Huns

The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries CE. 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. By 370 CE, the Huns had arrived on the Volga, causing the westwards movement of Goths and Alans. By 430, they had established a vast, but short-lived, empire on the Danubian frontier of the Roman empire in Europe. Either under Hunnic hegemony, or fleeing from it, several central and eastern European peoples established kingdoms in

Odoacer ( – 15 March 493 AD), also spelled Odovacer or Odovacar, was a barbarian soldier and statesman from the Middle Danube who was an officer of the Roman army and deposed the Western Roman child emperor Romulus Augustulus to become the ruler of Italy (476–493). Odoacer's overthrow of Romulus Augustulus is traditionally understood as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire.

family

language spoken by Huns

nomadic empire in Europe in the 4th and 5th centuries

Valamir or Valamer ( – 469) was an Ostrogothic king in the former Roman province of Pannonia from AD 447 until his death. During his reign, he fought alongside the Huns against the Roman Empire and then, after Attila the Hun's death, fought against the Huns to consolidate his independent control over a large group of Goths.

thumb|350px|Towns of mentioned in Old Scandinavian sources, according to T. Jackson, E. Melnikova, K. Müllenhoff, V. Thomsen, and A. Bugge.

The Kidarites, or Kidara Huns, were a dynasty that ruled Bactria and adjoining parts of Central Asia and India in the 4th and 5th centuries. The Kidarites belonged to a complex group of peoples known collectively in India as the Huna, and in Europe as the Chionites (from the Iranian names Xwn/Xyon), and may even be considered as identical to the Chionites. The 5th century Byzantine historian Priscus called them Kidarite Huns, or "Huns who are Kidarites". Chinese annals referred to them as the Ta Yüeh-chih, or Lesser Yüeh-chih. The Huna/Xionite tribes are often linked, albeit controversially, t

thumb|300px|Asia in 400 AD, showing the Xionites ("Chionites") and their neighbors. Xionites, Chionites, or Chionitae (Middle Persian: Xiyōn or Hiyōn; Avestan: X́iiaona-; Sogdian xwn; Pahlavi Xyōn) were a nomadic people in the Central Asian regions of Transoxiana and Bactria.

Huns in South Asia in the 5-6th century CE

Mundzuk was a Hunnic chieftain, brother of the Hunnic rulers Octar and Rugila, and father of Bleda and Attila by an unknown consort. Jordanes in Getica recounts "For this Attila was the son of Mundzucus, whose brothers were Octar and Ruas, who were supposed to have been kings before Attila, although not altogether of the same [territories] as he".

Edeko, with various spellings including Edekon, Aediko, Idikon and Edica, was a prominent military leader in the fifth-century multiethnic empire of Attila the Hun, before he died in 453 AD. "Edekon" was sent by Attila on a diplomatic mission to Constantinople in 448/9, which was reported in detail by the Roman diplomat and historian Priscus of Panium, who returned with Edeko to the headquarters of Attila.

group of Xionite and/or Hephthalite tribes who, entered India in the 5th or 6th century

thumb|right The Akatziri, Akatzirs or Acatiri (, , , ; ) were a tribe that lived north of the Black Sea, though the Crimean city of Cherson seems to have been under their control in the sixth century. Jordanes ( 551) called them a mighty people, not agriculturalists but cattle-breeders and hunters. Their ethnicity is undetermined: the 5th-century historian Priscus describes them as ethnic () Scythians, but they are also referred to as Huns (Akatiri Hunni). Their name has also been connected to the Agathyrsi. However, according to E. A. Thompson, any conjectured connection between the Agathyrsi

Onoulphus, also Onoulf, Unulf and Hunulf (died 493) was a military leader in the 5th century. His origins lay in the non Roman tribal groups led by Attila the Hun (died 453) in the Middle Danube region, but his career as a soldier brought him into the violent internal politics of the Roman empire during the period when the last Western Roman emperors lived and died.

Avitohol (153–353?) is the first name in the Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans. Little is known about him. According to the document he is from the Dulo clan and most probably was considered and respected as the forefather of the khans. Some researchers claim that Avitohol was identical with Attila the Hun who was succeeded by his son Ernak or Irnik (the second name mentioned in the Nominalia). Others suggests that Avitohol was a semi-legendary ruler who may have been either a descendant or an ancestor of Attila (see Dulo clan).

medieval chronicle

Kreka or Hereka was the wife of Attila. She was described by Eastern Roman diplomat Priscus in his account of his stay at Attila's court in 448 or 449 AD. She and Attila had three sons: Ellac, Dengizich, and Ernak, who split among themselves what remained of Attila's empire after his death in 453.

435 treaty between the Huns and the Roman Empire

thumb|Mór Than, The Feast of Attila (1870), detail of a man sitting to the right of the Hunnic king Onegesius () was a powerful Hunnic logades (minister) who supposedly held power second only to Attila the Hun. According to Priscus he "seated on a chair to the right of the king" i.e. Attila.

Hunnic king

art produced by the Huns

Karadach or Kuridach (in Greek Κουριδαχος, Kouridachos, ) was an important chieftain of the Akatziri tribe of the Hunnic confederation during the reign of Attila. According to Priscus he rose to prominence when he was courted by Roman diplomats in 448 AD as a potential ally against the Huns, but used the information to help his overlord foil a revolt among lesser chiefs of the Akatziri; thus Attila left his lands untouched while the remaining were taken.

Sunicas () was a Hun who served in the Byzantine military during the Iberian War, in the early reign of Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565).

thumb|Gizur challenging the Huns according to the Hlöðskviða (Hunnenschlachtlied) [[File:Chernyakhov.PNG|right|upright=1.35|thumb|

Ethnological origin of the Huns

Ascum () was a general of the Byzantine Empire, active early in the reign of Justinian I (r. 527–565). He was in command of the Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum. His name is reported by John Malalas. Both Theophanes the Confessor and George Kedrenos render his name "Ακούμ" (Acum).

Basich or Basikh (, fl. 395) was a Hun military commander who co-led an invasion of Persia in 395 AD together with Kursich.

Humli is a legendary king of the Huns who appears in the Hervarar Saga. He is the Grandfather of Hlod, illegitimate son of Heidrek, King of the Goths.

Term roughly equivalent to Huna people

Ragnaris (Greek spelling died 555) was a Hunnic warlord who fought for the Ostrogoths in the final stages of the Gothic War against the Eastern Roman Empire. Procopius calls him a Goth, but the better informed Agathias records that he was of the Hunnic tribe of the Vittores or Vitgores (possibly the Bittugures mentioned in Jordanes).

legendary Figure

Simmas () was a Hunnic general in the service of the Byzantine Empire, serving as dux (regional military commander). Active in the early 6th century, he fought at the Battle of Dara, commanding six hundred horseman along with fellow Hun commander Ascan, and played a fundamental role in the Byzantine victory.