Eslas (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

450) was a Hun negotiator, supervisor, diplomat and orator. He was sent by Attila on a diplomatic mission to

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 ...

Overview

Eslas was one of the most experienced Hunnish

ambassadors An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

. Fifteen years before he was sent to

by Attila, he had negotiated with

Theodosius Theodosius ( Latinized from the Greek "Θεοδόσιος", Theodosios, "given by god") is a given name. It may take the form Teodósio, Teodosie, Teodosije etc. Theodosia is a feminine version of the name. Emperors of ancient Rome and Byzantium ...

on account of Hun king Rugila. He became a minder of Vigilas, with whom he was sent to Constantinople by Attila, where Vigilas was to ask for the handing over of any remaining refugees. The delegation with which historian

Priscus Priscus of Panium (; ; 410s/420s AD – after 472 AD) was an Eastern Roman diplomat and Greek historian and rhetorician (or sophist)...: "For information about Attila, his court and the organization of life generally in his realm we have the ...

reached Attila had been sent upon request of the latter to Theodosius. This action was in turn prompted by Edekon, who had revealed to Attila a Roman plot to assassinate him. The Byzantine Emperor, following the counsel of the

eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...

Chrysaphius, had bribed Edekon, one of Attila's close men, and convinced him to participate in a plot to murder the king. Edekon had seemingly accepted, but then showed his loyalty to Atilla by informing him of the plot. After Maximinus' mission, in which Priscus was involved, another ambassador, Bigilas, was sent to the Huns with the gold (fifty pounds) intended to be used to bribe Attila's bodyguards, which he was to deliver to Edekon. Attila, aware of this thanks to Edekon, made Bigilas confess and took his gold, but, instead of impaling him, asked him for another fifty pounds of gold, informing him that if he failed to pay, his son would be executed. Further, Attila decided to punish the emperor by sending Eslas and

Orestes In Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis (; ) was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and the brother of Electra and Iphigenia. He was also known by the patronymic Agamemnonides (), meaning "son of Agamemnon." He is the subject of several ...

to his court to publicly humiliate him. As Priscus recounts: Attila also instructed Eslas to tell the emperor that he had degraded his line. Once they reached Constantinople, Eslas told the emperor a parable, probably composed by Attila himself: The meaning of this statement is that both men were born noble, but Theodosius had fallen from his dignified station by submitting to pay tribute to Attila, becoming his "slave"; and that therefore he acted ill by devising secret snares against his master like a wicked domestic against his superior, whom fortune had given him for his master.

References

{{Huns Huns Ambassadors to the Byzantine Empire 5th-century diplomats