As someone whose knowledge of world history is mostly self-taught, I must admit that I occasionally mix up Attila the Hun with Genghis Khan. They were both imperial conquerors from the east, both fierce and ruthless warriors, both known by their titles instead of their birth names, both considered barbarians in their time (by those they conquered), and both have unknown burial places thanks to lots of witnesses being murdered. But Genghis Khan lived 600 years later, and had a well-documented life. Not so for Attila. The Huns didn’t write anything down, and the people who did write about them hated the Huns. So in this mini-biography of Attila the Hun, you will hear “maybe” and “possibly” a lot. What we know about him is swamped by what we don’t know for sure. One thing I learned that’s pretty neat is how Budapest, Hungary, is named for Bleda the Hun, although this, too, is disputed.
Listen beautiful relax classics on our Youtube channel.
We’ve posted about Attila before, but it was mostly about his love life. Weird History fills in the gaps as much as they can. -via Digg
Source: neatorama