Smith, Greg dot com

I know that in your downtime (waiting for a bus, during the commercials in Dancing with the Stars, clicking on WTH to see if I've put up a new post) you've often wondered, "I wonder what it would be like to have dinner with Atilla the Hun?"

Well, today's your lucky day...

The painting above is a 19th century depiction of the account by a 5th century Roman diplomat named Priscus. In 448 he accompanied Maximin, the ambassador of Theodosius II, to the court of Attila and recorded it in his history of the Byzantine Empire. At that time Atilla's court was in Thrace, north of Greece in a region spanning modern Bulgaria and western Turkey. His forces were directly threatening the imperial capitol of Constantinople:

The barbarian nation of the Huns, which was in Thrace, became so great that more than a hundred cities were captured and Constantinople almost came into danger and most men fled from it. … And there were so many murders and blood-lettings that the dead could not be numbered. Ay, for they took captive the churches and monasteries and slew the monks and maidens in great numbers.
—Callinicus

So the emperor sent Priscus and Maximin out on a diplomatic mission. His account of the banquet from his writings shortly thereafter indicate that Atilla was no crude movie villain tearing haunches off of roast beasts while dogs barked and exotic wenches danced:

Attila invited both parties of us to dine with him about three o’clock that afternoon. We waited for the time of the invitation, and then all of us, envoys from the Western Romans as well, presented ourselves in the doorway facing Attila. In accordance with the national custom the cupbearers gave us a cup for us to make our libations before we took our seats. When that had been done and we had sipped the wine, we went to the chairs where we would sit to have dinner. All the seats were ranged down either side of the room, up against the walls. In the middle Attila was sitting on a couch with a second couch behind him. Behind that a few steps led up to his bed... I think that the more distinguished guests were on Attila’s right, and the second rank on his left... When all were sitting properly in order, a cupbearer came to offer Attila an ivywood bowl of wine, which he took and drank a toast to the man first in order of precedence. After everyone had been toasted, the cupbearers left, and a table was put in front of Attila and other tables for groups of three or four men each. This enabled each guest to help himself to the things put on the table without leaving his proper seat. Attila’s servant entered first with plates full of meat, and those waiting on all the others put bread and cooked food on the tables. A lavish meal, served on silver trenchers, was prepared for us and the other barbarians, but Attila just had some meat on a wooden platter, for this was one aspect of his self-discipline. When the food in the first plates was finished we all got up, and no one, once on his feet, returned to his seat until he had, in the same order as before, drunk the full cup of wine he was handed, with a toast for Attila’s health. After this honour had been paid him, we sat down again and second plates were put on each table with other food on them. This also finished, everyone rose once more, drank another toast and resumed his seat.

Atilla and his court may have been brutal invaders in battle, but he and they were not unsophisticated and had a very developed culture. We may need to let go of some of our Hollywood-influenced impressions of ragged barbarians. There was a considerable amount of cultural exchange and interaction across the Eurasian landmass. From very early times the the various peoples, civilizations and empires that spread from Britain to China bumped into each other via trade, migration and warfare. There was a lot more travel, communication and co-mingling than we typically realize or imagine. Of course there were degrees of development and cultural and linguistic differences, but when Attila and the Huns came knocking on Byzantium's doors they were products of and participants in an international culture that spanned thousands of miles. More thoughts about that in a future post.