Archaeology
Where is Attila the Hun's tomb?
Attila the Hun, who invaded and ravaged both the western and eastern halves of the Roman Empire during the fifth century A.D., died on his wedding night at age 58. It's a matter of debate whether Attila died of natural causes, or whether his new wife, Ildico, murdered him. But despite his murky ending, does anyone know where he was buried?
In a word, no. The tomb of Attila the Hun (A.D. 395-453) has never been found and it is unclear where exactly it is.
Attila was leader of the Huns, a non-Christian people who lived on the Great Hungarian Plain and who eventually took over a large swath of Central Europe. Attila was sometimes referred to as "Flagellum Dei" in Latin, which is often translated as "scourge of God" but can also be called "whip of God." He threatened, but didn't actually sack Rome and Constantinople. And Attila forced emperors to pay him vast amounts of gold in exchange for peace agreements that often did not last long.
However, while much is known about Attila's warmongering days, less is known about his burial.
Related: Why did Rome fall?
"There is only one [surviving] written source about Attila's funeral" Zsófia Masek a post-doctoral researcher of Archaeology at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, told Live Science in an email.
That source is the sixth-century ancient writer Jordanes, who wrote in his book "Getica" that Attila was buried in a triple coffin. The innermost was made of gold, the second made of silver and the outermost made of iron. The gold and silver signified the wealth that Attila had gained for the Huns, while the iron signified the Huns' Military might, Jordanes wrote.
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