Map of Europe at Attila's death in 453: the Hunnic Empire from the Rhine to the Caspian Sea with the Gepids as subjects, the Western and Eastern Roman Empires, the Visigoths, Franks and Burgundians, Sasanian Persia, and the routes of Attila's campaigns in Gaul in 451 and in Italy in 452
453: At Attila's death the Hunnic Empire reaches from the Rhine to the Caspian Sea, and the Gepids and other peoples are subject to the Huns. Thin lines mark Attila's campaigns in Gaul in 451 and in Italy in 452. Modern map; the borders of the realm are approximate, and the site of the Catalaunian Fields is disputed.
Plate XII in the Atlas → © Emre-E Yavuz 2026

Who ruled

And beyond the steppe

  • China Northern Wei Emperor Wencheng 452–465
  • Iran Sasanian Yazdegerd II 438–457
  • Korea Goguryeo Jangsu 413–491
  • Byzantium Theodosian Marcian 450–457

Western steppe

  • Attila dies in the night after his marriage to Ildico; the Huns mourn him with their own blood and bury him by night

    Death of Attila · Attila

    Also dated 454 (Marcellinus Comes): Prosper, Victor of Tunnuna and the chronicle of 511 agree on 453.

  • Culture · Sogdian colonists found the first towns of Semirech'e, Suyab and Navaket among them, as estates of nobles (450–600)

    Suyab · Sogdians

Tarim and Sogdiana

  • Culture · Towns founded and walls built in Sogdiana under the Kidarites: Panjikent, Paikent, Bukhara; the citadel of Samarkand raised (440–470)

    Sogdiana · Samarkand · Paikent · Bukhara