Balamir

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Balamir (also Balamber ) was supposedly a king of the Huns in the 4th century.

Balamir is said to have advanced across the Volga with his cavalry armies and smashed the Alan empire on Terek , Kuban and on the lower Don . Thereupon he attacked Ermanarich's Greutungenreich and forced it to military service and tribute . He is later said to have married a Gothic princess after killing her father Vinitharius , who rebelled against him.

The historicity of Balamir, mentioned by Jordanes , is controversial. The name is adjusted to the Gothic Valamer (Valamir), and certainly the Huns advancing westward around 375 did not yet have Gothic names (this was the case only later). It is therefore possible that the Goths wanted to associate their defeat in southern Russia with just one person.

literature

  • Peter J. Heather : The Goths. Oxford 1996.
  • Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen : The world of the Huns. Wiesbaden 1997 (first edition 1978).
  • Tibor Schäfer: Balamber and Balamer: Kings of the Huns. In: Historia 63, 2014, pp. 243-256.
  • Edward A. Thompson : The Huns. Oxford 1999 (reprinted from 1948 edition, with an afterword by Peter Heather).

Remarks

  1. ↑ Among other things, Jordanes, Getica 24,130
  2. ↑ See Edward A. Thompson: The Huns. Oxford 1999, pp. 62f .; see also Peter J. Heather: The Goths. Oxford 1996, p. 114.
  3. ↑ Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen: The world of the Huns. Wiesbaden 1997, p. 279.
personal data
SURNAME Balamir
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Balamber
BRIEF DESCRIPTION alleged king of the Huns
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century or 4th century
DATE OF DEATH 4th century or 5th century