Europe 447: Attila–Anatolius Treaty

This map has in-depth notes in the Journal, exclusive to Patrons on Classical Tier and above. Find them in the events descriptions, marked with the Journal icon .

Notes

Akatziri and the “Scythian Kingdom” (Kuban Huns)

Little is known about the region north and east of the Black Sea in the first half of the fifth century, except that in c. 400 a “Scythian King” (almost always assumed to be a Hun) lived in the Kuban region and by the 440s a Hunnic people known as the Akatziri lived east of the Dniester. Although fragmented, the Akatziri were powerful enough that, when the Eastern Romans aligned with all but one of their kingdoms in 447, it took over a year for Attila’s armies to crush them and install his son as their king. After this, Attila contemplated invading Persia, implying that suppressing the Akatziri had bought the periphery of his empire close to the Caucasus. All this suggests that the Akatziri may have extended into the North Caucasus and that the “Scythian King” may have been part of the Akatziri, although this is of course conjecture.

Main Events

447–448? Akatziri revolt▲

In 447, with Constantinople threatened by the Huns, Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius II sent gifts to the different leaders of the Akatziri—a collection of Hunnic tribes living north of the Black Sea—in the hope of turning them against Attila. However, the Romans unintentionally snubbed Karadach, the most powerful of the Akatziri kings, prompting him to warn Attila of the rebellion. In response, Attila dispatched a great force against the Akatziri and, after conquering them all except for the far off lands of Karadach, installed his eldest son as their king. in wikipedia

447 Siege of Asemus▲

In mid to late 447, as Attila was withdrawing towards the Danube, a body of Huns besieged the fortified hill town of Asemus but were repeatedly repulsed by the Eastern Roman garrison. Eventually the Huns, who may also have been afflicted by plague, decided to retreat, at which point the Asemuntians attacked them, capturing a number of the enemy, liberating some Roman captives, and regaining much plunder. After the war, Attila made a point of demanding that the Asemuntians return both the barbarian and Roman captives, but the townspeople denied they still had many and in the end only two barbarians were returned. in wikipedia

447 Attila–Anatolius Treaty▲

With Thrace devastated by the Hunnic invasion of 447, the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius II sent Anatolius, magister utriusque militiae per Orientem (Commander of all Troops in the East), to Attila’s court to negotiate peace. In the ensuing treaty, the Eastern Romans agreed to pay the Huns 6,000 pounds of gold in arrears and another 2,100 pounds of gold per annum in tribute, to either return or pay a ransom for any Roman prisoners that had escaped home, and to reiterate that they would not give sanctuary to any Hunnic fugitives. On top of this, the Romans also agreed to withdraw from—and stop cultivating—a strip of territory between Pannonia and Novae extending as far as five days’ journey south of the Danube. in wikipedia