My Dinner with Attila the Hun
My Dinner with Attila the Hun
My Dinner with Attila the Hun
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READING 3<br />
Candice Goucher, Charles LeGuin, and Linda Walton, “<strong>My</strong> <strong>Dinner</strong> <strong>with</strong><br />
<strong>Attila</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Hun</strong>” in In <strong>the</strong> Balance: Themes in Global History (Boston: McGraw-<br />
Hill, 1998), 341.<br />
Abstract: This essay explores <strong>the</strong> complex cultural meanings associated <strong>with</strong><br />
food etiquette, and <strong>the</strong> ways those meaning vary between cultures. It uses an<br />
account by <strong>the</strong> Roman Priscus detailing his dinner <strong>with</strong> <strong>Attila</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Hun</strong> to<br />
demonstrate this point, for Priscus paid close attention to <strong>the</strong> unique aspects<br />
of his host’s dining etiquette. Such accounts give historians a sense of <strong>the</strong><br />
variety of ways humans have historically shared food.<br />
<strong>My</strong> <strong>Dinner</strong> <strong>with</strong> <strong>Attila</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Hun</strong><br />
Sharing food inside <strong>the</strong> home is one of <strong>the</strong> most necessary and intimate of<br />
human social acts. Human children are born incapable of sustaining<br />
<strong>the</strong>mselves independently, so eating food <strong>with</strong>in a family context has served<br />
to ensure both <strong>the</strong> survival of individual offspring and <strong>the</strong> creation and<br />
maintenance of <strong>the</strong> group system in which children are socialized. In many<br />
societies, <strong>the</strong> choice and preparation of food and <strong>the</strong> organization of its<br />
consumption occur according to strict cultural rules, based on gender and<br />
place or rank <strong>with</strong>in <strong>the</strong> family or household order.<br />
The customs of dinner etiquette (table manners) are more than <strong>the</strong> fussy rules<br />
of modern matrons. They reveal much about <strong>the</strong> order of social groups. Since<br />
ancient times, societies have followed strict and meaningful cultural rules<br />
when it came time for dinner, as <strong>the</strong> following excerpt from an account of<br />
Priscus (from about 450 C.E.), describing his experience of a meal <strong>with</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
king of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Hun</strong>s, suggests:<br />
<strong>Attila</strong> invited both parties of us to dine <strong>with</strong> him about three o’clock that<br />
afternoon. We waited for <strong>the</strong> time of <strong>the</strong> invitation, and <strong>the</strong>n all of us, envoys from<br />
<strong>the</strong> Western Romans as well, presented ourselves in <strong>the</strong> doorway facing <strong>Attila</strong>. In<br />
accordance <strong>with</strong> <strong>the</strong> national custom <strong>the</strong> cupbearers gave us a cup for us to make<br />
our libations before we took our seats. When that had been done and we had<br />
sipped <strong>the</strong> wine, we went to <strong>the</strong> chairs where we would sit to have dinner. All <strong>the</strong><br />
seats were ranged down ei<strong>the</strong>r side of <strong>the</strong> room, up against <strong>the</strong> walls. In <strong>the</strong> middle<br />
<strong>Attila</strong> was sitting on a couch <strong>with</strong> a second couch behind him. Behind that a few<br />
steps led up to his bed. . . . I think that <strong>the</strong> more distinguished guests were on<br />
<strong>Attila</strong>’s right, and <strong>the</strong> second rank on his left. . . .<br />
When all were sitting properly in order, a cupbearer came to offer <strong>Attila</strong> an ivywood<br />
bowl of wine, which he took and drank a toast to <strong>the</strong> man first in order of<br />
precedence. . . .<br />
Used by permission for Bridging World History, 1<br />
The Annenberg Foundation copyright © 2004
After everyone had been toasted, <strong>the</strong> cupbearers left, and a table was put in front<br />
of <strong>Attila</strong> and o<strong>the</strong>r tables for groups of three or four men each. This enabled each<br />
guest to help himself to <strong>the</strong> things put on <strong>the</strong> table <strong>with</strong>out leaving his proper seat.<br />
<strong>Attila</strong>’s servant entered first <strong>with</strong> plates full of meat, and those waiting on all <strong>the</strong><br />
o<strong>the</strong>rs put bread and cooked food on <strong>the</strong> tables. A lavish meal, served on silver<br />
trenchers, was prepared for us and <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r barbarians, but <strong>Attila</strong> just had some<br />
meat on a wooden platter, for this was one aspect of his self-discipline. . . . When<br />
<strong>the</strong> food in <strong>the</strong> first plates was finished we all got up, and no one, once on his feet,<br />
returned to his seat until he had, in <strong>the</strong> same order as before, drunk <strong>the</strong> full cup of<br />
wine he was handed, <strong>with</strong> a toast for <strong>Attila</strong>’s health. After this honour had been<br />
paid him, we sat down again and second plates were put on each table <strong>with</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
food on <strong>the</strong>m. This also finished, everyone rose once more, drank ano<strong>the</strong>r toast and<br />
resumed his seat.<br />
Whe<strong>the</strong>r or not we find king and subjects, husband and wife, or fa<strong>the</strong>r and<br />
children eating toge<strong>the</strong>r varies greatly across times and cultures. Whatever<br />
<strong>the</strong> nature and pattern of social interaction occurring during mealtimes, food<br />
sharing was and is a basic—perhaps <strong>the</strong> earliest—of human cultural<br />
experiences and profoundly shapes social encounters of all kinds throughout<br />
a lifetime.<br />
Used by permission for Bridging World History, 2<br />
The Annenberg Foundation copyright © 2004