By the name Edeko (with various spellings: Edeco, ''Edeko'', ''Edekon'', ''Edicon'', ''Ediko'', ''Edica'', ''Ethico'') are considered three contemporaneous historical figures, whom many scholars identify as one: *A prominent Hun, who served as both

Attila Attila ( or ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in early 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Gepids, among others, in Central Europe, C ...

's deputy and his ambassador to the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

(in 449). According to sources of the time, he distinguished himself for courage and skill in the battles of Naissus and the Uthus river, during the invasion of the

Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

, thus becoming part of

's circle of favorite advisors, so much so that he put him in charge of a diplomatic mission in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, where the court treasurer, Chrysaphius, tried to bribe him to assassinate his king. Edeco seemed to agree, but as soon as he reached Attila's court he informed him of the plan and the Hun monarch unmasked the Roman ambassador. *Idikon or Edico, the father of

Odoacer Odoacer ( – 15 March 493 AD), also spelled Odovacer or Odovacar, was a barbarian soldier and statesman from the Middle Danube who deposed the Western Roman child emperor Romulus Augustulus and became the ruler of Italy (476–493). Odoacer' ...

, who became a

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

in the Roman Army and the first

King of Italy King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by ...

(476–493). This same Ediko is also claimed a few hundred years later as an ancestor of the ducal

House of Welf The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconian family from the Meuse-Mo ...

(a branch of the

House of Este The House of Este ( , , ) is a European dynasty of North Italian origin whose members ruled parts of Italy and Germany for many centuries. The original House of Este's elder branch, which is known as the House of Welf, included dukes of Bavaria ...

), which is one of the ancestral houses of the

House of Hanover The House of Hanover ( ) is a European royal house with roots tracing back to the 17th century. Its members, known as Hanoverians, ruled Hanover, Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Empire at various times during the 17th to 20th centurie ...

; the Hanoverian family produced several royal dynasties, and survives to the present-day. *A chieftain of the

Sciri The Sciri, or Scirians, were a Germanic people. They are believed to have spoken an East Germanic language. Their name probably means "the pure ones". The Sciri were mentioned already in the late 3rd century BC as participants in a raid on the ...

, who was defeated and slain at the Battle of Bolia by the

Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths () were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire, drawing upon the large Gothic populatio ...

at the river Bolia in

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, on the west by Noricum and upper Roman Italy, Italy, and on the southward by Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia and upper Moesia. It ...

sometime in the late 460s.

Etymology

Otto Maenchen-Helfen considered the Hunnic name Έδέκων (Edekon) to be of Germanic or Germanized origin, but did not mention any derivation.

Omeljan Pritsak Omeljan Yosypovych Pritsak (; 7 April 1919 – 29 May 2006) was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of History of Ukraine, Ukrainian History at Harvard University and the founder and first director (1973–1989) of the Harvard Ukrainian Rese ...

derived it from

Old Turkic Old Siberian Turkic, generally known as East Old Turkic and often shortened to Old Turkic, was a Siberian Turkic language spoken around East Turkistan and Mongolia. It was first discovered in inscriptions originating from the Second Turkic Kh ...

verbal root ''*edär-'' (to pursue, to follow), and deverbal noun suffix ''κων'' (''kun'' < r-k < r-g < ''*gun''). The reconstructed form is ''*edäkün'' (< ''*edär-kün''; "follower, retainer").

References

;Sources * * * {{Huns 5th-century deaths Tribal chiefs in Europe Early Germanic warriors Sciri Huns Year of birth unknown Ambassadors to the Byzantine Empire Attila the Hun Year of death uncertain People killed in action