said that the Huns of his day had no kings, but rather that each group of Huns instead had a group of leading men for times of war (primates).[124] E.A. Thompson supposes that even in war the leading men had little actual power.[125] He further argues that they most likely did not acquire their position purely heriditarily.[113] Heather, however, argues that Ammianus merely means that the Huns didn't have a single ruler; he notes that Olympiodorus mentions the Huns having several kings, with one being the "first of the kings".[119] Ammianus makes no mention of the Huns organization into tribes, but Priscus and other writers do, naming some of them.[126]
The first Hunnic ruler known by name is Uldin. Thompson takes Uldin's sudden disappearance after he was unsuccessful at war as a sign that the Hunnic kingship was "democratic" at this time rather than a permanent institution.[127] He dates the first evidence for permanent kingship among the Huns to 412, when the king Donatus is immediately replaced by Charaoto after the former's murder.[127] Kim however argues that Uldin is actually a title and that he was likely merely a subking.[128] Priscus calls Attila "king" (βασιλέυς), but it is unknown what native title he was translating:[129] the terms Chanyu, Aniliki, Shah, and Yabgu are possible or interchangeable titles for the same position, as they were in use by other contemporary peoples during that period.[130][131] With the exception of the sole rule of Attila, the Huns often had two rulers; Attila himself later appointed his son Ellac as co-king.[132][133] Subject peoples of the Huns were led by their own kings.[13]
Priscus also speaks of "picked men" or logades (λογάδες) forming part of Attila's government, naming five of them.[134] Some of the "picked men" seem to have been chosen because of birth, others for reasons of merit.[135] Thompson argued that these "picked men" "were the hinge upon which the entire administration of the Hun empire turned":[136] he argues for their existence in the government of Uldin, and that each had command over detachments of the Hunnic army and ruled over specific portions of the Hunnic empire, where they were responsible also for collecting tribute and provisions.[137] Maenchen-Helfen, however, argues that the word logades denotes simply prominent individuals and not a fixed rank with fixed duties.[138] Kim affirms the importance of the logades for Hunnic administration, but notes that there were differences of rank between them, and suggests that it was more likely lower ranking officials who gathered taxes and tribute.[139] He suggests that various Roman defectors to the Huns may have worked in a sort of imperial bureaucracy.[140]
Horses and transportation
As a nomadic people, the Huns spent a great deal of time riding horses: Ammianus claimed that the Huns "are almost glued to their horses"[141][142], Zosimus claimed that they "live and sleep on their horses"[143], and Sidonius claimed that "[s]carce had an infant learnt to stand without his mother's aid when a horse takes him on his back".[144] They appear to have spent so much time riding that they walked clumsily, something observed in other nomadic groups.[145] Roman sources characterize the Hunnic horses as ugly.[142] It is not possible to determine the exact breed of horse the Huns used, despite relatively good Roman descriptions.[146] Based on anthropological descriptions and archaeological finds of other nomadic horses, Maenchen-Helfen believes that they rode mostly geldings.[147] Besides horses, ancient sources mention that the Huns used wagons for transportation, which Maenchen-Helfen believes were primarily used to transport their tents, booty, and the old people, women, and children.[148]
Language
A variety of languages were spoken within the Hun Empire. Priscus noted that the Hunnic language differed from other languages spoken at Attila's court.[149] He recounts how Attila's jester Zerco made Attila's guests laugh also by the "promiscuous jumble of words, Latin mixed with Hunnish and Gothic."[149] Priscus said that Attila's "Scythian" subjects spoke "besides their own barbarian tongues, either Hunnish, or Gothic, or, as many have dealings with the Western Romans, Latin; but not one of them easily speaks Greek, except captives from the Thracian or Illyrian frontier regions".[150]
Ancient sources record only three words as being in the language of the Huns: strava (funeral feast), medos (honey beer) and kamos (millet beer). All three words appear to derive from an Indo-European language.[151][10] The only other source on Hunnic language are personal and tribal names, with Maenchen-Helfen going so far as to say that "[a]ll we know of the language of the Huns are names."[152] Given this small corpus, many scholars hold the Hunnic language to be unclassifiable.[153][154][155][156] However, the fact that many of the names and tribal ethnonyms used by the Huns can be given plausible Turkic etymologies has led scholars such as Maenchen-Helfen and Kim to argue that at least part of the Hunnic elite was Turkic speaking.[157][158] Others have cautiously followed their lead.[159][160] Omeljan Pritsak concluded from his own analysis of Hunnic personal names that Hunnic was a language "between Turkic and Mongolian, probably closer to the former than the latter."[161]
A number of scholars, especially in the former Soviet Union, argued on the basis of the names that Hunnic was related to the Yeniseian languages of Siberia.[162] Kim suggests that the Huns, whom he holds to be descended from the Xiongnu, experienced a language shift from Yeniseian to Turkic when they absorbed the Dingling and crossed into Central Asia on their way to Europe.[163]
A number of surviving Hunnic names also appear to have Germanic origins.[164][165] Partially on this basis, it has been supposed that by the 440s, the "Huns" were composed mostly of Germanic-speaking subjects rather than speakers of Hunnic, and as such Gothic may have been a lingua franca of the Empire.[166][167][168] Kim disagrees with the notion that Gothic was a lingua franca and challenges some of the proposed Germanic names, arguing that there are "more probable Turkic etymologies."[158] Both Kim and Maenchen-Helfen suggest that the Germanic names may have been Germanicized Turkic names or else second names kept in addition to a Turkic one.[158][169]
Subjects of the Huns also included Iranian-speaking Alans and Sarmatians.[33] Maenchen-Helfen finds that some Hunnic names have Iranian etymologies.[170] He argues that these names were likely borrowed from the Persians and finds none prior to the fifth century; he takes this to mean that the Alans had little influence inside of Attila's empire.[171] Kim, however argues for a considerable presence of Iranian-speakers among the Huns.[172]
Pastoral nomadism
The Huns have traditionally been described as pastoral nomads, living off of herding and moving from pasture to pasture to graze their animals.[173][174][175] Hyun Jin Kim, however, holds the term "nomad" to be misleading:
[T]he term 'nomad', if it denotes a wandering group of people with no clear sense of territory, cannot be appplied wholesale to the Huns. All the so-called 'nomads' of Eurasian steppe history were peoples whose territory/territories were usually clearly defined, who as pastoralists moved about in search of pasture, but within a fixed territorial space.[176]
Maenchen-Helfen notes that pastoral nomads (or "seminomads") typically alternate between summer pastures and winter quarters: while the pastures may vary, the winter quarters always remained the same.[177] This is, in fact, what Jordanes writes of the Hunnic Altziagiri tribe: they pastured near Cherson on the Crimea and then wintered further north, with Maenchen-Helfen holding the Syvash as a likely location.[178] Ancient sources mention that the Huns' herds consisted of various animals, including cattle, horses, and goats; sheep, though unmentioned in ancient sources, "are more essential to the steppe nomad even than horses"[96] and must have been a large part of their herds.[178] Additionally, Maenchen-Helfen argues that the Huns may have kept small herds of Bactrian camels in the part of their territory in modern Romania and Ukraine, something attested for the Sarmatians.[179]
Ammianus says that the majority of the Huns' diet came from the meat of these animals,[180] with Maenchen-Helfen arguing, on the basis of what is known of other steppe nomads, that they likely mostly ate mutton, along with sheep's cheese and milk.[178] They also "certainly" ate horse meat, drank mare's milk, and likely made cheese and kumis.[181] In times of starvation, they may have boiled their horses' blood for food.[182]
Ancient sources uniformly deny that the Huns practiced any sort of agriculture.[183] Thompson, taking these accounts at their word, argues that "[w]ithout the assistance of the settled agricultural population at the edge of the steppe they could not have survived".[126] He argues that the Huns were forced to supplement their diet by hunting and gathering.[184] Maenchen-Helfen, however, notes that archaeological finds indicate that various steppe nomad populations did grow grain; in particular, he identifies a find at Kunya Uaz in Khwarezm on the Ob River of agriculture among a people who practiced artificial cranial deformation as evidence of Hunnic agriculture.[185] Kim similarly argues that all steppe empires have possessed both pastoralist and sedentary populations, classifying the Huns as "agro-pastoralist".[176]
Religion
Almost nothing is known about the religion of the Huns.[186][187] Roman writer Ammianus Marcellinus claimed that the Huns had no religion,[188] while the fifth-century Christian writer Salvian classified them as pagans.[189] Jordanes' Getica also records that the Huns worshipped "the sword of Mars", an ancient sword that signified Attila's right to rule the whole world.[190] Maenchen-Helfen notes a widespread worship of a war god in the form of a sword among steppe peoples, including among the Xiongnu.[191] Denis Sinor, however, holds the worship of a sword among the Huns to be aprocryphal.[192] Maenchen-Helfen also argues that, while the Huns themselves do not appear to have regarded Attila as divine, some of his subject people clearly did.[193] A belief in prophecy and divination is also attested among the Huns.[194][195][192] Maenchen-Helfen argues that the performers of these acts of soothsaying and divination were likely shamans.[196] Sinor also finds it likely that the Huns had shamans, although they are completely unattested.[72] Maenchen-Helfen also deduces a belief in water-spirits from a custom mentioned in Ammianus.[197] He further suggests that the Huns may have made small metal, wooden, or stone idols, which are attested among other steppe tribes, and which a Byzantine source attests for the Huns in Crimea in the sixth century.[198] He also connects archaeological finds of Hunnish bronze cauldrons found buried near or in running water to possible rituals performed by the Huns in the Spring.[199]
John Man argues that the Huns of Attila's time likely worshipped the sky and the steppe deity Tengri, who is also attested as having been worshipped by the Xiongnu.[200] Maenchen-Helfen also suggests the possibility that the Huns of this period may have worshipped Tengri, but notes that the god is not attested in European records until the ninth century.[201] Worship of Tengri under the name "T'angri Khan" is attested among the Caucasian Huns in the Armenian chronicle attributed to Movses Dasxuranci during the later seventh-century.[72] Movses also records that the Caucasian Huns worshipped trees and burnt horses as sacrifices to Tengri,[72] and that they "made sacrifices to fire and water and to certain gods of the roads, and to the moon and to all creatures considered in their eyes to be in some way remarkable."[72] There is also some evidence for human sacrifice among the European Huns. Maenchen-Helfen argues that humans appear to have been sacrificed at Attila's funerary rite, recorded in Jordanes under the name strava.[202] Priscus claims that the Huns sacrificed their prisoners "to victory" after they entered Scythia, but this is not otherwise attested as a Hunnic custom and may be fiction.[203][192]
In addition to these pagan beliefs, there are numerous attestations of Huns converting to Christianity and receiving Christian missionaries.[204][205] The missionary activities among the Huns of the Caucasas seem to have been particularly successful, resulting in the conversion of the Hunnish prince Alp Ilteber.[192] Attila appears to have tolerated both Nicene and Arian Christianity among his subjects.[206]
Warfare
Strategy and tactics
Hun warfare as a whole is not well studied, and many scholars as of recent have discounted Ammianus' description of the Huns.[207] While Ammianus claims that the Huns knew no metalworking, Maenchen-Helfen argues that a people so primitive could never have been successful in war against the Romans.[89] A major source of information on Hun warfare comes from the 6th-century Strategikon, which describes the warfare of "Dealing with the Scythians, that is, Avars, Turks, and others whose way of life resembles that of the Hunnish peoples." The Strategikon describes the Avars and Huns as devious and very experienced in military matters.[208] They are described as preferring to defeat their enemies by deceit, surprise attacks, and cutting off supplies. The Huns brought large numbers of horses to use as replacements and to give the impression of a larger army on campaign.[208] The Hunnish peoples did not set up an entrenched camp, but spread out across the grazing fields according to clan, and guard their necessary horses until they began forming the battle line under the cover of early morning. The Strategikon states the Huns also stationed sentries at significant distances and in constant contact with each other in order to prevent surprise attacks.[209]
According to the Strategikon, the Huns did not form a battle line in the method that the Romans and Persians used, but in irregularly sized divisions in a single line, and keep a separate force nearby for ambushes and as a reserve. The Strategikon also states the Huns used deep formations with a dense and even front.[209]Otto Maenchen-Helfen states that the Huns likely formed up in divisions according to tribal clans and families which Ammianus calls Cunei, the leader of which was called a Cur and inherited the title as it was passed down through the clan.[210] The Strategikon states that the Huns kept their spare horses and baggage train to either side of the line about a mile away, with a moderate sized guard, and would sometimes tie their spare horses together behind the main battle line.[209] The Huns preferred to fight at long range, utilizing ambush, encirclement, and the feigned retreat. The Strategikon also makes note of the wedge shaped formations mentioned by Ammianus, and corroborated as familial regiments by Maenchen-Helfen.[209][210] [211] The Strategikon states the Huns preferred to pursue their enemies relentlessly after a victory and then wear them out by a long siege after defeat.[209]
Military equipment
The Strategikon states the Huns typically used mail, swords, bows, and lances, and that most Hunnic warriors were armed with both the bow and lance and used them interchangeably as needed. It also states the Huns used quilted linen, wool, or sometimes iron barding for their horses and also wore quilted coifs and kaftans.[212] This assessment is largely corroborated by archaeological finds of Hun military equipment, such as the Volnikovka and Brut Burials.
A late Roman ridge helmet of the Berkasovo-Type was found with a Hun burial at Concesti.[213] A Hunnic helmet of the segmentehelm type was found at Chudjasky, a Hunnic spangenhelmet at Tarasovsky grave 1784, and another of the bandhelm type at Turaevo.[214] Fragments of lamellar helmets dating to the Hunnic period and within the Hunnic sphere have been found at Iatrus, Illichevka, and Kalkhni.[213][214] Hun lamellar armour has not been found in Europe, although two fragments of likely Hun origin have been found on the Upper Ob and in West Kazakhstan dating to the 3rd–4th centuries.[215] A find of lamellar dating to about 520 from the Toprachioi warehouse in the fortress of Halmyris near Badabag, Romania, suggests a late 5th or early 6th century introduction.[216] It is known that the Eurasian Avars introduced Lamellar armor to the Roman Army and Migration Era Germanics in the Middle 6th Century, but this later type does not appear before then.[213][217]
It is also widely accepted that the Huns introduced the langseax, a 60 cm cutting blade that became popular among the migration era Germanics and in the Late Roman Army, into Europe.[218] It is believed these blades originated in China and that the Sarmatians and Huns served as a transmission vector, using shorter seaxes in Central Asia that developed into the narrow langseax in Eastern Europe during the late 4th and first half of the 5th century. These earlier blades date as far back as the 1st century AD, with the first of the newer type appearing in Eastern Europe being the Wien-Simmerming example, dated to the late 4th century AD.[218] Other notable Hun examples include the Langseax from the more recent find at Volnikovka in Russia.[219]
The Huns used a type of spatha in the Iranic or Sassanid style, with a long, straight approximately 83 cm blade, usually with a diamond shaped iron guard plate.[220] Swords of this style have been found at sites such as Altlussheim, Szirmabesenyo, Volnikovka, Novo-Ivanovka, and Tsibilium 61. They typically had gold foil hilts, gold sheet scabbards, and scabbard fittings decorated in the polychrome style. The sword was carried in the "Iranian style" attached to a swordbelt, rather than on a baldric.[221]
The most famous weapon of the Huns is the Qum Darya-type composite recurve bow, often called the "Hunnish Bow". This bow was invented some time in the 3rd or 2nd centuries BC with the earliest finds near Lake Baikal, but spread across Eurasia long before the Hunnic migration. These bows were typified by being asymmetric in cross-section between 145–155 cm in length, having between 4–9 lathes on the grip and in the siyahs.[222] Although whole bows rarely survive in European climatic conditions, finds of bone Siyahs are quite common and characteristic of steppe burials. Complete specimens have been found at sites in the Tarim Basin and Gobi Desert such as Niya, Qum Darya, and Shombuuziin-Belchir. Eurasian nomads such as the Huns typically used trilobate diamond shaped iron arrowheads, attached using birch tar and a tang, with typically 75 cm shafts and fletching attached with tar and sinew whipping. Such trilobate arrowheads are believed to be more accurate and have better penetrating power or capacity to injure than flat arrowheads.[222]
Legacy
Legends
After the fall of the Hunnic Empire, various legends arose concerning the Huns. Among these are a number of Christian hagiographic legends in which the Huns play a role. In an anonymous medieval biography of Pope Leo I, Attila's march into Italy in 452 is stopped because, when he meets Leo outside Rome, the apostles Peter and Paul appear to him holding swords over his head and threatening to kill him unless he follows the pope's command to turn back.[223] In other versions, Attila takes the pope hostage and is forced by the saints to release him.[224] In the legend of Saint Ursula, Ursula and her 11,000 holy virgins arrive at Cologne on their way back from a pilgrimage just as the Huns, under an unnamed prince,[225] are besieging the city. Ursula and her virgins killed by the Huns with arrows after they refuse the Huns' sexual advances. Afterwards, however, the souls of the slaughtered virgins form a heavenly army that drives away the Huns and saves Cologne.[226] Other cities with legends regarding the Huns and a saint include Orleans, Troyes, Dieuze, Metz, Modena, and Reims.[227] In legends surrounding Saint Servatius of Tongeren dating to at least the eighth century, Servatius is said to have converted Attila and the Huns to Christianity, before they later became apostates and returned to their paganism.[228]
The Huns also play an important role in medieval Germanic legends, which frequently convey versions of events from the migration period and were originally transmitted orally.[229] Memories of the conflicts between the Goths and Huns in Eastern Europe appear to be maintained in the Old English poem Widsith as well as in Old Norse poem "The Battle of the Goths and Huns", which is transmitted in the thirteenth-century Icelandic Hervarar Saga.[230][231] Widsith also mentions Attila having been ruler of the Huns, placing him at the head of a list of various legendary and historical rulers and peoples and marking the Huns as the most famous.[232] The name Attila, rendered in Old English as Ætla, was a given name in use in Anglo-Saxon England (ex. Bishop Ætla of Dorchester) and its use in England at the time may have been connected to the heroic kings legend represented in works such as Widsith.[233][page needed] Maenchen-Helfen, however, doubts the use of the name by the Anglo-Saxons had anything to do with the Huns, arguing that it was "not a rare name."[9] Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, lists the Huns among other peoples living in Germany when the Anglo-Saxons invaded England. This may indicate that Bede viewed the Anglo-Saxons as descending partially from the Huns.[234][233][page needed]
The Huns and Attila also form central figures in the two most-widespread Germanic legendary cycles, that of the Nibelungs and of Dietrich von Bern (the historical Theoderic the Great). The Nibelung legend, particularly as recorded in the Old Norse Poetic Edda and Völsunga saga, as well as in the German Nibelungenlied, connects the Huns and Attila (and in the Norse tradition, Attila's death) to the destruction of the Burgundian kingdom on the Rhine in 437.[235] In the legends about Dietrich von Bern, Attila and the Huns provide Dietrich with a refuge and suppport after he has been driven from his kingdom at Verona.[236] A version of the events of the Battle of Nadao may be perserved in a legend, transmitted in two differing versions in the Middle High German Die Rabenschlacht and Old Norse Thidrekssaga, in which the sons of Attila fall in battle.[236] The legend of Walter of Aquitaine, meanwhile, shows the Huns to receive child hostages as tribute from their subject peoples.[237] Generally, the continental Germanic traditions paint a more positive picture of Attila and the Huns than the Scandinavian sources, where the Huns appear in a distinctly negative light.[238]
In medieval German legend, the Huns were identified with the Hungarians, with their capital of Etzelburg (Attila-city) being identified with Esztergom or Buda.[239] The Old Norse Thidrekssaga, however, which is based on North German sources, locates Hunaland in northern Germany, with a capital at Soest in Westphalia.[240] In other Old Norse sources, the term Hun is sometimes applied indiscriminately to various people, particularly from south of Scandinavia.[240][241] From the thirteenth-century onward, the Middle High German word for Hun, hiune, became a synonym for giant, and continued to be used in this meaning in the forms Hüne and Heune into the modern era.[242] In this way, various prehistoric megalithic structures, particularly in Northern Germany, came to be identified as Hünengräber (Hun graves) or Hünenbetten (Hun beds).[243][244]
Links to the Hungarians
Beginning in the High Middle Ages, Hungarian sources have claimed descent from or a close relationship between the Hungarians (Magyars) and the Huns. The claim appears to have first arisen in non-Hungarian sources and only gradually been taken up by the Hungarians themselves because of its negative connotations.[245][246][247] The anonymous Gesta Hungarorum (after 1200) is the first Hungarian source to mention that the line of Árpádian kings were descendents of Attila, but he makes no claim that the Hungarian and Hun peoples are related.[248][249] The first Hungarian author to claim that Hun and Hungarian peoples were related was Simon of Kéza in his Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum (1282-1285).[250] Simon claimed that the Huns and Hungarians were descended from two brothers, named Hunor and Magor.[251] These claims gave the Hungarians an ancient pedegree and served to legitimize their conquest of Pannonia.[252][253][254]
Modern scholars largely dismiss these claims.[7][8][9][255] Regarding the claimed Hunnish origins found in these chronicles, Jenő Szűcs writes:
The Hunnish origin of the Magyars is, of course, a fiction, just like the Trojan origin of the French or any of the other origo gentis theories fabricated at much the same time. The Magyars in fact originated from the Ugrian branch of the Finno-Ugrian peoples; in the course of their wanderings in the steppes of Eastern Europe they assimiliated a variety of (especially Iranian and different Turkic) cultural and ethnic elements, but they had neither genetic nor historical links to the Huns.[6]
Generally, the proof of the relationship between the Hungarian and the Finno-Ugric languages in the nineteenth century is taken to have scientifically disproven the Hunnic origins of the Hungarians.[256] Another claim, also derived from Simon of Kéza,[257] is that the Hungarian-speaking Székely people of Transylvania are descended from Huns who fled to Transylvania after Attila's death and remained their until the Hungarian conquest of Pannonia. While the origins of the Székely are unclear, modern scholarship is skeptical that they are related to the Huns.[258] Unlike in the legend, the Székely were resettled in Transylvania from Western Hungary in the twelfth century.[259] Their language similarly shows no evidence of a change from any non-Hungarian language to Hungarian, as one would expect if they were Huns.[259][260] While the Hungarians and the Székelys may not be descendents of the Huns, they were historically closely associated with Turkic peoples.[261] Pál Engel notes that it "cannot be wholly excluded" that Arpadian kings may have been descended from Attila, however, and believes that it is likely the Hungarians once lived under the rule of the Huns.[262] Hyun Jin Kim supposes that the Hungarians might be linked to the Huns via the Bulgars and Avars, both of whom he holds to have had Hunnish elements.[263] However, there is no genetic or linguistic evidence supporting a connection between ancient or modern Hungarians and the Huns.[264][265][266]
While the notion that the Hungarians are descended from the Huns has been rejected by mainstream scholarship, the idea has continued to excert a relevant influence on Hungarian nationalism and national identity.[267] A majority of the Hungarian aristocracy continued to ascribe to the Hunnic view into the early twentieth century.[268] The Fascist Arrow Cross Party similarly referred to Hungary as Hunnia in its propaganda.[269] Hunnic origins also played a large role in the ideology of the modern radical right-wing party Jobbik's ideology of Pan-Turanism.[270] Legends concerning the Hunnic origins of the Székely minority in Romania, meanwhile, continue to play a large role in that group's ethnic identity.[271] The Hunnish origin of the Székelys remains the most wide-spread theory of their origins among the Hungarian general public.[272]
20th-century use in reference to Germans
On 27 July 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion in China, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany gave the order to act ruthlessly towards the rebels: "Mercy will not be shown, prisoners will not be taken. Just as a thousand years ago, the Huns under Attila won a reputation of might that lives on in legends, so may the name of Germany in China, such that no Chinese will even again dare so much as to look askance at a German."[273] This comparison was later heavily employed by British and English-language propaganda during World War I, and to a lesser extent during World War II, in order to paint the Germans as savage barbarians.[274]
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Sinor 1990, pp. 177–203.
- ^ a b de la Vaissière 2015, p. 175, 180.
- ^ a b Kim 2013, p. 29.
- ^ Heather 2010, p. 228.
- ^ Ammianus 1939, Ch. 2: However, the seed and origin of all the ruin and various disasters that the wrath of Mars aroused ... we have found to be (the invasions of the Huns)
- ^ a b Szűcs 1999, p. xliv.
- ^ a b Engel 2002, p. 2.
- ^ a b Lendvai 2003, p. 7.
- ^ a b c Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 386.
- ^ a b Pohl 1999, pp. 501–502.
- ^ Heather 2010, p. 502.
- ^ de la Vaissière 2015, p. 176.
- ^ a b Pohl 1999, p. 502.
- ^ a b Ammianus Marcellinus: The Later Roman Empire (31.2.), p. 411.
- ^ a b de la Vaissière 2015, p. 177.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 4.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 2–4.
- ^ The Gothic History of Jordanes (24:121), p. 85.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 5.
- ^ Heather 2010, p. 209.
- ^ a b Wright 2011, p. 60.
- ^ de la Vaissière 2015, p. 175.
- ^ a b de la Vaissière 2015, p. 179.
- ^ Zhengzhang 2003, p. 429,505.
- ^ de la Vaissière 2015, p. 181.
- ^ Atwood 2012, p. 27.
- ^ Atwood 2012, p. 28-48.
- ^ a b de la Vaissière 2015, p. 188.
- ^ de la Vaissière 2015, p. 187.
- ^ Hayashi 2014, p. 16.
- ^ a b c Molnár et al. 2014.
- ^ Kim 2013, p. 33, 39.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Heather 2005, pp. 146–167.
- ^ a b Kim 2013, p. 31.
- ^ Kim 2013, p. 209.
- ^ Kim 2015, p. 66.
- ^ a b Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 447.
- ^ a b c Thompson 1996, p. 25.
- ^ a b Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 449.
- ^ a b Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 452–453.
- ^ Thompson 1996, pp. 26–27.
- ^ a b Heather 2010, p. 215.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 19.
- ^ Heather 2010, p. 212.
- ^ Cook, Edward (2013). "Megadroughts, ENSO, and the Invasion of Late-Roman Europe by the Huns and Avars". The Ancient Mediterranean Environment: Between Science and History: 89–102.
- ^ Ammianus 602, p. 415.
- ^ a b c d Thompson 1996, p. 27.
- ^ a b Thompson 1996, p. 28.
- ^ a b James 2009, p. 51.
- ^ a b Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 26.
- ^ Thompson 1996, pp. 30–31.
- ^ Thompson 1996, pp. 32–33.
- ^ Thompson 1996, p. 33.
- ^ The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia – Google Knihy. Books.google.cz. 1990. ISBN 0-521-24304-1. Retrieved 2018-10-28.
- ^ Thompson 1999, p. 136.
- ^ Thompson 1996, pp. 87–89.
- ^ Halsall 2007, pp. 251–252.
- ^ Creasy, Edward Shepherd: The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World.
- ^ Norwich, Byzantium: the Early Centuries. 1997, p. 158.
- ^ Bury, The Later Roman Empire, pp. 294f.
- ^ Soren & Soren 1999, p. 472.
- ^ Halsall 2007, pp. 253–254.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 364.
- ^ Heather, Peter (1996). The Goths. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 124.
- ^ a b c Kim 2013, p. 123.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 151, 161–162.
- ^ Heather, Peter (1996). The Goths. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 125.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 165–168.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 168.
- ^ Man 2005, p. 278.
- ^ Kim 2015, p. 136.
- ^ a b c d e Sinor 2005, p. 4228. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFSinor2005 (help)
- ^ Kim 2015, pp. 136–137.
- ^ Róna-Tas 1999, p. 309.
- ^ Thompson 1996, pp. 6–7.
- ^ Kim 2015, p. 166-167.
- ^ Man 2005, p. 79.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 9–17.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 306.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 321–322.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 307-318.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 320.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 323.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 326.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 327–330.
- ^ Kim 2015, p. 6.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 337.
- ^ Thompson 1996, p. 59.
- ^ a b c Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 12.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 297.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 299–306.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 357.
- ^ Kim 2015, p. 170.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 352–354.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 354–356.
- ^ a b Thompson 1996, p. 47.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 178.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 179.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 179–180.
- ^ The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila, Michael Maas p.286
- ^ Delius, Peter (2005). Visual History of the World. Washington D.C.: National Geographic Society. ISBN 978-0-7922-3695-5.
- ^ "Schädelrekonstruktion und Atelierfoto" (in German). Speyer: Museum der Pfalz. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
- ^ Bachrach, Bernard S., A history of the Alans in the West: from their first appearance in the sources of classical antiquity through the early Middle Ages, U of Minnesota Press (1973), pp. 67–69
- ^ Pany, Doris; Wiltschke-Schrotta, Karin. "Artificial cranial deformation in a migration period burial of Schwarzenbach, Lower Austria" (PDF). VIAVIAS, no. 2 (Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science 2008), pp. 18–23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-08-15. Retrieved 2012-09-02.
{{cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=
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ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Torres-Rouff, C.; Yablonsky, L.T. (2005-05-02). "Cranial vault modification as a cultural artifact". HOMO – Journal of Comparative Human Biology. 56 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1016/j.jchb.2004.09.001.
- ^ "The Kushan civilization", Buddha Rashmi Mani, page 5: "A particular intra-cranial investigation relates to an annular artificial head deformation (macrocephalic), evident on the skulls of diverse racial groups being a characteristic feature traceable on several figures of Kushan kings on coins.", https://books.google.bg/books?id=J_YtAAAAMAAJ&q=kushan+deformation&dq=kushan+deformation&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y
- ^ Kim 2013, p. 33.
- ^ Hansen, Bent. "An original Danevang could have been situated in Central Asia". Retrieved 4 February 2017.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 182–183.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 184–185.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 184, 199.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 199–200.
- ^ a b Thompson 1996, p. 51.
- ^ Thompson 1996, pp. 189–194.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 185.
- ^ a b Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 187.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 188–189.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 185–186.
- ^ a b Heather 1999, p. 11.
- ^ Thompson 1996, pp. 67–68.
- ^ Kim 2013, pp. 23, 207.
- ^ Kim 2013, p. 58-59, 208.
- ^ Kim 2013, p. 59.
- ^ Ammianus 31.2.4
- ^ Thompson 1996, p. 50.
- ^ a b Thompson 1996, p. 48.
- ^ a b Thompson 1996, p. 64.
- ^ Kim 2015, p. 77.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 190.
- ^ Atwood 2012, p. 33.
- ^ Kim 2013, pp. 31, 59, 206.
- ^ Kim 2015, pp. 86–87.
- ^ Wolfram 1997, p. 143.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 192–193.
- ^ Thompson 1996, pp. 179–181.
- ^ Thompson 1996, p. 183.
- ^ Thompson 1996, pp. 181–183.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 194–195.
- ^ Kim 2015, pp. 83–84.
- ^ Kim 2015, p. 85.
- ^ Ammianus 31.2.6
- ^ a b Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 203.
- ^ Thompson 1996, p. 57.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 206.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 207.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 205–206.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 213–214.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 214–220.
- ^ a b Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 377.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 382.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 423–426.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 376.
- ^ Doerfer 1973, p. 50.
- ^ Golden 2006, pp. 136–137.
- ^ Sinor 2005, p. 336. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFSinor2005 (help)
- ^ Róna-Tas 1999, p. 208.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 441.
- ^ a b c Kim 2013, p. 30.
- ^ Heather 1995, p. 5.
- ^ Sinor 1990, p. 202.
- ^ Pristak 1982, p. 470.
- ^ Vajda 2013, pp. 4, 14, 48, 103–6, 108–9, 130–1, 135–6, 182, 204, 263, 286, 310.
- ^ Kim 2013, pp. 29–30.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 386–389.
- ^ Heather 2005, p. 329.
- ^ Wolfram 1990, p. 254.
- ^ Wolfram 1997, p. 142.
- ^ Heather 2010, p. 329.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 389.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 390–391.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 443.
- ^ Kim 2015, p. 4, 8.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 169–179.
- ^ Thompson 1996, p. 46-47.
- ^ Kim 2015, p. 2.
- ^ a b Kim 2015, p. 4.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 170–171.
- ^ a b c Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 171.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 172–174.
- ^ Ammianus 31.2.3
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 220.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 220–221.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 174.
- ^ Thompson 1973, pp. 47–48.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 174–178.
- ^ Man 2005, p. 61.
- ^ Template:Cite article
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 259.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 262.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 278-279.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 279-280.
- ^ a b c d Sinor 2005, p. 4229. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFSinor2005 (help)
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 274.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 167.
- ^ Template:Cite article
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 167–169: He argues for the existence of Hunnic shamans on the basis of the presence of the element kam in the Hunnic names Atakam and Eskam, which he derives from the Turkic qam, meaning shaman.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 259-260: He derives this belief from a Hunnic custom, attested in Ammianus, that the Huns did not wash their clothes: among later steppe peoples, this is done to avoid offending the water-spirits.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 278–296.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 306–330.
- ^ Man 2005, pp. 61–62.
- ^ Template:Cite article
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 278.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 287.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 262–263.
- ^ Template:Cite article
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 260–261.
- ^ Kim 2013, pp. 17–19.
- ^ a b Dennis 1984, p. 116.
- ^ a b c d e Dennis 1984, p. 117.
- ^ a b Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 202-203.
- ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, 31.2.8
- ^ Dennis 1984, pp. 11–13, 116.
- ^ a b c Glad, Damien (2010). "The Empire's Influence on Barbarian Elites from the Pontus to the Rhine (5th–7th Centuries): A Case Study of Lamellar Weapons and Segmental Helmets". The Pontic-Danubian Realm in the Period of the Great Migration: 349–362.
- ^ a b Miks, Christian (2009). "RELIKTE EINES FRÜHMITTELALTERLICHEN OBERSCHICHTGRABES? Überlegungen zu einem Konvolut bemerkenswerter Objekte aus dem Kunsthandel". Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz. 56: 500.
- ^ Medvedev, A.F. (1959). "K istorii plastinchatogo dospeha na Rusi [On the History of Plate Armor in Medieval Russia]". Soviet Archaeology. 2: 119.
- ^ Zahariade, Mihail (2009). "Late Roman Pieces of Military Equipment from Halmyris". Thraco-Dacica. 24: 125–130.
- ^ Burgarski, Ivan (2005). "A Contribution to the Study of Lamellar Armours". Starinar. 55: 161–179.
- ^ a b Kiss, Attila P. (2014). "Huns, Germans, Byzantines? The Origins of the Narrow Bladed Long Seaxes". Acta Archaeologica Carpathia. 49: 131–164.
- ^ Radjush, Oleg; Scheglova, Olga (2014). The Buried Treasure of Volnikovka: Horse and Rider Outfit Complex. First Half of the V Century AD. Collection Catalogue. p. 31.
- ^ James, Simon (2011). Rome and the Sword. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 266.
- ^ Kazanski, Michel (2013). "Barbarian Military Equipment and its Evolution in the Late Roman and Great Migration Periods (3rd–5th C. A.D.)". Ware and Warfare in Late Antiquity. 8.1: 493–522.
- ^ a b Reisinger, Michaela R. (2010). "New Evidence About Composite Bows and Their Arrows in Inner Asia". The Silk Road. 8: 42–62.
- ^ Eastman 2011, p. 88.
- ^ Man 2005, p. 291-292.
- ^ Man 2005, p. 294.
- ^ Montgomery 2010, pp. 16–17.
- ^ Man 2005, pp. 292–293.
- ^ Heinric van Veldeken 2008, pp. 110–111.
- ^ Haymes & Samples 1996, pp. 8–14.
- ^ Uecker 1972, pp. 75–79.
- ^ Hedeager 2011, p. 179.
- ^ Hedeager 2011, p. 187.
- ^ a b Neidorf 2013.
- ^ Campbell 1986, p. 53, 123-124.
- ^ Lienert 2015, pp. 35–36.
- ^ a b Lienert 2015, p. 99.
- ^ Lienert 2015, p. 72.
- ^ Uecker 1972, p. 63.
- ^ Gillespie 1973, pp. 79–80.
- ^ a b Gillespie 1973, p. 79.
- ^ Haymes & Samples 1996, p. 46.
- ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961). Deutsches Wörterbuch. Vol. 10. Leipzig: Hirzel. p. 1942.
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{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ Man 2005, p. 298.
- ^ Róna-Tas 1999, p. 424.
- ^ Lendvai 2003, pp. 7, 25–26.
- ^ Szűcs 1999, pp. xlv–xlvii.
- ^ Róna-Tas 1999, p. 423.
- ^ Szűcs 1999, p. xlvii.
- ^ Engel 2001, p. 121.
- ^ Szűcs 1999, p. lv. Szűcs argues that the name Hunor as a Hungarian ancestor is genuinely reflective of the Magyar oral legends, but that it actually derives from the name Onogur; Simon therefore merely used the resemblance of Hunor to Hun to support his theory.
- ^ Róna-Tas 1999, pp. 423–434.
- ^ Szűcs 1999, pp. liii–liv.
- ^ Lendvai 2003, p. 60.
- ^ Róna-Tas 1999, pp. 426–427.
- ^ Lafferton 2007, p. 717.
- ^ Róna-Tas 1999, p. 436.
- ^ Lendvai, p. 24.
- ^ a b Simon of Kéza 1999, p. 71.
- ^ Engel 2001, p. 116.
- ^ Lendvai 2003, pp. 14–15.
- ^ Engel 2001, p. 2.
- ^ Kim 2015, p. 140.
- ^ Makkai, László (2001). "Transylvania in the medieval Hungarian kingdom (896-1526)". In Köpeczi, Béla (ed.). History of Transylvania. Vol. I. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 415–416.
- ^ Guglielmino; et al. (2000). "Probable ancestors of Hungarian ethnic groups: an admixture analysis". Annals of Human Genetics. 64 (2): 145–159. doi:10.1046/j.1469-1809.2000.6420145.x – via Wiley Online Library.
{{cite journal}}
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(help) - ^ Csányi; et al. (2008). "Y‐Chromosome Analysis of Ancient Hungarian and Two Modern Hungarian‐Speaking Populations from the Carpathian Basin". Annals of Human Genetics. 72 (4): 519–534. doi:10.1111/j.1469-1809.2008.00440.x – via Wiley Online Library.
{{cite journal}}
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(help) - ^ Akçalı, Emel; Korkut, Umut (2012). "Geographical Metanarratives in East-Central Europe: Neo-Turanism in Hungary". Eurasian Geography and Economics. 53 (3): 596-614 (601-602).
{{cite journal}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Sommer 2017, p. 172.
- ^ Kamusella, Tomasz (2009). The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. p. 474.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Kowalczyk, Michał (2017). "Hungarian Turanism. From the Birth of the Ideology to Modernity – an Outline of the Problem". Historia Polityka. 20: 49–63.
{{cite journal}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Lendvai 2003, pp. 23–24.
- ^ Antal, Erika. "A székelyek eredete: elméletek, tények, történelem". Maszol.ro. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
- ^ Weser-Zeitung, 28 July 1900, second morning edition, p. 1: 'Wie vor tausend Jahren die Hunnen unter ihrem König Etzel sich einen Namen gemacht, der sie noch jetzt in der Überlieferung gewaltig erscheinen läßt, so möge der Name Deutschland in China in einer solchen Weise bekannt werden, daß niemals wieder ein Chinese es wagt, etwa einen Deutschen auch nur schiel anzusehen'.
- ^ Man 2005, pp. 303–307.
References
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(help)
Further reading
- Attila und die Hunnen. Begleitbuch zur Ausstellung. Hrsg. vom Historischen Museum der Pfalz, Speyer. (Stuttgart 2007).
- Christopher Kelly, Attila The Hun: Barbarian Terror and the Fall of the Roman Empire (London 2008)
- Rudi Paul Lindner, Nomadism, Horses and Huns, in: Past and Present 92, 1981, p. 3–19.
- Franz Altheim, Attila und die Hunnen (1951).
- J. Werner, Beiträge zur Archäologie des Attila-Reiches (1956).
- W. M. McGovern, Early Empires of Central Asia (1939)
- Frederick John Teggart, China and Rome (1969, repr. 1983);
External links
- Dorn'eich, Chris M. 2008. Chinese sources on the History of the Niusi-Wusi-Asi(oi)-Rishi(ka)-Arsi-Arshi-Ruzhi and their Kueishuang-Kushan Dynasty. Shiji 110/Hanshu 94A: The Xiongnu: Synopsis of Chinese original Text and several Western Translations with Extant Annotations. A blog on Central Asian history.
- Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. .