Balamber

Balamber
Detail of the Hun king from the Huns entering Pannonia in 373 AD miniature in the Chronicon Pictum
King of the Huns
Reign370s
SuccessorUldin
Bornc. 313
Diedc. 378 (aged 64–65)
SpouseVadamerca
IssueUldin (?)

Balamber (also known as Balamir, Balamur and many other variants) was ostensibly a chieftain of the Huns, mentioned by Jordanes in his Getica (c. 550 AD).[1] Jordanes simply called him "king of the Huns" (Latin: rex Hunnorum) and writes the story of Balamber crushing the tribes of the Ostrogoths in the 370s; somewhere between 370[2] and more probably 376[3] AD.

A number of historians argue that Balamber may have never existed, and was a confusion of other rulers or even a fabrication.[4][5][6][7]

  1. ^ Mitchell, Stephen (2007), A history of the later Roman Empire, AD 284-641., Oxford: Blackwell, ISBN 978-1-4051-0856-0
  2. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 414.
  3. ^ Wolfram 1990, p. 248, 253.
  4. ^ Kim 2013, p. 108.
  5. ^ Thompson 1996, pp. 62–63.
  6. ^ Heather 2007, p. 357–358.
  7. ^ Heather 2010, p. 666.