Balamber

Who is Balamber?

Balamber is only mentioned by Jordanes in his Getica, abbreviated c. 550CE from memory of Cassiodorus's History of the Goths. Jordanes simply called him "king of the Huns" and tells us the story of Balamber crushing the kingdom of Ostrogoths in around 375.

Balamber's story seems historically improbable. He may well be a version of the better-attested Valamir, displaced in time and confused with stories of the Hunnic assault on the Goths. Valamir/Valamer/Βαλαμερ/Balamber was an important Gothic vassal of Attila the Hun in the 400s, who after Attila's death resisted the Huns and consolidated his hold over a large group of Goths.