Attila: King of the Huns: new in paperback: The Man and the Myth - Softcover

Howarth, Mr Patrick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 184119428X ISBN 13: 9781841194288

Publisher: Robinson, 2001

Synopsis

The infamous fifth-century king Attila has long suffered from the reputation he gained at the hands of the early Christian chroniclers, who believed he had been sent to punish people for their sins. Later Italian artists portrayed him with horns. He has featured equally unsympathetically in the Nibelungenlied and in Hollywood epics, and the enduring picture remains with us of a pitiless and bloodthirsty tyrant. Yet in this readable and revealing life of Attila, Patrick Howarth gives the more rounded view of the king's intimate friends, to whom he appeared a wise and tolerant leader, one capable of clemency, though a fearsomely successful warlord.

Attila reigned for only eight years. In that time he consolidated an empire that extended to the Caspian sea, while he came near to toppling the Roman Empire in both East and West. His armies marched through France and Italy, capturing one great city after another, yet he never advanced on Rome, but mysteriously abandoned the campaign and left Italy after a dramatic meeting with Pope Leo the Great.

This is a new paperback edition of Patrick Howarth's thrilling work of historical reconstruction, which draws on the wealth of evidence from modern archaeological finds, as well as Hungarian sources not previously known in the West, to give this first authentic account of the life of Attila.

About this title

Book Description

The true story of the warlord who was called 'the Scourge of God'

The true story of the warlord who was called 'the Scourge of God'
The true story of the warlord who was called 'the Scourge of God'
The true story of the warlord who was called 'the Scourge of God'
The true story of the warlord who was called 'the Scourge of God'
The true story of the warlord who was called 'the Scourge of God'
The true story of the warlord who was called 'the Scourge of God'

Synopsis

Attila the Hun has been known to the world for centuries as a bloodthirsty tyrant and little else. In this fascinating piece of historical detective work, Patrick Howarth throws a new and more sympathetic light on the popular legend. Attila ruled over the vast, but short-lived, Hun Empire of the fifth century, the time of the disintegration of the Roman Empire and the emergence of the great barbarians. In successive campaigns, from his military headquarters in Hungary, he brought his armies to the gates of Constantinople, through Germany and France to Orleans, and deep into italy. This scholarly and engaging work, using primary sources, as well as recent archaeological finds in Hungary and elsewhere, shows that Attila was much more than a great commander and reveals the little understood world of the Huns, a people of remarkable equestrian skills who came from the borders of China.

About this edition

• Publisher: Robinson
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 184119428X
• ISBN 13: 9781841194288
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224