206 Huns Attila the Hun was born c 406 c.e As part of a peace treaty with Rome, the 12-year-old Attila was fostered as a child, and in exchange the Huns fostered the Roman Flavius Aetius This hostage exchange was enforced in hopes that each child would bring back to his home nation an appreciation of the other’s traditions and culture Attila studied the foreign policies and internal workings of the Romans in order to favor the Huns Secretly listening to meetings with foreign diplomats, Attila learned about court protocol and leadership tactics In 432 the Huns were united, and by 434 Attila’s uncle Ruga left the empire to him and his brother Bleda The Huns gathered and invaded the Persian Empire, but a defeat in Armenia caused a cessation of attacks for several years By the mid-fifth century the Huns began attacking the border merchants of Persia In addition, the two brothers threatened war with Rome, citing treaty failures and claiming the Romans had desecrated royal Hunnish graves on the Danube River Crossing the river, the Huns invaded nearby Illyrian cities and forts In 441 they invaded present-day Belgrade and Sirnium Within a few years the Huns invaded along the Danube River, using battering rams and siege towers They successfully invaded cities along the Danube and then the Nišava River to sack the present-day Sofia (Bulgaria) The Huns moved toward Constantinople Finding and then defeating the Roman armies outside the city, the Huns found they could not topple the city’s thick walls but were in the process of gathering stronger battering rams Theodosius I admitted defeat instead of allowing the Huns to continue to batter the city’s walls After this victory the Huns retreated into the safety of their empire According to classic literature, Attila killed his brother The Hun empire was his alone Attila, who would be called the “Scourge of God,” was an aggressive and ambitious leader Stories emerged claiming he owned the sword of Mars or that no one could look at him directly in the eyes without flinching Attila and his Huns attacked eastern Europe, laying waste to cities along the way He defeated city after city on his way though Austria and Germany Attila attacked Gaul before turning to Italy, crushing several Lombard citie on his way to Ravenna, the Roman capital at the time Attila did not attack Ravenna; some scholars believe that Attila stopped short of sacking the capital of the Roman Empire at the request of Pope Leo the Great Another theory is that Attila wanted to return back to his own lands before the onset of a harsh winter After Attila’s death in 453 the Hun empire collapsed In legend, Attila died from a nosebleed on the night of his marriage to a seventh wife Typically not a drinker, Attila supposedly passed out on his back and the nosebleed caused him to choke on his own blood Upon his death, his sons acquired the throne, however, they were not as aggressive as Attila and fought among themselves in power struggles By the late fifth century the Hun empire had completely disintegrated Attila’s legacy was his ability to organize the nomadic Huns and to collect wealth through attacks and extortion In many cultures today Attila the Hun is viewed as a hero THE ORIGIN OF THE WHITE HUNS Some scholars believe that the White Huns were of Turkish origin, while some place the White Huns’ origin near the Hindu Kush region What little is known of White Hunnish culture favors an Iranian origin A common custom for Iranians was also common for the White Huns—the practice of polyandry, having several husbands to one wife In addition, a White Hunnish woman wore a hat bearing the same number of horns as she had husbands, all of whom were probably brothers Even if a man had no biological brothers, he would adopt men to be his brothers so he could marry All the brothers and the wife agreed on sexual privileges The paternity of children was assigned according to the age of the husband In this model the oldest husband claimed the first child and subsequent children were assigned to husbands of decreasing age Polyandry has not been associated with any other Hun tribe In fact, many Hun tribes practiced the reverse model, polygamy, in which one husband had many wives Scholars differ about the language spoken by the White Huns Many believe that their language was similar to the language of Iranian peoples; others believe they spoke Mongolian tongues The White Huns are thought to have worshipped fire and sun deities Although this is not uncommon, worshipping both deities together is similar to Iranian and Persian peoples Such beliefs may have later produced in what would be known as Zoroastrianism in which women held important value in society, cleanliness and hard work were stressed, oppression of others is condemned, and the worship of fire and the Sun were key elements Some scholars believe the White Huns derive from a combination of the Tarim Basin peoples and the Yuezhi (Yueh-chih) The people of the Tarim Basin in presentday China flourished up until the second century c.e The Tarim Basin people were not of Asian origin at all but may have been tribes that migrated through central Eurasia to the land that later became known as the southern portion of the Silk Road