Recent archaeological and historical discoveries have challenged the widely held view that the Huns were savage barbarians, and has put forward them as heroes.
The Huns were a group of nomadic pastoral people who, appearing from beyond the Volga, migrated into Europe in AD 370 and built up an enormous empire in Europe. They are widely thought of as vicious brutes who appeared briefly in history, wreaked death and destruction, then disappeared again.
According to a report in Digital Journal, recent archaeological and historical discoveries are raising questions about this view. Of the European countries, Hungary has the most legends about the Huns and in these legends; they are the heroes, not the villains. Hungarian academic and researcher, Dr. Borbala Obrusanszky, has followed their trail all the way to China and Mongolia, where she did postgraduate work.
Responding to a question about the Hun's reported barbarism and savagery, Obrusanszky said, "Only the Western Roman chroniclers thought that. The other sources, for example the Chinese, always painted a realistic picture of the Huns."
"They were not wild or barbarians, but only had different customs, which the town-dwellers did not know. But, those who spent a long time among the Huns soon sang their praises, because they considered them a very hospitable people," she added.
What is more, certain researchers consider it possible that they stayed in contact with each other, or knew about each other. Obrusanszky said that the most surprising thing about these so-called "barbarians" was that they built cities.
"The Huns also had settlements where they only stayed temporarily, but they had permanent trade centres and manufacturing towns, since they needed places where they could construct items both for weapons and military use as well as for their everyday lives," she added.
Obrusanszky turned next to the subject of Attila, King of the Huns. Attila is the greatest figure in European history, many still tremble at his name. He created a great federal state from the foothills of the Caucasus to the Rhine. He was victorious in practically all his campaigns. He went wherever he wanted to, because his military knowledge and his army stood above that of the Romans. Despite this, at the Pope's request, he spared Rome.
By contrast, the Vandals sacked it. Obrusanszky explained that these recent discoveries and ongoing studies in China, Mongolia and Hungary, as well as other countries, are likely to change perceptions of the Huns and their historical achievements.