Huns

(hunz.) [L. Hunni.] (Hist.) A barbaric race of Scythian extraction which inhabited the plains of Tartary several centuries prior to the Christian æra, and against the incursion of which the famous Wall of China was erected. The H. afterward split into two separate nations, known respectively as the N. Huns, and the S. Huns. The first of these cro ed over into Europe, ravaged the Roman empire, and under the leadership of Attila (q. v.) sacked the city of Rome, in the 5th cent. They were afterward forced by the Goths to retire beyond the Tanais; but, later, they again penetrated E. Europe, and peopled the country since known as Hungary. [s. 467]