Author(s):
von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen)
(Οὖννοι;
Oûnnoi, Χοῦννοι;
Choûnnoi), the Huns. [German version] A. History Nomadic people, origin debatable. In all probability they came from central Asia shortly after the time of Christ. As Χοῦννοι (
Choûnnoi) first mentioned in Ptol. 3,5,25 between Bastarnae and Roxolani (additional later localizations in Amm. Marc. 2,1; Iord. Get. 36f.). Some of the Hunnic tribes moved to the Caucasus region; from the eastern Hunnic branch, several states emerged (Hephthalitae, Avares, Chazars and Protobulgarians). Around AD 376 Hunnic tribes crossed the Volga, vanquished the Alani and the Ostrogoth kingdom of Ermanaric and destroyed the Visigoth army of Athanaric (Amm. Marc. 31,2,13). They established a kingdom in the subjugated area, from which they launched attacks from AD 395 onwards on the Caucasus and the lower Danube areas. From there they advanced westward around 400. The army led by Khan Uldin supported Rome in Vlachia against Gaenas (400) and Stilicho against Radagaisus (405); in 408 it invaded Thrace (Oros. 7,37; Zos. 5,22; Sozom. Hist. eccl. 9,5). Between 402 and 404 they drove the Burgundiones and the Vandali from the Vistula and Oder, so triggering a chain reaction of tribal migrations. After the death of Arcadius they turned from 408 onwards against the eastern Romans, capturing fortresses and occupying Castra Martis south of the Danube. Only in 412 was a peace treaty made between Khan Karaton and Byzantium. In 422 the H. again invaded Thrace. In 424 Khan Rua moved his residence to the plain east of the Theiss. Khan Bleda, who followed him, and Attila made a treaty with eastern Rome in 435 at Margus (Moesia) which ensured the H. many political and economic privileges. In 440/1 Bleda conquered Moesia prima and Pannonia secunda. His brother Attila helped him on the eastern flank and captured Ratiaria the next year. Together they defeated the eastern Roman army of Aspar ( Ardabur [2]). The First Peace of Anatolius in 443 brought very great wealth to the Hunnic state. The Hunnic empire, organized according to tribes and centrally controlled, encompassed the areas from the modern Ukraine to the Danube and stretched in the west to the Rhine. A system of vassal kings held the empire together. From Rua an attempt was made to unite the many tribes of the H. right through to the northern forest zone. The peak of Hunnic power was during the reign of Attila (434-453). In 447 he advanced with Germanic allies to the Balkan peninsula and occupied Moesia prima and Dacia ripensis. After the Second Peace of Anatolius in 450, in which he dispensed with his conquests south of the Danube, he advanced with Germanic allies against Gaul and northern Italy. In the summer of 451 he was defeated by the united fighting strength of Aetius on the Catalaunian Fields ( Campi Catalauni) and had to retreat to the right-hand side of the Rhine (Iord. Get. 194-218). This was the beginning of the decline of the Hunnic empire. In 452 the Huns still succeeded in capturing Aquileia [1] and advancing to Milan but the attack by emperor Marcianus on Attila's heartland on the Danube forced him to turn around. After his death battles for the throne began, which were exploited by the Gepidae, Rugi, Suebi and Sarmatae, who had been subjugated by the H. Under Attila's sons Ellak and Dengitzik, who both died in 454 at the battle on the Nedao in Pannonia against Germanic tribes, the Hunnic empire fell apart in Europe. Many of the H. became mercenaries in the eastern Roman army and later also in the Germanic army, whilst others were settled in Dacia ripensis. On both s…