Charaton was a king of the Huns at the end of 412 or the beginning of 413.[1] He is known from a single notice of the historian Olympiodorus, who went to the Huns as an envoy of the western emperor Honorius. Olympiodorus’s history is lost. The notice survives only in the summary of the patriarch Photius.[1]

The summary tells of “Donatus and the Huns, and the skillfulness of their kings in shooting with the bow”. It tells how Donatus, deceived by an oath, was unlawfully put to death. It tells how “Charaton, the first of the kings, being incensed by the murder, was appeased by presents from the emperor”.[1] Some scholars have Charaton chosen to succeed Donatus.[2] Others find nothing of a succession in the text. They doubt that Donatus was a Hun king at all. He may have been a Roman who had fled to the Huns.[3] These scholars note that the text calls Donatus neither a Hun nor a king. They note that the name is Christian and was in common use in the fourth and fifth centuries. They note that Olympiodorus’s own party was probably responsible for the murder. Charaton’s restrained answer suggests that he took it for a settling of accounts between Romans.[4]

Olympiodorus distinguishes the kings of the Huns, the leaders of tribes, from the first among them. The distinction shows a kingship that was becoming permanent.[5] Charaton may have been no more than first among equals.[6] Where the Huns of Olympiodorus lived is argued. Some scholars put them north of the Black Sea, which Olympiodorus crossed by ship. Others put them in Hungary, which he reached across the Adriatic.[2][7] On the Hungarian placement, Olympiodorus went as an envoy of Honorius. He sailed north on the Adriatic and met the king in Pannonia.[8]

The name has been explained as the Turkic qara ton, black mantle, and as an Iranian name.[9] In the end it is counted among the Turkic names of the Huns.[10] Some scholars render it “black-clad”.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 73
  2. ^ a b Thompson 1948, p. 34
  3. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 74, 423
  4. ^ Sinor 1990, p. 186
  5. ^ Thompson 1948, p. 58–59
  6. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 80
  7. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 74
  8. ^ Sinor 1990, p. 185–186
  9. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 416–417
  10. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 443
  11. ^ Golden 1992, p. 90

Literature

  • Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen, The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture (1973)
  • E. A. Thompson, A History of Attila and the Huns (1948)
  • Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
  • Denis Sinor (ed.), The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (1990)

Related

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States
Hunnic Empire

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Charaton.” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/persons/charaton/

Last revised: 8 November 2026