Uldin was a king of the Huns on the lower Danube in the first decade of the fifth century. After the shadowy Balamber he is the first Hun whom the sources name. He is also the first whose existence is certain.[1][2] Orosius gives the Latin form of his name, and the Greek historians write Ouldes.[3] The name is probably Turkic.[4]

In 400 he ruled the Huns in Muntenia, east of the Olt, where Goths lived under Hun rule.[1] That year the Gothic general Gainas rebelled against the eastern emperor and fled across the Danube. Uldin would not allow a barbarian with his own army to settle beyond the river. He fought Gainas and killed him, and he sent his head to Constantinople.[1][5] In return he received gifts and an alliance, perhaps a yearly payment.[5]

In 406 he served Stilicho, the commander of the western empire, against the Gothic invader Radagaisus. At Faesulae his Hunnic horsemen encircled the enemy, and the captives were sold as slaves.[6][7] By then he ruled Huns west as well as east of the Carpathians. He did not rule all the Huns, and not even Attila did.[8]

In the summer of 408 the Huns crossed the Danube and took the fortress of Castra Martis in Dacia Ripensis by treachery. Uldin overran Thrace. The Roman commander offered terms, and Uldin pointed to the rising sun. He said that he could subdue every land it shone on, if he wished, and he demanded tribute.[9] The Romans won over his kinsmen and officers. Uldin escaped across the river with difficulty. The Sciri who had followed him were killed, sold or settled in Bithynia.[10][2] Some scholars date a first invasion of Thrace by the same Huns to the winter of 404 to 405.[11] Others count three groups of Huns. The first served Stilicho against Radagaisus in 406. The second was the three hundred Huns stationed at Ravenna in 408 and 409. The third was the ten thousand that Honorius’s minister is said to have hired in 409. They were mercenaries, and we cannot say that they were Uldin’s men or came from his land. The three hundred at Ravenna probably acted on their own, since Uldin was raiding Thrace in person that summer.[12]

After 408 Uldin is not heard of again. Some scholars hold that he lost his command with his defeat and was a minor figure, the leader of a fraction of the Huns.[13] Others hold that the cohesion of his kingdom has been overrated, but should not be underrated either.[14] Whether Attila’s uncles Octar and Rua descended from him is not known.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 59
  2. ^ a b Thompson 1948, p. 29
  3. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 380
  4. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 405, 441
  5. ^ a b Thompson 1948, p. 32
  6. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 60
  7. ^ Thompson 1948, p. 33
  8. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 61–62
  9. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 63–66
  10. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 65–66
  11. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 63
  12. ^ Sinor 1990, p. 185
  13. ^ Thompson 1948, p. 58, 60
  14. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 67
  15. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 85

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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Persons
Balamber
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Hunnic Empire
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Languages
The Hunnic language

Cite this article

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

Last revised: 8 November 2026