Home Region: Central Europe (Europe)

Kingdom of the Huns

376 CE 469 CE

D G SC CC

EQ 2020 hu_hun_k / HuKHuns

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General Description

“The historical reality seems to be that the Huns, a Turkic people from the Central Asian steppes, began to move west around the year 370 and attack the Ostrogothic kingdom in the area of the modern Ukraine. What caused this movement is unclear, but it may have been pressure from other tribes further east. The Ostrogoths were defeated again and again and forced to leave their homes and farms in panic. A vast number of them crossed the Danube into the Balkans, still ruled at this time by the Roman Empire. Here the fugitive Goths, in their desperation, inflicted a massive defeat on the Roman army at Adrianople In 376, when their cavalry ran down the last of the old Roman legions. Now that their horizons were expanded there was no stopping the Huns. They raided the Balkans in the aftermath of the Roman defeat but also attacked the rich provinces of the east, coming through the Caucasus and Anatolia to pillage the rich lands of Syria.”^[1]
“The Huns were far from invincible, however, and in 439 the Visigoths of Toulouse showed their power by defeating Litorius’ attempt to take the city and killing the dux himself. Throughout this time, the Huns in Gaul acted as mercenary soldiers and, as far as we can tell, they had no territorial or political ambitions in the region. All this changed with Attila’s rise to power. It was Attila who gave the Huns a clear identity and made them, briefly, into a major political power. After his death, they disintegrated with remarkable speed.”^[2]
“After Attila’s death his sons divided up the subject nations equally among themselves, so that, as a shocked Goth puts it, ‘warlike kings with their peoples should be divided among them like a family estate’. We do not know how many sons there were: we only have Jordanes’ statement that ‘through the boundlessness of [Attila’s] lust, they were almost a people in themselves’. At any rate, this was the only occasion in Hun history, so far as we know, when a father’s kingdom was thus shared out by his sons… It was not many months after their father’s death that they began to quarrel. As to the cause of their quarrel, it would seem that one or more tried to dispossess the others from their share of the inheritance, and that several great battles were fought between them as a result.”^[3]

[1]: (Kennedy 2002: 25-26) Kennedy, Hugh. 2002. Mongols, Huns and Vikings: Nomads at War. London: Cassell. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZN9N624X

[2]: (Kennedy 2002: 37) Kennedy, Hugh. 2002. Mongols, Huns and Vikings: Nomads at War. London: Cassell. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZN9N624X

[3]: (Thompson 2004: 167-168) Thompson, E.A. 1996. The Huns. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/49W8PAAS

General Variables

Identity and Location

1 Utm Zone

1 Original Name

1 Capital

1 Alternative Name

Temporal Bounds

1 Peak Years

1 Duration

Political and Cultural Relations

Language

Religion

1 Religious Tradition

Social Complexity Variables

Social Scale

1 Population of the Largest Settlement

1 Polity Territory

Hierarchical Complexity

1 Settlement Hierarchy

1 Religious Level

1 Administrative Level

Professions

1 Source Of Support

Bureaucracy Characteristics

Law

Specialized Buildings: polity owned

1 Irrigation System

1 Drinking Water Supply System

1 Communal Building

1 Entertainment Building

Transport Infrastructure

Special-purpose Sites

1 Burial Site

Information / Writing System

1 Written Record

Information / Kinds of Written Documents

Information / Money

1 Precious Metal

1 Indigenous Coin

1 Foreign Coin

Information / Postal System

Information / Measurement System

Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)

Fortifications

Military use of Metals

Projectiles

Handheld weapons

Animals used in warfare

Armor

Naval technology

Economy Variables (Luxury Goods) Coding in Progress.

Religion Variables Coding in Progress.

Crisis Consequence Cases

1 Crisis Consequence

Power Transitions Coding in Progress.

Instability Events

8 Instability Event

General Variables

Identity and Location Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)
Utm Zone	34 N	376 CE 469 CE
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Original Name	Kingdom of the Huns	376 CE 469 CE
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Capital	unknown Suspected	376 CE 469 CE
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Alternative Name	Hunnic Empire	376 CE 469 CE
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Temporal Bounds Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More
Peak Years	434 CE
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Duration	[376 CE ➜ 469 CE]
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Political and Cultural Relations Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Language Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Religion Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)
Religious Tradition	Shamanism	376 CE 469 CE
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Social Complexity Variables

Social Scale Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)
Population of the Largest Settlement	[500 to 1,000] people	376 CE 469 CE
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Polity Territory	- Suspected	376 CE 469 CE
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Hierarchical Complexity Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)
Settlement Hierarchy	2	376 CE 469 CE
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Religious Level	- Undecided	376 CE 469 CE
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Administrative Level	2	376 CE 469 CE
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Professions Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)
Source Of Support	uncoded Undecided	376 CE 469 CE
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Bureaucracy Characteristics Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Law Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Specialized Buildings: polity owned Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)
Irrigation System	Absent Inferred	376 CE 469 CE
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Drinking Water Supply System	Absent Inferred	376 CE 469 CE
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Communal Building	Present	376 CE 469 CE
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Entertainment Building	Present	376 CE 469 CE
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Transport Infrastructure Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Special-purpose Sites Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)
Burial Site	Present	376 CE 469 CE
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Information / Writing System Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)
Written Record	Absent	376 CE 469 CE
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Information / Kinds of Written Documents Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Information / Money Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)
Precious Metal	Present	376 CE 469 CE
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Indigenous Coin	Absent	376 CE 469 CE
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Foreign Coin	Present Inferred	376 CE 469 CE
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Information / Postal System Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Information / Measurement System Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)

Fortifications Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Military use of Metals Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Projectiles Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Handheld weapons Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Animals used in warfare Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Armor Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Naval technology Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Economy Variables (Luxury Goods)

Religion Variables

Moralizing Supernatural Punishment and Reward Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More

Human Sacrifice Kingdom of the Huns (hu_hun_k)

Variable	Coded Value / Certainty Tags	Year(s)	See More