religion of the Huns

[Commander]

What effect did the Huns have on religion in other cultures in the 5th century? Did they follow a specific religion themselves? If so, did they try and influence other cultures into following the relgion of the Huns?

[Nikd]

What effect did the Huns have on religion in other cultures in the 5th century? Did they follow a specific religion themselves? If so, did they try and influence other cultures into following the relgion of the Huns?
According to Jordanus, Attila followed no religion, although he was not care for the religion of his subjects if they do what he asked from them. But he believed in magic and spirits, the so called "Sword of Mars" was a clever idea from Attila to frighten enemy Romans that he was the favorite of the God of war.

[Belisarius]

What effect did the Huns have on religion in other cultures in the 5th century? Did they follow a specific religion themselves? If so, did they try and influence other cultures into following the relgion of the Huns?

I read somewhere that he inadvertantly helped to create the Papacy as a political/religious force. It had something to do with the propaganda effect of the Pope persuading him to turn back from Rome.

[fire_of_sekhmet]

I read that they were pagan but I dont remember any the book going into details of the religon.

The book The Huns by E.A Thompson is a good book about the Huns.

[fire_of_sekhmet]

I dont how how crediable this is since its wiki but this might help? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengriism

[Cem Sultan]

Early Turks, including Huns, have a religious tradition that blended shamanism with what Western scholars have named "Tengrism," a faith worshiping Heaven (Turk. Tengri) as the supreme God and venerating certain mountains as seats of power. Tengrism was never an organized religion and appeared in several forms among almost all the peoples of the Central Asian steppes -- Turk, Mongol, and Tangut alike. In its Turkic form, it supported the Turkic social structure, which was built on the basis of a hierarchy of tribes. One tribe is dominant and its chief is the source of a hereditary line of rulers for all.

The Turkic form of Tengrism, then, regards any Turkic chief controlling Otukan as supreme ruler (Turk. qaghan) of all Turkic tribes and embodiment of society’s fortune. If Turkic society’s fortune declined, the qaghan was accountable and could even be sacrificed. His son would then succeed to his position.

With such a belief system, the Turks first encountered Buddhism in the Toba cities. This was specifically in its northern Chinese form emphasizing devotion by the public and subservience of religious clerics to the state. This social style of Buddhism fit comfortably with Turkic Tengrian ideas of tribal hierarchy.

Tengriism was like a mixture of Monotheism, Animism, Shintoism and Worship of Ancestors' Souls :)

And don't forget the priests; Holy Men or Turkic Druids were called Qam (Shaman or Saman is a Tungusic word and it was not used in Old Turkic). The Qams were believed to be communicating with souls from the "other world" and predicting the future; they healed the sick and they organized religious rituals, which including praying (ways of prayer not survived to today) and making sacrifices. However, the Qams were not un-touchable holy creatures, they could be killed if their predictions didn't come true (like for example a Qam says the battle will result in victory, the army go fights a battle and if defeated, the ruler could execute that Qam).

Mahayana Buddhism was practiced only by a few rulers and by some élites like Taspar (Tabuo) Qaghan. The common folk were largely "Tengriist".

[Patheya]

Great post - thanks for reviving the topic.

[Afrasiyab]

Qams (The right version of the word is KAM actually) were regarded as sorcerers rather than religion men ~ The Kyrgiz use Baghchi; Bakhshi, which means sorcerer; magus, instead Kam ~

The word Bakhshi exists in Western Turkish as 'büyücü' which means a sorcerer again.

[goper]

Actually, Tengrism was a religion worshiping the Sun- Tengri. It comes from the people in the Asian steppes (now south Russia), such as Bulgarians, Magyars, Tatars, Avars.... And since most of these people formed the Hun empire, i guess that was their religion. :rolleyes:

[Efendi]

Huns were confederation of Turkic tribes. Probably those clans may have their different religious way of life.

[sturm]

I think most Huns followed Tengerism, as most of the nomadic tribes coming from Asia. They believed in god Tengri, the god of the sky it is monotheistic religion.

[Efendi]

I think most Huns followed Tengerism, as most of the nomadic tribes coming from Asia. They believed in god Tengri, the god of the sky it is monotheistic religion.


Tanrı may save us all.

Amen

[Charidemus]

like the mongols, most of the central asiatic tribes believed in water spirits and things of that nature.