Ellac

Ellac was the eldest son of Attila. When Attila brought the Akatziri under his rule, he decided to make his eldest son their king. He sent his minister Onegesius to install him.^[1] In 449 Priscus heard that the queen Kreka had three children by Attila, “of whom the eldest already ruled the Akatziri and the other peoples who live in Scythia along the Pontus”.^[2] Priscus does not give his name. On the return from the Akatziri he had slipped and broken his right arm.^[3] At his father’s banquet he sat at the far end of Attila’s couch, his eyes on the ground out of respect for his father.^[4]

The name comes from Jordanes. In his account Ellac was the elder son, whom Attila loved above all his other children and preferred for the kingship. When the subject peoples rose against Attila’s sons, Ellac fell at the Nedao after killing many of the enemy. He fought so bravely that his father, had he lived, would have wished him such an end.^[5] Priscus saw Attila show tenderness only to his younger son Ernak.^[6]

Modern accounts equate the name with the Turkic ilik or ilig, ruler, prince.^[7]^[8] Some scholars conclude that Ellac was not the man’s name but his title as governor of the Akatziri.^[7]

References

^ Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 8, p. 83
^ Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 8, p. 89
^ Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 8, p. 86
^ Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 8, p. 92
^ Jordanes; Mierow 1915, § 262, p. 126
^ Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 8, p. 93
^ a b Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 407
^ Golden 1992, p. 88

Sources

Priscus
Jordanes (after Priscus and Ammianus Marcellinus)

Literature

Karl Müller (ed.), Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, Bd. IV (darin: Menandri Protectoris fragmenta, griechisch mit lateinischer Übersetzung) (1851)
Charles Christopher Mierow, The Gothic History of Jordanes in English Version, with an Introduction and a Commentary (1915)
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)
Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)