70 Fun Facts About Attila the Hun

By what nickname was Attila widely known?

The 15th-century Hungarian chronicler Thuróczy popularised the epithet among later writers.

According to most scholars, Attila's name derives from a Gothic word meaning what?

The Grimm brothers first proposed the Gothic etymology; a Turkic origin is still argued by some.

With which elder brother did Attila rule the Huns jointly until 445?

The brothers were nephews of the previous king and negotiated their first Roman treaty on horseback.

Which uncle did Attila and his brother succeed as ruler of the Huns?

Their father Mundzuk was Rugila's brother; the Huns often ruled as a pair of kings.

Which Byzantine diplomat visited Attila in 449 and left the only physical description of him?

Only fragments of his eight-book history survive, quoted by Jordanes and Procopius.

According to the description passed down by Jordanes, Attila was what?

It adds small eyes, a thin greying beard, a flat nose and swarthy skin.

From which river region did the Huns emerge before migrating into Europe around 370?

Their mounted archers had a reputation for invincibility and drove the Goths into Roman lands.

Some theories hold the Hun leaders spoke a Turkic language closest to which modern tongue?

The origin and language of the Huns have been debated for centuries.

Which Roman emperor did Goths fleeing the Huns kill at Adrianople in 378?

Vandals, Alans and Suebi crossed the frozen Rhine on the last day of 406 for the same reason.

At which town did Attila and his brother dictate a treaty to the Roman legation in 435?

The Romans agreed to double their tribute, open markets and pay eight solidi for each prisoner.

Under the treaty of 435, what happened to the Romans' annual tribute of 350 pounds of gold?

Theodosius II used the breathing space to build Constantinople's first sea wall.

After the 435 treaty the Huns vanished from Roman sight to invade which power, where they were defeated?

They lost in Armenia and turned back to Europe, reappearing on the Danube in 440.

In 443 the Huns surprised the Romans by using what for the first time?

They stormed Ratiaria and Naissus and massacred the inhabitants.

What stopped Attila from taking Constantinople in 443?

He destroyed one Roman army outside the walls and another near Callipolis, but could not get in.

Under the peace of 443, the Eastern Empire's yearly tribute to the Huns tripled to how much gold?

The Romans also paid 6,000 pounds as a penalty and the ransom per prisoner rose to 12 solidi.

In his 447 campaign Attila's forces rampaged through the Balkans as far south as which famous pass?

He had beaten the Gothic general Arnegisclus at the Battle of the Utus first.

Which Western Roman princess sent Attila her engagement ring in 450, which he read as a marriage proposal?

He demanded half the Western Empire as dowry; her brother the emperor exiled her rather than execute her.

What did Attila demand as dowry for marrying the emperor's sister?

Valentinian III wrote back strenuously denying any proposal had been made.

Which Western Roman general, who had once lived among the Huns in exile, opposed Attila in Gaul in 451?

Hunnic troops supplied by Attila had earlier helped him earn the title magister militum.

To roughly what size did Jordanes exaggerate Attila's army when it arrived in Belgica in 451?

It included Gepids, Ostrogoths, Rugians, Scirians, Heruls, Thuringians, Alans and Burgundians.

Which city did Attila capture on 7 April 451, before Strasbourg?

Bishop Nicasius was slaughtered at his altar in Reims soon after.

Which saint is said to have saved Paris from Attila with her prayers?

Servatus is credited with saving Tongeren the same way, and Lupus of Troyes met Attila in person.

At which battle in 451 was Attila stopped by a Roman-Visigothic alliance?

It is usually placed near Châlons-en-Champagne, on flat ground where Attila hoped to use his cavalry.

Which Visigothic king was killed fighting alongside the Romans against Attila in 451?

Gibbon thought Aëtius deliberately let Attila retreat, fearing an overwhelming Visigothic triumph as much as defeat.

Which city on the Loire did the allied armies reach ahead of Attila in 451, checking his advance?

The Romans called it Aurelianum.

Which city owes its origins partly to people fleeing Attila's 452 invasion to lagoon islands?

He razed Aquileia so thoroughly its original site was later hard to identify.

Which northern Italian city did Attila raze so completely its site was hard to recognise afterwards?

Aëtius could only harass and slow him with a shadow force.

Which pope met Attila near Mantua in 452 and won his promise to withdraw from Italy?

Two civilian envoys went too, but Prosper of Aquitaine gave the pope all the credit.

Superstitious fear of whose fate reportedly gave Attila pause about marching on Rome?

That Gothic king had died soon after sacking Rome in 410.

At which river did Attila's 452 invasion of Italy finally halt?

Famine and disease in his camp, and an Eastern Roman strike across the Danube, pushed him home.

Which Eastern emperor, successor to Theodosius II, stopped paying tribute to the Huns?

Jordanes says a god showed him Attila's broken bow in a dream on the night Attila died.

According to the conventional account, Attila died in 453 at a feast celebrating what?

The bride was the young Ildico, whose name suggests Gothic origins.

How is Attila conventionally said to have died?

Modern doctors suggest ruptured oesophageal varices from years of heavy drinking.

A rival account by Marcellinus Comes, written 80 years later, claims Attila was killed how?

Most historians dismiss it as hearsay in favour of Priscus's version.

According to Jordanes, how did the Huns mourn Attila?

The best horsemen rode in circles around his silken tent chanting a funeral dirge.

Jordanes says Attila was buried in three nested coffins made of which metals?

Iron because he subdued the nations, gold and silver because he took honours from both empires.

What happened to the men who buried Attila, according to Jordanes?

The tomb has never been found, nor has the site of his capital.

What was the strava celebrated over Attila's tomb?

Grief and joy alternated in extremes, Jordanes says.

Which Gepid king, once Attila's adviser, led the revolt that shattered the Hunnic Empire at Nedao in 454?

Attila's sons had tried to divide the subject peoples among themselves by lot like a family estate.

Which eldest son of Attila was killed at the Battle of Nedao?

His brother Dengizich was killed in 469, ending Hunnic dominion.

Which Hungarian royal house claimed direct descent from Attila?

Medieval Hungarian chronicles portrayed the Huns as the Hungarians' glorious ancestors.

In Hungarian chronicle tradition, what was the name of Attila's brother?

The same tradition calls his father Bendegúz.

Which Hungarian king of 1458–1490 was happy to be called 'the second Attila'?

The chronicler Thuróczy held Attila up as a model for him.

According to Jordanes, Attila possessed a holy war sword given by which god?

A cavalry sabre called the Sword of Attila, actually 9th- or 10th-century Hungarian work, is now in Vienna.

The so-called Sword of Attila is kept in a museum in which city?

A Hungarian queen mother reportedly gave it to Otto of Nordheim in the 11th century.

Which Renaissance artist painted the legendary meeting of Attila and the pope?

The sculptor Algardi treated the same scene; Gibbon called it one of the noblest legends of ecclesiastical tradition.

Per the Chronicon Pictum, the pope promised Attila that if he spared Rome, a successor would receive what?

It is taken to mean the Holy Crown of Hungary.

Under what name does Attila appear in the Nibelungenlied and other Middle High German poems?

Atli is the Old Norse form, Ætla the Old English, and the Polish Chronicle calls him Aquila.

In the Nibelungenlied, Attila is the second husband of which woman, who destroys both the Huns and her Burgundian kin?

He also shelters the exiled Dietrich von Bern in other German poems.

Which composer conceived an opera about Attila in 1812 that was never written?

He asked August von Kotzebue for a libretto.

Which composer's 1846 opera Attila is loosely based on his invasion of Italy?

It premiered in Venice, a city that owed its founding to refugees from that invasion.

WWI Allied propaganda called Germans 'Huns' because of a 1900 speech praising Attila by whom?

Nehru recorded the connection in Glimpses of World History.

When Turkish forces invaded Cyprus in 1974, the operations were named after whom?

Attila and Atilla remain common first names in Turkey and Hungary.

How many streets in Budapest are named after Attila?

One of them is an important road behind Buda Castle.

Which actor played Attila in the 1954 film Sign of the Pagan?

Cecelia Holland's 1973 novel The Death of Attila made him a looming background figure.

Which patriarch said the Huns had 'become both masters and slaves of the Romans'?

Rome hired Huns as mercenaries even in its civil wars, while the Huns saw Roman payments as tribute.

Which Norse texts feature Attila as a major character?

Some chronicles describe him as a great and noble king rather than a scourge.

In which two modern countries is Attila, or the variant Atilla, a common male first name?

Kazakh speakers use Adil or Edil, while Old Norse poems call him Atli.

Which two Attila-related sites have archaeologists still failed to locate?

Digs have revealed Hunnic art, lifestyle and warfare, but only a few traces of battles and sieges.

What was the name of the young bride whose wedding feast Attila was celebrating when he died in 453?

Her name suggests Gothic or Ostrogothic origins; Priscus says Attila bled heavily and died in his sleep.

What was the name of Attila's father, brother of the kings Octar and Ruga?

Joint rule by two kings was a recurring pattern among the Huns, though historians debate whether it was formal.

While the Huns raided the Danube, which Vandal king seized Carthage and Roman Africa?

Rome stripped the Balkans of troops for an African expedition, leaving Attila and Bleda a clear road into Illyricum in 441.

Which Western emperor was talked out of executing his sister Honoria by their mother Galla Placidia?

He exiled her instead and wrote to Attila denying that any marriage proposal was legitimate.

The Roman city of Singidunum, sacked by the Huns in 441, became which modern capital?

The Hunnish army also sacked Margus and Viminacium on its way through Illyricum.

Alongside Ellac and Dengizich, who was the third named son of Attila who squabbled over his empire?

Jordanes says the sons wanted the nations divided among them by lot 'like a family estate'.

What is the Old English form of Attila's name?

Etzel is the Middle High German version, Atli the Old Norse and Etele one Hungarian variant.

Which Baroque sculptor, like Raphael, depicted the meeting of Pope Leo and Attila?

Both artists followed a medieval tale in which Saints Peter and Paul also attended the encounter.

In medieval Hungarian chronicles, Attila is named the son of which figure?

The same tradition has him make his brother Buda a prince and dates his kingship to the year 401.

According to Lampert of Hersfeld, who gave the 'Sword of Attila' to Otto of Nordheim?

The gift thanked Otto for helping Solomon to the Hungarian throne; the sabre is held in Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum.

Which Sassanid shah invaded Armenia in 441, adding to Rome's troubles as the Huns crossed the Danube?

The Huns themselves had earlier been beaten in Armenia during their own foray against the Sassanids.