The Dimensions of Attila the Hun

Abstract

For well over a millennium after his death in the fifth century, Attila the Hun was victim to calumnious artistic and verbal representations as the quintessential barbarian and Other. Some historians defamed him a half-human. Others slandered his name by adapting a brief corporeal catalog compiled by Jordanes in the Getica (c. 551), a history of the Goths. Jordanes’ pejorative assessment of Attila’s supposed physical characteristics (arrogant gait and gaze, snub nose, alleged offensive skin pigmentation) served later chroniclers as an explanation for the failures and successes of Attila, helping to influence reader perception. Medieval and early modern representations of Attila call to mind the campaign against Tamerlane in art and print. Here are gathered for the first time several early German versions of the physical features of Attila, as transmitted by Jordanes.