Hormidac ( fl. 466/467) was a military leader of the Huns who commanded an expedition against the

Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

in the winter of 466/467. He raided

Dacia mediterranea Dacia Mediterranea (Mid-land Dacia; ) was a late antique Roman province, whose capital city was Serdica (or Sardica; later Sradetz or Sredets, now Sofia). The date for the establishment of Dacia Mediterranea is uncertain. It was traditionally he ...

before being defeated by

Anthemius Procopius Anthemius (died 11 July 472) was western Roman emperor from 467 to 472. Perhaps the last capable Western Roman Emperor, Anthemius attempted to solve the two primary military challenges facing the remains of the Western Roman Empire: ...

Biography

Taking advantage of the fact that the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

had frozen over, Hormidac and his Huns descended on the city of

Serdica Serdika or Serdica (Bulgarian: ) is the historical Roman name of Sofia, now the capital of Bulgaria. Currently, Serdika is the name of a district located in the city. It includes four neighbourhoods: "Fondovi zhilishta"; "Banishora", "Orlandovts ...

(modern Sofia) so suddenly that they were able to enter it before the defenders could close its doors. The emperor of the East

Marcian Marcian (; la, Marcianus, link=no; grc-gre, Μαρκιανός, link=no ; 392 – 27 January 457) was Roman emperor of the East from 450 to 457. Very little of his life before becoming emperor is known, other than that he was a (personal as ...

then sent the ''

magister militum (Latin for "master of soldiers", plural ) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, ...

, future emperor of the West, with an army, which put the city under siege. The devastation of the countryside surrounding Serdica was such that it was difficult for Anthemius to find enough food and drink for his troops; the fact that it was winter could only make the situation worse. However, the fact that even the Huns were not in better conditions, locked up to defend themselves inside a city after they had foreseen a raid, played to the advantage of Anthemius; Hormidac then decided to break the delay and went out with his army to face Anthemius. Shortly before the start of the battle, the commander of the cavalry of Anthemius (perhaps a "barbarian") passed to Hormidac's side, who therefore found himself facing a Roman army without cavalry. Despite the advantage, the Roman infantry had the upper hand over the troops of Hormidac, who was forced to ask Anthemius for peace; the Roman general agreed to have the Hun contingent removed, on condition that he would receive the traitor. The defector was then put to death in the sight of both armies.

Etymology

Otto Manchen-Helfen thought the name be probably of Iranian origin, though with the Huns etymology and ethnicity rarely go hand in hand.

Walter Bruno Henning Walter Bruno Henning (August 26, 1908 – January 8, 1967) was a German scholar of Middle Iranian languages and literature, especially of the corpus discovered by the Turpan expeditions of the early 20th century. __TOC__ Biography Walter Henning ...

connected it to ''Hormizdak'', a popular Middle Persian name in Sassanian times.

Iranologists Iranian studies ( fa, ايران‌شناسی '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It ...

Mary Boyce Nora Elisabeth Mary Boyce (2 August 1920 – 4 April 2006) was a British scholar of Iranian languages, and an authority on Zoroastrianism. She was Professor of Iranian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the Un ...

and Ilya Gershevitch thought the name could not be etymologized.

References

{{Huns Hun military leaders 5th-century military personnel