Bipedes bestiae - obraz Hunów w oczach autorów rzymskich IV i V w. n. e.

Abstract

The author traces the changes in the depiction of the Huns in Roman literature since the Romans’ first encounter with those “two-legged beasts” until the break of the 5th and 6th centuries. Sample descriptions of the Huns are quoted both from historic sources (Ammianus Marcellinus, Priskos or Jordanes) and from late-Roman poetry (Claudius Claudianus, Merobaudes, Sidonius Appolinaris). There are subsequently presented descriptions of appearance, fighting methods, conditions of living, social organisation and beliefs of the Huns. In depictions of the Huns by Roman authors in the 4-6th centuries some information can be found that is a reflection of the topoi rooted in the classical literature and related to the nomadic barbarians, which appeared already in Herodotus, Pompeius Trogus and others. On the other hand, some information can be found that differs among particular authors in correspondence with better familiarisation with the Huns and the changes taking place in the tribe. A dirty, primitive half-animal from Ammian Marcellinus, in less than a century was transformed into a representative of an influential barbarian people who is acquainted with permanent settlement and achievements of the antiquity (Attila’s and his officials’ dwellings depicted by Priskos or a famous Onegesios’s “balineion”). Analysing literary tropoi is an interesting research task, however analysing the second aspect, namely the gradual process of mutual acquaintance of the Romans and the Huns and their perception of customs is not just interesting but also very fruitful for developing knowledge about “states” of nomadic tribes at the break of ancient and medieval Europe.