Kreka or Hereka was the wife of

Attila Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European traditio ...

. She was described by

Eastern Roman 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 ...

diplomat

Priscus Priscus of Panium (; el, Πρίσκος; 410s AD/420s AD-after 472 AD) was a 5th-century Eastern Roman diplomat and Greek historian and rhetorician (or sophist)...: "For information about Attila, his court and the organization of life generall ...

in his account of his stay at Attila's court in 448 or 449 AD. She and Attila had three sons:

Ellac Ellac (died in 454 AD) was the oldest son of Attila (434–453) and Kreka. After Attila's death in 453 AD, his Empire crumbled and its remains were ruled by his three sons, Ellac, Dengizich and Ernak. He ruled shortly, and died at the Battle of Ne ...

Dengizich Dengizich (died in 469), was a Hunnic ruler and son of Attila. After Attila's death in 453 AD, his Empire crumbled and its remains were ruled by his three sons, Ellac, Dengizich and Ernak. He succeeded his older brother Ellac in 454 AD, and prob ...

, and

Ernak Ernak was the last known ruler of the Huns, and the third son of Attila. After Attila's death in 453 AD, his Empire crumbled and its remains were ruled by his three sons, Ellac, Dengizich and Ernak. He succeeded his older brother Ellac in 454 AD, a ...

, who split among themselves what remained of Attila's empire after his death in 453. Her name is thought to be of Turkic origin (derived from *''arï(y)-qan'', "the pure princess"). It is also possible that it be of

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

origin, in this case meaning "

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

woman". Kreka also appears in Germanic heroic legend under the name of Helche or Herka.

History

during his stay at Attila's court in 448 or 449 AD wrote "''the next day I arrived at the wall of Attila's

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struct ...

, carrying gifts for his wife... She had borne three children to him, of whom the eldest

was ruling the Akateri and the other nations in the parts of

Scythia Scythia (Scythian: ; Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) or Scythica (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ), also known as Pontic Scythia, was a kingdom created by the Scythians during the 6th to 3rd centuries BC in the Pontic–Caspian steppe. Hi ...

near the

Sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

''." He then describes the compound: At the last days of his mission to Attila, Priscus and Maximinus were "''invited by Kreka to dinner at the house of Adames the man who oversaw her affairs. We joined him along with some of the nation's leading men, and there we found cordiality. He greeted us with soothing words and prepared food. Each of those present, with Scythian generosity, arose and gave us each a full cup and then, after embracing and kissing the one who was drinking, received it back. After dinner, we went back to our tent and went to sleep''". Kreka also appears as a character in Germanic heroic legend, where, under the name Helche or Herka, she is the wife of Attila (Etzel/Atli) and a special confidant of the hero

Dietrich von Bern Dietrich von Bern is the name of a character in Germanic heroic legend who originated as a legendary version of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great. The name "Dietrich", meaning "Ruler of the People", is a form of the Germanic name "Theodo ...

in the

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High ...

poems ''

Dietrichs Flucht ''Dietrichs Flucht'' (Dietrich's Flight) or ''Das Buch von Bern'' (The Book of Verona) is an anonymous 13th-century Middle High German poem about the legendary hero Dietrich von Bern, the legendary counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Th ...

'', the ''

Rabenschlacht ''Die Rabenschlacht'' (The Battle of Ravenna) is an anonymous 13th-century Middle High German poem about the hero Dietrich von Bern, the counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in Germanic heroic legend. It is part of th ...

'' and the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

'' Thidrekssaga''. She is portrayed as having just died in the ''

Nibelungenlied The ( gmh, Der Nibelunge liet or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poetry, epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition ...

''. In the

Eddic "Edda" (; Old Norse ''Edda'', plural ''Eddur'') is an Old Norse term that has been attributed by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works: what is now known as the ''Prose Edda'' and an older collection of poem ...

poem ''

Guðrúnarkviða III ''Guðrúnarkviða III'', ''The Third Lay of Gudrun'', is a short Old Norse poem that is part of the ''Poetic Edda''. It has not left any traces in ''Völsunga saga'' and was probably not known by its compilers. It is dated to the early 11th centu ...

'', she appears as Atli's concubine.

Etymology

The name is recorded in various manuscripts of Priscus as ''κρέκα'' (κreka), ''ἡρέκα'' (hereka), ''ἡρέκαν'' (herekan), and ᾽᾽ἠρέκαν᾽᾽ (erekan). Some copyists dropped the ending ''-v'' (-n). On the basis of the later Germanic forms of the name (''Herche'', ''Helche'', ''Herkja'', and ''Erka''),

Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen Otto John Maenchen-Helfen (German: Otto Mänchen-Helfen; July 26, 1894 – January 29, 1969) was an Austrian academic, sinologist, historian, author, and traveler. From 1927 to 1930, he worked at the Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow, and from 193 ...

argues that the forms beginning with eta rather than kappa are original. He argued in favor of Willy Bang Kaup's etymology, by which it derives from Turkic *''arï(y)-qan'' (the pure princess), (cf.

Karakalpaks The Karakalpaks or Qaraqalpaqs (; kaa, Qaraqalpaqlar, Қарақалпақлар, قاراقلپقلر), are a Turkic ethnic group native to Karakalpakstan in Northwestern Uzbekistan. During the 18th century, they settled in the lower reache ...

name ''Aruvkhan'' (''aruv'', "pure")). Pavel Poucha derived ''Kreka'' or ''Hreka'' from Mongolian appellation ''gergei'' (wife), a derivation also supported by

Omeljan Pritsak Omeljan Yosypovych Pritsak ( uk, Омелян Йосипович Пріцак; 7 April 1919, Luka, Sambir County, West Ukrainian People's Republic – 29 May 2006, Boston) was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Har ...

. It has also been proposed that the name may be

, meaning "Greek woman". A common Hungarian first name,

Réka Réka is a Hungarian female given name. It is of Hun descent, originally being Kreka, possibly derived from the Turkic Arikan. Over time it changed into Réka. Although it is very difficult to find an affectionate form, there are some which ar ...

originates from this name.János Ladó – Ágnes Bíró: Magyar utónévkönyv. Budapest: Vince. 2005.

References

Sources

* * * * {{Huns Attila the Hun 5th-century women Huns