Priscus's Embassy to the Court of Attila (449)

In 449 Emperor Theodosius II sent an embassy to Attila led by Maximinus. Among the envoys was the historian Priscus. The embassy crossed the Danube, travelled for several weeks through Hun lands and reached Attila's residence on the Hungarian plain; its exact location is unknown.

Priscus writes that Attila's court was a large settlement of wooden buildings surrounded by a palisade. At the banquet the guests ate and drank from silver and gold vessels, while Attila ate plain food from a wooden plate and dressed more simply than the others. Two poets sang songs praising Attila's victories. Priscus also talked there with a former Greek merchant who had chosen to live among the Huns.

The embassy had a hidden side: the Byzantine court had tried to persuade Attila's envoy Edeko to murder his ruler. Edeko revealed the plot to Attila, but Attila did not harm the envoys and sent them home. Priscus's eight-book History survives only in fragments, yet it is the main source of what we know about Attila.