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)

HALL 7 The early Migration period: the Huns and the Germanic peoples (c. 420-568 A.D.) During the four centuries of Roman rule, the Carpathian Basin lay on the fringes of a world empire. Even though Transdanubia and the Drava-Sava Interfluve were part of the Roman Empire, very few truly significant political events took place in these provinces aside from various military campaigns. This situation changed in the late 4th and early 5th century. The former socio-political structure disintegrated in the wake of the successive waves of barbarian peoples arriving to or passing through this region during their migration to other parts of Europe. The seat of a nomadic empire was transferred to this region for a few decades. The Huns maintained relations with both halves of the Roman Empire, and their political and military manoeuvres had a lasting impact on European history. The wars and the diplomatic missions made the new conquerors known throughout the continent; weapons and warfare changed, and the Huns' costume, jewellery and implements, reflecting the traditions of distant lands, created a new fashion. After the death of Attila, the last king of the Huns, his former allies (mostly Germanic peoples) revolted against his sons and created their own kingdoms. One indication of the importance of this region during the 5th century is that many of the most outstanding historical persons who shaped European history were born here or lived here for a longer period of time. In addition to Attila, perhaps the most famed among them, suffice it here to mention Odoacer and Theoderich the Great, the first two barbarian kings of Italy. The history of the Danube region in the third quarter of the 5th century was shaped by the rivalries between the barbarian kingdoms. Two independent, strong kingdoms emerged from these clashes: that of the Gepids in eastem Hungary and Transylvania in the last decades of the 5th century and that of the Langobards in Transdanubia from the second decade of the 6th century. The fate of these two kingdoms ultimately depended on the outcome of various political events in Europe: as allies of Byzantium, both became involved in the political game played out in the wars 115 between the Italian Gothic Kingdom and the empire. Constantinople eventually turned the two peoples against each other - but yet a third actor, an eastern army arriving from a faraway land intervened in the conflict between the Gepids and the Langobards. The latter had enlisted the help of the Avars, who had recently appeared on the European scene, and together they destroyed the Gepidic kingdom in 567. Shortly after their victory, the Langobards departed for Italy. Unlike their western counterparts, the Germanic kingdoms of the early Merovingian Age in the Carpathian Basin disappeared. They were supplanted by an eastern nomadic people, the Avars, bringing an end to the perhaps most eventful one hundred and fifty years in this region. 1-6. THE RULE OF THE HUNS IN THE CARPATHIAN BASIN (c. 420-455 A.D.) The great migrations of the late 4th century were sparked off by the Huns' advance on the Eurasian steppe. It is still unclear whether the Hsiung-nu, a nomadic people living north of the Chinese Empire, with whom they fought extensive wars against each other over the centuries, were related to the Huns. The available evidence suggests that while a part of the Huns had indeed originated from Inner Asia, the Hunnic tribal alliance which crossed the Volga in the 370s, had been forged somewhere in Central Asia and Western Siberia after the Huns were joined by Turkic and eastern Iranian tribes. The first to flee the Hunnic advance after the Huns crossed the Volga were Alanic groups; those who remained were soon subdued, and a similar fate befell the Ostrogoths living north of the Pontic. The Visigoths dwelling in the lands west of the Dniester fled their homeland after clashing with the Hunnic army and a few years later they begged to be settled in the eastern half of the Roman Empire. The flight of these peoples stirred