Another picture of the meeting of Attila and Pope Leo, this time from the Chronicon Pictum.
The Chronicon Pictum is a medieval illustrated chronicle from 14th century Hungary. This portrait of Attila is one of 147 pictures in the manuscript.
There is more mystery about Attila the Hun than just the one about how he died. Another mystery surrounds the reason Attila turned back on his plan to sack Rome in 452, after conferring with Pope Leo. Jordanes, the Gothic historian, relates that Attila was indecisive when the pope approached him to seek peace.
They talked, and Attila turned back. That's it. No reason.
Michael A. Babcock studies this event in his Solving the Murder of Attila the Hun. Babcock does not believe there is evidence that Attila had ever been in Rome before, but he would have been aware there was great wealth to plunder. He also would have known it was virtually undefended, but he walked away, anyway.
Among the most satisfactory of Babcock's suggestions is the idea that Attila, who was superstitious, was afraid that the fate of the Visigothic leader Alaric (the Alaric curse) would be his once he sacked Rome. Shortly after the sack of Rome in 410, Alaric lost his fleet to a storm and before he could make other arrangements, he died suddenly.
The Chronicon Pictum is a medieval illustrated chronicle from 14th century Hungary. This portrait of Attila is one of 147 pictures in the manuscript.
There is more mystery about Attila the Hun than just the one about how he died. Another mystery surrounds the reason Attila turned back on his plan to sack Rome in 452, after conferring with Pope Leo. Jordanes, the Gothic historian, relates that Attila was indecisive when the pope approached him to seek peace.
They talked, and Attila turned back. That's it. No reason.
Michael A. Babcock studies this event in his Solving the Murder of Attila the Hun. Babcock does not believe there is evidence that Attila had ever been in Rome before, but he would have been aware there was great wealth to plunder. He also would have known it was virtually undefended, but he walked away, anyway.
Among the most satisfactory of Babcock's suggestions is the idea that Attila, who was superstitious, was afraid that the fate of the Visigothic leader Alaric (the Alaric curse) would be his once he sacked Rome. Shortly after the sack of Rome in 410, Alaric lost his fleet to a storm and before he could make other arrangements, he died suddenly.
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