Editing Huns (section)

=== Religion ===
Almost nothing is known about the religion of the Huns.{{sfnm|1a1=Man|1y=2005|1p=61 |2a1=Thompson|2y=1946|2p=73}} Roman writer Ammianus Marcellinus claimed that the Huns had no religion,{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=259}} while the fifth-century Christian writer [[Salvian]] classified them as [[Paganism|Pagans]].{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=262}} Jordanes' ''Getica'' also records that the Huns worshipped "the sword of Mars", an ancient sword that signified Attila's right to rule the whole world.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=278-279}} Maenchen-Helfen notes a widespread worship of a [[war god]] in the form of a sword among steppe peoples, including among the [[Xiongnu]].{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=279-280}} Denis Sinor, however, holds the worship of a sword among the Huns to be apocryphal.{{sfn|Sinor|2005|p=4229}} Additionally, Maenchen-Helfen argues that, while the Huns themselves do not appear to have regarded Attila as divine, some of his subject people clearly did.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=274}} A belief in [[prophecy]] and [[divination]] is also attested among the Huns.{{sfnm|1a1=Maenchen-Helfen|1y=1973|1p=167 |2a1=Thompson|2y=1946|2pp=73–74 |3a1=Sinor|3y=2005|3p=4229}} Maenchen-Helfen argues that the performers of these acts of soothsaying and divination were likely [[shaman]]s.{{efn|He argues for the existence of Hunnic shamans on the basis of the presence of the element ''kam'' in the Hunnic names ''[[Atakam]]'' and ''[[Eskam]]'', which he derives from the Turkic ''qam'', meaning shaman.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|pp=167–169}}}} Sinor also finds it likely that the Huns had shamans, although they are completely unattested.{{sfn|Sinor|2005|p=4228}} Maenchen-Helfen further deduces a belief in [[Water spirit|water-spirits]] from a custom mentioned in Ammianus.{{efn|He derives this belief from a Hunnic custom, attested in Ammianus, that the Huns did not wash their clothes: among later steppe peoples, this is done to avoid offending the water-spirits.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=259-260}}}} He furthermore suggests that the Huns may have made small metal, wooden, or stone idols, which are attested among other steppe tribes, and which a Byzantine source attests for the Huns in Crimea in the sixth century.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|pp=278–296}} Moreover, he connects archaeological finds of Hunnish bronze cauldrons found buried near or in running water to possible rituals performed by the Huns in the Spring.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|pp=306–330}}

John Man argues that the Huns of Attila's time likely worshipped the sky and the steppe deity [[Tengri]], who is also attested as having been worshipped by the Xiongnu.{{sfn|Man|2005|pp=61–62}} Maenchen-Helfen also suggests the possibility that the Huns of this period may have worshipped Tengri, but notes that the god is not attested in European records until the ninth century.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1966|p=80}} Worship of Tengri under the name "T'angri Khan" is attested among the [[North Caucasian Huns|Caucasian Huns]] in the Armenian chronicle attributed to Movses Dasxuranci during the later seventh-century.{{sfn|Sinor|2005|p=4228}} Movses also records that the Caucasian Huns worshipped trees and burnt horses as sacrifices to Tengri,{{sfn|Sinor|2005|p=4228}} and that they "made sacrifices to fire and water and to certain gods of the roads, and to the moon and to all creatures considered in their eyes to be in some way remarkable."{{sfn|Sinor|2005|p=4228}}

There is some evidence for [[human sacrifice]] among the European Huns. Maenchen-Helfen argues that humans appear to have been sacrificed at Attila's funerary rite, recorded in Jordanes under the name ''strava''.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=278}} Priscus claims that the Huns sacrificed their prisoners "to victory" after they entered Scythia, but this is not otherwise attested as a Hunnic custom and may be fiction.{{sfnm|1a1=Maenchen-Helfen|1y=1973|1p=287 |2a1=Sinor|2y=2005|2p=4229}}

In addition to these Pagan beliefs, there are numerous attestations of Huns [[Conversion to Christianity|converting to Christianity]] and receiving Christian missionaries.{{sfnm|1a1=Maenchen-Helfen|1y=1973|1pp=262–263 |2a1=Thompson|2y=1946|2pp=73–79}} The missionary activities among the Huns of the Caucasus seem to have been particularly successful, resulting in the conversion of the Hunnish prince [[Alp Ilteber]].{{sfn|Sinor|2005|p=4229}} Attila appears to have tolerated both [[Nicene Christianity|Nicene]] and [[Arian Christianity]] among his subjects.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|pp=260–261}} However, a pastoral letter by [[Pope Leo the Great]] to the church of [[Aquileia]] indicates that Christian slaves taken from there by the Huns in 452 were forced to participate in Hunnic religious activities.{{sfn|Lenski|2015|p=241}}