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70 free Attila the Hun trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Attila the Hun trivia quiz covers the ruler of the Huns from 434 to 453: the joint reign with his brother Bleda, the treaties that squeezed thousands of pounds of gold from Constantinople, the sieges of the Balkans, the princess whose engagement ring he treated as a marriage proposal, the great battle in Gaul, the meeting with a pope on the Mincio and the wedding feast at which he bled to death. The easy questions cover the outline: his nickname, his brother, the empire he ruled, the pope, and how he died. The harder half is for readers of Priscus and Jordanes: what his name probably means, the diplomat who described him, the tripling of the tribute, the ransom per prisoner, the battering rams of 443, the double walls that stopped him, the general who had once lived among the Huns, the saints who saved Paris and Troyes, the emperor who dreamed of a broken bow, the three coffins, the sons who wrecked the empire, the sword of Mars, Etzel in the Nibelungenlied, and the Turkish operation of 1974 named after him. Every answer was checked against Attila's encyclopaedia entry before publishing. If you enjoy this, try our Roman Empire, Genghis Khan and medieval history quizzes next.
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Q 01By what nickname was Attila widely known?
The Scourge of God
The 15th-century Hungarian chronicler Thuróczy popularised the epithet among later writers.
Q 02According to most scholars, Attila's name derives from a Gothic word meaning what?
Little father
The Grimm brothers first proposed the Gothic etymology; a Turkic origin is still argued by some.
Q 03With which elder brother did Attila rule the Huns jointly until 445?
Bleda
The brothers were nephews of the previous king and negotiated their first Roman treaty on horseback.
Q 04Which uncle did Attila and his brother succeed as ruler of the Huns?
Rugila
Their father Mundzuk was Rugila's brother; the Huns often ruled as a pair of kings.
Q 05Which Byzantine diplomat visited Attila in 449 and left the only physical description of him?
Priscus
Only fragments of his eight-book history survive, quoted by Jordanes and Procopius.
Q 06According to the description passed down by Jordanes, Attila was what?
Short, with a broad chest and a large head
It adds small eyes, a thin greying beard, a flat nose and swarthy skin.
Q 07From which river region did the Huns emerge before migrating into Europe around 370?
East of the Volga
Their mounted archers had a reputation for invincibility and drove the Goths into Roman lands.
Q 08Some theories hold the Hun leaders spoke a Turkic language closest to which modern tongue?
Chuvash
The origin and language of the Huns have been debated for centuries.
Q 09Which Roman emperor did Goths fleeing the Huns kill at Adrianople in 378?
Valens
Vandals, Alans and Suebi crossed the frozen Rhine on the last day of 406 for the same reason.
Q 10At which town did Attila and his brother dictate a treaty to the Roman legation in 435?
Margus
The Romans agreed to double their tribute, open markets and pay eight solidi for each prisoner.
Q 11Under the treaty of 435, what happened to the Romans' annual tribute of 350 pounds of gold?
It was doubled
Theodosius II used the breathing space to build Constantinople's first sea wall.
Q 12After the 435 treaty the Huns vanished from Roman sight to invade which power, where they were defeated?
The Sassanid Persians
They lost in Armenia and turned back to Europe, reappearing on the Danube in 440.
Q 13In 443 the Huns surprised the Romans by using what for the first time?
Battering rams and rolling siege towers
Q 21Which city did Attila capture on 7 April 451, before Strasbourg?
Metz
Bishop Nicasius was slaughtered at his altar in Reims soon after.
Q 22Which saint is said to have saved Paris from Attila with her prayers?
Genevieve
Servatus is credited with saving Tongeren the same way, and Lupus of Troyes met Attila in person.
Q 23At which battle in 451 was Attila stopped by a Roman-Visigothic alliance?
The Catalaunian Plains
It is usually placed near Châlons-en-Champagne, on flat ground where Attila hoped to use his cavalry.
They stormed Ratiaria and Naissus and massacred the inhabitants.
Q 14What stopped Attila from taking Constantinople in 443?
The city's double walls
He destroyed one Roman army outside the walls and another near Callipolis, but could not get in.
Q 15Under the peace of 443, the Eastern Empire's yearly tribute to the Huns tripled to how much gold?
2,100 Roman pounds
The Romans also paid 6,000 pounds as a penalty and the ransom per prisoner rose to 12 solidi.
Q 16In his 447 campaign Attila's forces rampaged through the Balkans as far south as which famous pass?
Thermopylae
He had beaten the Gothic general Arnegisclus at the Battle of the Utus first.
Q 17Which Western Roman princess sent Attila her engagement ring in 450, which he read as a marriage proposal?
Honoria
He demanded half the Western Empire as dowry; her brother the emperor exiled her rather than execute her.
Q 18What did Attila demand as dowry for marrying the emperor's sister?
Half of the Western Empire
Valentinian III wrote back strenuously denying any proposal had been made.
Q 19Which Western Roman general, who had once lived among the Huns in exile, opposed Attila in Gaul in 451?
Flavius Aëtius
Hunnic troops supplied by Attila had earlier helped him earn the title magister militum.
Q 20To roughly what size did Jordanes exaggerate Attila's army when it arrived in Belgica in 451?
Half a million
It included Gepids, Ostrogoths, Rugians, Scirians, Heruls, Thuringians, Alans and Burgundians.
Q 24Which Visigothic king was killed fighting alongside the Romans against Attila in 451?
Theodoric I
Gibbon thought Aëtius deliberately let Attila retreat, fearing an overwhelming Visigothic triumph as much as defeat.
Q 25Which city on the Loire did the allied armies reach ahead of Attila in 451, checking his advance?
Orléans
The Romans called it Aurelianum.
Q 26Which city owes its origins partly to people fleeing Attila's 452 invasion to lagoon islands?
Venice
He razed Aquileia so thoroughly its original site was later hard to identify.
Q 27Which northern Italian city did Attila raze so completely its site was hard to recognise afterwards?
Aquileia
Aëtius could only harass and slow him with a shadow force.
Q 28Which pope met Attila near Mantua in 452 and won his promise to withdraw from Italy?
Leo I
Two civilian envoys went too, but Prosper of Aquitaine gave the pope all the credit.
Q 29Superstitious fear of whose fate reportedly gave Attila pause about marching on Rome?
Alaric's
That Gothic king had died soon after sacking Rome in 410.
Q 30At which river did Attila's 452 invasion of Italy finally halt?
The Po
Famine and disease in his camp, and an Eastern Roman strike across the Danube, pushed him home.