Garam Éva szerk.: Between East and West - History of the peoples living in hungarian lands (Guide to the Archaeological Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum; Budapest, 2005)

HALL 7 - The early Migration period: the Huns and the Germanic peoples (c. 420-568 A.D.) (Ágnes B. Tóth)

87. Gold cicada brooch from Sáromberke. Early 5th century weapons and their costume in the heartland of Europe. We know from contemporary chronicles that they owed their military success to their skilled mounted archers. The surviving descriptions are borne out by finds indicating the use of saddles with high pommel and cantle adorned with metal plaques which enabled archers to shower arrows on their enemies. All that has survived from their formidable, asymmetric reflex bows are the bone stiffening plaques fixed to the grip and the arms, and the three-edged iron arrowheads. The Huns' double-edged sword, often as long as 1 m, was fitted with a 4-5 cm wide blade and a crossbar, such as the one found at Bátaszék. Swords of this type were used in close combat. The scabbard was often covered with ornate gold plaques inlaid with semi-precious stones. Other side-arms are represented by a few long battle knives. The nobles decorated the straps of the horse harness with gold mounts (Léva). The subdued peoples, the various Germanic tribes, fought with their traditional weapons, such as the lance found at Csongrád-Laktanya. The peace treaties concluding the wars provided the Huns with enormous quantities of gold from the 530s, the greater part of which came from the East Roman Empire. The military tribute, the ransom paid for the captives and the annual subsidies amounted to several tons of Roman gold coins (called solidi). The largest hoard of gold coins came to light at Hódmezóvásárhely-Szikáncs: the weight of the 1439 coins totalled over 6 kg and was made up chiefly of the coins of Theodosius II (402/408^450), together with a few coins issued by Valentinian III (424/425-455) and Honorius (393/395^423). The high ranking Hunnic nobles and their families (as well as the Romans and other peoples who joined them) paraded their wealth for all to see. The gold from the booty was fashioned into insignia of rank, such as tores and bracelets (the latter worn by the Germanic kings) and buckles of various sizes set with precious stones. These buckles with a round loop and a tongue resting on the loop came in various sizes: some were used to fasten the weapon belt, others to fasten trousers, boot straps and the sword-belt (Fig. 85). The nobles' wives wore gold diadems, such as the one from Csorna, which had originally been attached to a leather or textile headdress. The diadem was cut from sheet bronze, covered with gold foil and then inlaid with garnets, carnelian and amber. Lost gems were sometimes replaced with glass (Fig. 86). Women and children fastened their clothes with cicada shaped brooches, which were believed to have magical powers and ward off evil. The most splendid pieces were cast from silver and gold, and they were often decorated with gemstones (Györköny, Sáromberke, Csömör; Fig. 87). The commoners wore bronze and iron copies of the nobles' magnificent jewellery (brooches and bracelets), sometimes together with smaller, silver plate brooches, brooches with bent-back foot and buckles which were fashionable earlier. Bronze mirrors decorated with a pattern of radiating lines were often deposited in graves during the early and mid-5th century. The smith buried with his tools (an