Octar or Ouptaros was a Hunnic ruler. He ruled in dual kingship with his brother Rugila, possibly with a geographical division, ruling the Western Huns while his brother ruled the Eastern Huns.

Etymology

The name is recorded in two variants, Greek ''Ούπταρος'' (Ouptaros), and Latin ''Octar''. The change from ''-ct-'' to ''-pt-'' is characteristic of Balkan Latin. Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen considered the name to be of unknown origin.

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 the name from Turko- Mongolic word ''*öktem'' (strong, brave, imperious; proud, boastful; pride) and verb ''ökte-'' / ''oktä-'' (to encourage). He argued that the deverbal Turkic-Mongolian suffix ''m'' was replaced in Turkic by ''z'' while in Mongolian by ''ri''. The reconstructed form is appellative ''*öktä-r''.

History

Octar ruled along with his brother Rugila as reported by

Jordanes Jordanes (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...

in his ''

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae''), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'' (), written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the ori ...

'': "''...Mundzucus, whose brothers were Octar and Ruas, who were supposed to have been kings before Attila, although not altogether of the same erritoriesas he''". Their brother Mundzuk was the father of

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 ...

, but he was not a supreme ruler of the Huns. According to

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 ...

their fourth brother Oebarsius was still alive in 448 AD. Their ancestors and relation with previous rulers

Uldin Uldin, also spelled Huldin (died before 412), is the first Hunnic ruler whose historicity is undisputed. Etymology The name is recorded as ''Ουλδης'' (Ouldes) by Sozomen, ''Uldin'' by Orosius, and ''Huldin'' by Marcellinus Comes. On the ...

and Charaton are unknown. He ruled with his brother in dual kingship, possibly a geographical division where Rugila ruled over Eastern Huns while Octar over Western Huns, possibly like Attila and

Bleda Bleda () was a Hunnic ruler, the brother of Attila the Hun. As nephews to Rugila, Attila and his elder brother Bleda succeeded him to the throne. Bleda's reign lasted for eleven years until his death. While it has been speculated by Jordanes th ...

. According to

Socrates of Constantinople Socrates of Constantinople ( 380 – after 439), also known as Socrates Scholasticus (), was a 5th-century Greek Christian church historian, a contemporary of Sozomen and Theodoret. He is the author of a ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' ("Church Hist ...

, Octar, identified with Ouptaros, died in 430 near the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

, "'' r the king of the Huns, Uptaros by name, having burst asunder in the night from surfeit, the

Burgundians The Burgundians were an early Germanic peoples, Germanic tribe or group of tribes. They appeared east in the middle Rhine region in the third century AD, and were later moved west into the Roman Empire, in Roman Gaul, Gaul. In the first and seco ...

attacked that he Huns of Uptarospeople then without a leader; and although few in numbers and their opponents many, they obtained victory''".

References

Sources

* * {{Huns Kings of the Huns 5th-century monarchs in Europe 5th-century Hunnic kings 430 deaths