ON THE QUESTION OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE ‘ROYAL’ HUNS AND THE AKATZIRS IN THE NORTHERN BLACK SEA REGION IN THE EARLY 5th CENTURY

2023

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DOI 10.53737/4959.2023.89.28.020
Data confidence 70 medium
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Abstract

Главной целью исследования было выяснение обстоятельств организации правящими кругами Константинополя покушения на гуннского вождя Харатона. Ввиду данных письменных и археологических источников, главной и, пожалуй, единственной причиной этого предприятия могли быть частые набеги на имперские территории со стороны «царских» гуннов, усилившихся в Барбарикуме. Однако, согласно греко-латинской традиции, в интервале 408—412 гг. существенных столкновений между гуннами и константинопольскими войсками не было. Следовательно, причина обострения взаимоотношений между «царскими» гуннами и Восточной Римской империей была в другом. Исходя из анализа археологических источников Восточного Крыма, яблоком раздора в указанное время могло стать Боспорское царство, которое с конца IV в. находилось под защитой гуннов-акациров, восточной ветви кочевников, усилившихся в Северном Причерноморье после падения королевства Германариха. Вероятнее всего именно в начале V в. под предводительством Дуптуна акациры смогли отстоять в союзе с Константинополем свою независимость и сдержать натиск «царских» гуннов в Северном Причерноморье, тем самым отсрочив разорение Боспора. The main goal of the study was to clarify the circumstances of the organization by the Constantinople’s ruling elite of an assassination attempt against the Huns’ leader Charaton. Judging by both written sources and archaeological record, it is strengthening of the ‘royal’ Huns’ forces in Barbaricum and their frequent raids on imperial territories, which could only have been the main and only reason for such an enterprise. However, according to the Greco-Latin tradition, there were no significant military clashes between the Huns and the Constantinopolitan army between 408 and 412. Consequently, there must have been another reason why the situation became so strained. Based on the analysis of archaeological materials from Eastern Crimea, the conclusion is that the Bosporan Kingdom could most likely have been the apple of discord at that time, which from the end of the 4th century was under the protection of the Huns—Akatzirs, the eastern branch of the nomads who strengthened in the Northern Black Sea area after the fall of the kingdom of Ermanaric. It seems likely that it was in the early 5th century that the Akatzirs were able to defend their independence in alliance with Constantinople under the leadership of Douptounos and hold back the onslaught of the ‘royal’ Huns in the Northern Black Sea region, thus delaying the devastation of the Bosporus.