Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Sciences Department of History TOWARDS THE END OF AN EMPIRE: ROME IN THE WEST AND ATTILA (425-455 AD) Tunç Türel Master’s Thesis Ankara, 2016 TOWARDS THE END OF AN EMPIRE: ROME IN THE WEST AND ATTILA (425-455 AD) Tunç Türel Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Sciences Department of History Master’s Thesis Ankara, 2016 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study would have been impossible to finish without the support of my family. Therefore, I give my deepest thanks and love to my mother, without whose warnings my eyesight would have no doubt deteriorated irrevocably due to extensive periods of reading and writing; to my sister, who always knew how to cheer me up when I felt most distressed; to my father, who did not refrain his support even though there are thousands of km between us and to Rita, whose memory still continues to live in my heart. As this thesis was written in Ankara (Ancyra) between August-November 2016, I also must offer my gratitudes to this once Roman city, for its idyllic park “Seğmenler” and its trees and birds offered their much needed comfort when I struggled with making sense of fragmentary late antique chronicles and for it also houses the British Institute at Ankara, of which invaluable library helped me find some books that I was unable to find anywhere else in Ankara. I also thank all members of www.romanarmytalk.com, as I have learned much from their discussions and Gabe Moss from Ancient World Mapping Center for giving me permission to use two beautifully drawn maps in my work. Finally, I thank my Egeria, Selda Güner, for her endless support at all the stages of my thesis. Her efforts and guidance have much illuminated my path and helped me finish my work on time. iv ABSTRACT Türel, Tunç. Towards the end of an Empire: Rome in the West and Attila (425-455 AD) Master’s Thesis, Ankara, 2016. In this thesis I argue, with the help of primary sources, archaeology, prosopography and philology, that the Western Roman Empire during the reign of Valentinian III (425-455) did not suffer its gravest catastrophe due to Attila and his Huns, but owing to the fall of its grain and tax basket Carthage in 439, which came to dictate every policy of the Roman court after it occurred. In fact, the Huns had been essential in the campaigns of Flavius Aetius, the most able general of Valentinian III and also the effective ruler of the West until his assassination at the hands of his emperor in 454. Aetius was twice able to assert his dominance over the last representative of the Theodosian dynasty in the West by the aid of Hunnic auxiliaries and without their assistance, neither Aetius’ ascension nor his campaigns would have been realized. When Attila ceased to send further warriors to aid Aetius in 439, this came to be his most detrimental decision for the Western Romans, for they depended on the Hunnic federates (foederati) to undertake campaigns, while the soldiers of the regular Roman army became either garrison forces or expensive to maintain when contrasted with the rather cheaply employed foederati. Although Attila’s western campaigns of 451 and 452 were successfully checked, as long as Carthage remained outside of the imperial control, there was no hope for the Western Romans to successfully recover from the setbacks of the 5th century. In this age, the Huns and Attila, who developed a symbiotic relationship with Germanic peoples, were nothing more than a nuisance for the Western Romans due to their grand incursions that aimed at nothing but Roman riches, and therefore their tie with the Western Romans can only be described as a parasitic relationship. Key Words Western Roman Empire, Aetius, Huns, Attila, Late Antiquity v ÖZET TÜREL, Tunç. Bir İmparatorluğun Sonuna Doğru: Batı Roma ve Attila (İ.S. 425-455), Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Ankara, 2016. Bu çalışmada, birincil yazılı kaynaklar, arkeoloji, prosopografi ve filolojinin yardımıyla, imparator III. Valentinianus dönemindeki (İ.S. 425-455) Batı Roma İmparatorluğu’nun en büyük darbeyi Attila ve Hunlar tarafından değil, ekonomisinin omurgasını oluşturan Kuzey Afrika şehri Kartaca’nın 439 yılındaki kaybı dolayısıyla aldığı tartışılmaktadır. Bu tarihten sonra Batı Roma’nın tüm politikalarına bu kayıp yön vermiştir. Hunlar ise daha ziyade, III. Valentinianus’un en kabiliyetli generali ve 454 yılında imparatorun kendi eliyle düzenleyeceği suikasta kadar imparatorluğun gerçek yöneticisi olan Flavius Aetius’un düzenlediği askeri seferlerde önemli rol oynamıştır. Aetius, Hun askeri birlikleri sayesinde Theodosius hanedanının batıdaki son temsilcisi üzerinde iki defa iktidarını kurabilmeyi başarabilmiştir. Eğer Hun yardımı olmasaydı, Aetius’un ne bu yükselişi ne de askeri operasyonları gerçekleşmiş olurdu. Attila’nın Batı Roma’ya en büyük zararı, 439 yılında Aetius’a daha fazla Hun askeri (foederati) yollamama kararı almasıyla olmuştur. Bu Batı Roma için çok önemliydi, çünkü Batı Roma askeri seferleri için Hunlara ihtiyaç duyuyordu. Kendi ordusunun düzenli askeri birlikleri ise ya garnizon birliklerine dönüşmüş ya da silah altında tutulmaları imparatorluk için, özellikle de foederati birliklerinin oldukça ucuza gelmeleri göz önüne alındığında, ağır bir yük olmuştu. Attila’nın 451 ve 452 yıllarındaki batı seferleri her ne kadar başarılı bir şekilde geri püskürtülmüş olsa da, Kartaca imparatorluk kontrolü dışında kaldığı sürece, Batı Roma için 5. yüzyılda yaşadığı kayıpları tersine çevirebilmek için hiçbir umut yoktu. Bu dönem içerisinde, Cermen halklarıyla simbiyotik bir ilişki geliştiren Hunlar ve Attila, Batı Romalılar için, onların mal varlıklarını gasp etmekten başka bir şey amaçlamayan saldırılarıyla can sıkıcı bir asayiş ve güvenlik meselesinden öte bir şey olmamış ve bu yüzden de Romalılarla konak-parazit ilişkisinden öte bir ilişki geliştirememiştir. Anahtar Sözcükler Batı Roma İmparatorluğu, Aetius, Hunlar, Attila, Geç Antikçağ vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACCEPTANCE AND APPROVAL……………………………………………….….i DECLARATION…………………………………………………………………....…ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………..………………………………………..….....iii ABSTRACT ..…………………………………………………………………….........iv TURKISH ABSTRACT …………..…………………………………………………..v TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………….……………………......vi ABBREVIATIONS …………………………………………………………………....x MAPS……………………………………………………...…..………………………xv FIGURES….............………………..……………………………………..…..….......xvi INTRODUCTION………………………………………………...……………………1 A CONSIDERATION OF PRIMARY SOURCES…………………………….…….6 1. Ammianus Marcellinus……………………………………………………...7 2. Priscus………………………………………………………………………...8 3. Jordanes………………………………………………………………………9 4. Olympiodorus……………………………………………………………….11 5. Prosper of Aquitaine…………………….………………………………….11 6. Gregory of Tours…………………….……………………………………..12 7. Other Sources……………………………………………………………….13 vii CHAPTER 1: THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE BEFORE THE AGE OF AETIUS…….……….………………………………………………………...……….16 1.1. THE EMPIRE OF HONORIUS (395-423)…………………………….18 1.2. THE GOTHIC SETTLEMENT OF 417/8 AND CONSTANTIUS III.26 CHAPTER 2: THE HUNS BEFORE ATTILA……………………………….…….30 2.1. THE SEEDS AND THE ORIGINS…………………………………...…30 2.2. THE SAVAGE HUN MYTH AND THE ROMAN PERCEPTION OF BARBARIANS…………………………………………………………………...……35 2.3. FEATURES OF NOMADIC SOCIETIES AND THE HUNS……...….36 2.4. HUNNIC WARFARE……………..………………………………….…..42 2.5 THE ADVENT OF THE HUNS……………………………….…………46 2.6. THE FIRST CONTACT WITH THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE……………………………………………………………………….48 2.7. THE CAUCASIAN RAID OF 395……………………………...……….52 2.8. THE HUNS NORTH OF THE DANUBE………………….………..53 2.9. THE HUNS IN THE GREAT HUNGARIAN PLAIN…………………55 CHAPTER 3: THE AGE OF AETIUS………………………………………………58 3.1. THE CIVIL WARS………………………………………………………58 3.1.1. An Emperor, a Usurper and the Huns……………………………58 3.1.2. The Empire of Valentinian III……………………………...…….63 3.1.3. The King of the Vandals and Alans……………………………...67 3.1.4. The Master of the Soldiers and the Master of Africa…………….70 3.2. THE MASTER OF THE WEST…………………………………….…..77 viii 3.2.1. The Fall of Carthage……………………………………………..83 3.2.2. The Reflections of the Fall of Carthage………………………….89 3.2.3. The Barbarians in Gaul…………………………………………..91 3.2.4. The Western Roman Army of Aetius: Neither Roman nor an Army……………………………………………………………………93 3.3. THE MASTER OF THE NORTH………………...…………………….99 3.3.1. Rua and Octar…………………………………………..….…….99 3.3.2. The Peace of Margus and the Hunnic Empire………………….101 3.3.3. The Hunnic Raids of 441 and 447……………………………...106 3.3.4. Peace on the Danube, Distress on the Rhine……………………110 CHAPTER 4: THE WHOLE NORTH INTO GAUL……………………………..116 4.1. THE LONGEST DAY: THE BATTLE OF THE CATALAUNIAN PLAINS (JUNE 20, 451)……………………………………………………..122 4.2. THE OUTCOME AND THE AFTERMATH…………………………127 CHAPTER 5: ACROSS THE ALPS……………………………………………….132 CHAPTER 6: PERSONAE NON GRATAE……………………………………….137 6.1. THE DEATH OF ATTILA……………………………………………..137 6.2. THE MURDERS OF AETIUS AND VALENTINIAN III……………139 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………144 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………..……………..147 APPENDIX1. MAPS……………………………………………………….………..158 APPENDIX2. FIGURES..………………………………………………….……….160 ix APPENDIX3. ETHICS BOARD WAIVER FORM………………….……………163 APPENDIX4. ETİK KURUL İZİN MUAFİYET FORMU…………………….…164 APPENDIX5. ORIGINALITY REPORT……….……………………...………….165 APPENDIX6. ORİJİNALLİK RAPORU…………………………………………..166 x ABBREVIATIONS As most classical texts and authors have standart abbreviations, listed in the abbreviations list of Oxford Classical Dictionary, this thesis has also chosen to employ them. Below can be found all the primary sources that I have used in this study, both in abbreviated and in open form,