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Huns

Barbarian tribes.  Source: Salsabila Ariadina/Adobe Stock

Rethinking Barbarians: Were They Really Savages?

The term "barbarian" has long been associated with images of savagery and brutality, conjuring thoughts of uncivilized societies on the fringes of the ancient world. However, the question arises:...
The Favorites of the Emperor Honorius, by John William Waterhouse (1883) (Public Domain)

The Fall Of The Western Roman Empire - A Military Perspective (405-455 AD)

In 376 AD, an alarming number of Visigoths erupted on the Danube frontier and overflowed into the northern Roman provinces of the Balkans. The recent arrival of a new invader in Eastern Europe,...
Legendary Iranian king Rostam, depicted in this 7th century CE mural at Panjikent, Sogdia, with an elongated skull in the fashion of the Alchon Huns (Public Domain)

The Huns Used a Grotesque Practice to Unify Their People (Video)

The Huns , infamous invaders of the Roman Empire , employed a unique practice to distinguish and unify their people. Recent archaeological investigations and DNA analyses have shed light on their...
Workers excavating the Hun warrior tomb which was discovered at one of several archaeological sites unearthed during the construction of a highway in Romania. Source: CNAIR / Vasile Pârvan Institute of Archaeology

Gold Laden Hun Warrior Tomb Uncovered by Romanian Highway Project

Amidst the buzz of a highway construction project in Romania, a team of workers accidentally stumbled upon a historic trove of buried treasure and a Hun warrior tomb. The archaeological site revealed...
The Huns approaching Rome, led by Attila the Hun, painted by Ulpiano Checa. Source: Public domain

Droughts, Not Gold, Drove Attila to Invade the Roman Empire

History has remembered Attila (c. 406 to 453) for having terrorized the Roman Empire with a campaign of violence as the ruler of a nomadic Central Asian and Eastern European people known as the Huns...
The Death of King Attila the Hun in 453 from an illuminated manuscript within the Saxon World Chronicle (close up). Source: Public domain

The Fearsome Attila the Hun Died of a Nosebleed on His Wedding Night

In what must have been one of the worst honeymoons in history, Attila the Hun, the brutal nomadic warrior of the 5th century AD, was found dead in his nuptial bed, drenched in blood the morning after...
The landscape of remote Mongolia where the long-lost nomad Dragon City of the Xiongnu Empire was recently discovered.    Source: Iderkhangai Tumur-Ochir / Heritage Daily

Long-lost Nomad City of the Xiongnu Empire Found in Mongolia

In a desolate region of Mongolia , archaeologists have discovered the long-lost nomad city that was once the capital of an empire that played an important role in the history of Imperial China...
Left: Upper part of the body of grave 43 during excavation. The girl had an artificially deformed skull, was place in a grave with a side niche and richly equipped with a necklace, earrings, a comb and glass beads. The girl belonged to a group of people with a non-local origin and similar dietary habits, which appeared to have arrived at the site about 10 years after its establishment. (Wosinsky Mór Museum)         Right: Artificially deformed skull of an adult woman. Permanent binding during childhood caus

Cemetery of Elongated Skulls Revealed Chaos After the Fall of Rome

In 2020, researchers studied a remarkable burial site containing 51 men, women, and children with deformed elongated skulls from an ancient cemetery in Hungary , revealing a multicultural transition...
One of the two elongated skulls belongs to a teenage boy who died 1500 years ago and was buried in a pit with two other boys of different genetic background.     Source: © D. Los/Kaducej Ltd / University of Wien

Ancient Alien-Like Heads Discovered in Croatia

Archaeologists digging in Croatia have unearthed three ancient alien-like skeletons and two have artificially elongated skulls. Since 12,000-years-ago in ancient China, all over the ancient world,...
The End of the Huns: The Death of Attila and the Fall of the Hunnic Empire

The End of the Huns: The Death of Attila and the Fall of the Hunnic Empire

Attila the Hun was also known as Flagellum Dei , which means the ‘Scourge of God.’ With him at the lead, the Huns were one of the biggest threats faced by the Roman Empire. Although he was famously...
Bavarian skulls on the left and in the middle show signs of deformation; the one on the right is not deformed.

Geneticist Suggests Long-Skulled Ladies Were Used as Treaty Brides in Europe

A group of 13 women stood out from the crowd in some southern German villages along the Danube River 1500 years ago. Their DNA suggests they came from another region and they were physically distinct...
An ancient mouth harp found in the Altai Republic of Russia.

This Musical Instrument Still Works 1,700 Years After a Hun Nomad Crafted it!

The nomadic musician looked fondly upon the latest of the completed instruments – a mouth harp carefully crafted by splintering the rib of a cow, or was it a horse? No matter, the sound it made when...
Mór Than's painting The Feast of Attila, based on a fragment of Priscus.

Did the Roughly-Hewn Stone Throne at Torcello Really Belong to Attila the Hun?

On the island of Torcello there exists an ancient white chair that local legend names as the throne of Attila the Hun. The chair is large, of solid stone and certainly has the air of unyielding...
Battle between the Xiongnu (Hun) and the Han Dynasty

Victory Over the Hun: Famous Lost Account of Han Dynasty Triumph Found Carved onto Mongolian Mountain

Archaeologists claim to have rediscovered a triumphant account of China’s ancient military which had been inscribed in cliff face. According to the experts, the inscription narrates how the Han...
Example of a modified skull

Tiller the Hun? Farmers in Roman Empire Converted to Hun Lifestyle

Marauding hordes of barbarian Huns, under their ferocious leader Attila, are often credited with triggering the fall of one of history's greatest empires: Rome . Historians believe Hunnic incursions...
Huns in battle with the Alans, 1870s engraving after a drawing by Johann Nepomuk Geiger (1805-1880)

Merciless Marauders or Fearsome Fighters? The Terror Tactics of the Huns

Ruthless and unpredictable, few armies have been as terrifying as the Huns. Descending on a town like a whirlwind from hell, the savage horsemen killed indiscriminately – combatants and civilians,...
Attila and his Hordes

The Hunnic War Machine: Horsemen of the Steppe – Part II

The steppe has produced many notable horse archers who brought terror and devastation to the known world during ancient times. But of the many steppe peoples who penetrated the civilized world, none...
Reenactors of Hunnic Warriors of the Steppe

The Hunnic War Machine: The Push Westward – Part I

The steppe has produced many notable horse archers who brought terror and devastation to the known world during ancient times. But of the many steppe peoples who penetrated the civilized world, none...
18th Century painting by Pinacoteca di Brera of ‘The Meeting of Pope Leo and Attila.’

The Scourge of God: Did Attila the Hun Really Deserve the Nickname?

The Latin statement Ego sum Attila flagellum Dei , which means I am Attila, the scourge of God , is said to have been first expressed in 1387, and is obviously making a reference to Attila the Hun...
The bones and the sword in the grave of the first known warrior woman of the ancient Kangyuy people of the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Woman buried with weapons is first evidence of female warriors among the Kangyuy people of Kazakhstan

The skeleton of a woman who lived more than 1,600 years ago and who was buried with a sword, a dagger, arrows, and pottery has been unearthed in Kazakhstan. Archaeologists say she was probably a high...
Tomb in Hungary - Attila the Hun

Discovery of Attila the Hun tomb in Hungary is a hoax

Two days ago an announcement was made that construction workers building the foundations of a new bridge over the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary, had uncovered an ancient burial chamber with...