Attila the Hun

The barbarians called Huns swept down on the Roman Empire on strong, fast warhorses, wearing strong armor and shooting deadly arrows from horseback. They came from the north, from Central Asia.

They drove all their enemies into retreat. All along the borders of the Roman Empire, people told terrible stories about the savage Huns. One Roman historian wrote, “They are uglier than any other men on earth. They eat roots that they find in the fields. And they don’t even cook their meat. Instead, they put the raw meat between their saddles and the backs of their horses, and ride on it all day. Then they eat it!” The Huns taught their babies to ride horseback even before they could walk. And Hun children didn’t go to school; instead, they learned how to shoot arrows at a full gallop.

The most terrifying barbarian of all was Attila, the greatest Hun war leader. Attila led his Hun army in attacks against both Roman Empires—the East and the West. He was so powerful that the Romans began calling him “The Scourge of God.” They thought that God was punishing them by sending Attila the Hun to attack their borders!

The Western Roman emperor and his advisors tried to think of a way to keep Attila away. But the emperor’s sister, Honoria, had different ideas. Honoria was bored with life at the Roman court. She was tired of being a great lady. And her brother, the emperor, wanted her to marry a weak, ugly man whom she didn’t love. “If you don’t marry him,” he told her, “I’ll throw you in jail!”

So Honoria wrote a letter to Attila the Hun. “Come and rescue me!” she wrote. “If you do, I will marry you!” She paid a servant to take this letter and her favorite ring to Attila.

The servant rode for days and days to reach Attila’s army, which was camped at the borders of the Western Roman Empire.

Attila and his men fought their way through Gaul and finally marched down into Italy. They conquered and burned the cities in their path. Finally, the emperor offered to pay Attila a huge amount of money to leave Italy. And he promised to send Attila money every year, if only Attila would leave Italy alone.

Attila agreed to leave Italy, but he warned, “I want Honoria sent to me as my wife, or I will return.” He marched the Huns back out of Italy, planning to come back and claim his wife and his new empire.

But before Attila could return to Italy, he died of a nosebleed. And he never did marry Honoria, the sister of the emperor.

Attila’s followers put his body into a golden coffin. They put the golden coffin into a silver coffin, and the silver coffin into an iron coffin. They buried the iron coffin in the dead of night, and then killed all of the slaves who had helped to dig the grave, so that no one would know where Attila was buried. To this day, the grave of Attila the Hun has not been found.