This committee represents a council of important people from across the Roman world gathered together in A.D. 445 to address the Hunnic threat. While this committee is set in Ravenna, the capital of the Western Roman empire, many members have no loyalty to Rome, or to each other. 

 

Starting in A.D. 395, steppe nomads called the Huns began terrorizing the Roman and Persian empires. Over the preceding decades, the Huns had pushed many Germanic and Indo-Iranian groups from the steppes into Roman territory. Hunnic armies were entirely light cavalry, which allowed them to outmaneuver their opponents and pillage enemy cities with impunity. By A.D. 445, a chieftain named Attila had unified the Huns into one military force. Faced with this unstoppable stampede, Roman writers thought themselves witnesses to the end of the world. Surely these Huns were Gog and Magog, fearsome allies of Satan that heralded the imminent Apocalypse? 

 

This committee forces delegates to assume the roles of Roman, Persian, and “barbarian” leaders gathered in Ravenna to respond to the Hunnic threat. While Attila’s military campaigns are the “crisis”, delegates must also navigate the defining structural tensions of the 5th century. These tensions include conflicts between Rome and the barbarian states and the increasing unwillingness of Roman elites to pay taxes to a failing empire. To bring more substance to debate, this committee will use mock currency exchange and a system for simulating battles.

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CHAIR: Carter McLean