Keve, the son of Csele of the Zemény clan, was a legendary Hun leader in the 4th century. Keve was captain of a group of soldiers who headed west into Pannonia in the late 4th century. They fought against the armies of Prince Macrinus from Lombardy. As Huns settled on his land above the

Tisza The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. Once, it was called "the most Hungarian river" because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national borders. The Tisza be ...

, he felt that his country was being destroyed. Living within the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

, he asked the Romans for help fighting against the Huns. Detre of

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

and his army of Italians, Germans, and other peoples joined forces with Macrinus at Sicambria, where they were attacked by the Huns in the middle of the night. Detre and Macrinus fought several days in retaliation on the field of Tárnok Valley, across the

, and near the town of

Tulln Tulln an der Donau () is a historic town in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, the administrative seat of Tulln District. Because of its abundance of parks and gardens, Tulln is often referred to as ''Blumenstadt'' ("City of Flowers"), and "The C ...

(now in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, not far from

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

). There were heavy losses on both sides, including Captain Keve, who died during the Battle of the Tárnok Valley. In the end, Macrinus was killed and Detra was wounded by an arrow to his head. The Roman army fled. Keve is believed to be buried by the side of the highway "according to the Scythian custom" with other Hunnic leaders, including Kadocsa and Bela. The region where he was buried was called Keveháza and a decorative stone idol was placed near his burial site. After his death, the Hun king Attila was also buried next to these men. According to the legend, Keve's daughter Ríka (Réka in today's form) was married to the Hun king Attila.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keve Legendary characters 4th century Hungarian mythology Huns Hungarian people

See also

References