Priscus (left) with the Roman embassy at the court of Attila the Hun, holding his ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ (History, which the painter has incorrectly spelled ΙΣΤΩΡΙΑ). (Detail from Mór Than's Feast of Attila.)

Priscus or Priscus of Panium (Greek: Πρίσκος) was a 5th-century Roman diplomat and Greek historian and rhetorician (or sophist).^[1][2][3][4]

Biography[link]

Priscus was born in Panion (located in Thrace) between 410 and 420 AD.^[1][2] In 448/449 AD, he accompanied Maximinus, the head of the Byzantine embassy representing Emperor Theodosius the Younger (r. 408–450), on a diplomatic mission to the court of Attila the Hun.^[1][2][4] While there, he met and conversed with a Greek merchant, dressed in "Scythian" (or Hunnic) fashion, who was captured eight years earlier (circa 441–442) when the city of Viminacium (located on the Danube east of modern-day Belgrade) was sacked by the Huns.^[5][6] The tradesman explained to Priscus that after the sack of Viminacium, he was a slave of Onegesius, a Hunnic nobleman, but obtained his freedom and chose to settle among the Huns.^[6][7] Priscus ultimately engaged in a debate with the Greek defector regarding the qualities of life and justice in both the Byzantine Empire and in barbarian kingdoms.^[1]

After an interlude in Rome, Priscus traveled to Alexandria and the Thebaid in Egypt.^[1][2] He last appeared in the East, circa 456, attached to the staff of Euphemios as Emperor Marcian's (r. 450–457) magister officiorum.^[1] He died after 472 AD.^[1]

History of Byzantium[link]

Priscus was the author of an eight-volume historical work, written in Greek, entitled the History of Byzantium (Greek: Βυζαντινή Ιστορία), which was probably not the original title name.^[1][2] The History probably covered the period from the accession of Attila the Hun to the accession of Emperor Zeno (r. 474–475), or from 433 up until 474 AD.^[2] Priscus's work currently survives in fragments and was very influential in the Byzantine Empire.^[1] The History was used in the Excerpta de Legationibus of Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (r. 913–959), as well as by authors such as Evagrius Scholasticus, Cassiodorus, Jordanes, and the author of the Souda.^[1] Priscus's writing style is straightforward and his work is regarded as a reliable contemporary account of Attila the Hun, his court, and the reception of the Roman ambassadors.^[2]

Remaining works[link]

The remaining works of Priscus are currently published in three collections:

• Blockley, Roger C. (2009). The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire. II. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Francis Cairns. ISBN 0-905205-51-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=wWdcPgAACAAJ. 
• Dindorfius, Ludovicus (1870). Historici Graeci Minores (Volume 1). Leipzig, Germany: B. G. Teubneri. http://www.archive.org/stream/historicigraecim01dinduoft#page/n3/mode/2up. 
• Gordon, Colin Douglas (1966). The Age of Attila: Fifth-century Byzantium and the Barbarians. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. http://books.google.com/books?ei=97LbTuuNL-Tx0gG10N3dDQ&ct=result&id=2rFmAAAAMAAJ. 

References[link]

Citations[link]

Sources[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

• Georgetown University: "Priscus at the Court of Attila" (Translation by J. B. Bury)

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