Attila & Rome

After partially recovering from his earlier defeat in Gaul (modern France) the year before, on this day in 452 AD Attila “The Hun’s” gaze became fixed on Italy as he marched his army through the Alps into the heartland of the Western Roman Empire.

The “barbaric” nature of the Huns was well known to the Roman citizens. This perception was mainly brought about through the Roman perception of northern nomadic tribes who were seen as lacking culture, raiding the extremities of the Empire in search of wealth and land. Whilst not as black and white as this, with writer Priscus of Panium dining with Attila and showing him in a better light their incursion into Italy was brutal. The northern city of  Aquileia was completely destroyed by the advance with other cities such as Verona and Milan were looted with much of the population devastated. Major concerns began to show themselves as the next clear target for this seemingly unstoppable force became Rome itself where fears of murder, rape, and destruction began to fill in the streets of the city.





Desperate times called for desperate measures. With little else in the way Pope Leo I travelled to meet with Attila, and supposedly threatened him with the power of St Peter if he did not leave Italy. Whatever the true cause in what was a miracle for the eternal city Rome survived in meeting one of the most powerful warlords to ever walk the planet with the Hun turning back to leave it intact.