Charaton (Olympiodorus of Thebes:Χαράτων) was one of the first kings of theHuns.

The name is found in Greek as Χαράτων (Kharatōn).Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen notes that the-ton element might be an artifact of the Greek transcription, and the name may actually have ended in-tom,-ton,-to,-ta, or-t.^[1]

Omeljan Pritsak, following an earlier suggestion by A. Vámbéry, derived the rootChara- fromAltaicxara -qara, with the meaning of "black" and "great; northern".^[2] He derived the second part-ton from aSaka loanword into Turkic,thauna >*taun >tōn, "garment, clothing, mantel".^[2] Pritsak concluded that the nameQara-Ton (black clad; with black coat) was an intentionally cryptic term for horse, possibly related to Hunnic totemism.^[3]

Maenchen-Helfen noted that the above proposal is "phonetically sound", but questioned whether the wordton had been loaned into Turkic in the fifth century.^[1] He suggests that if Charaton did in fact mean "black coat", then it could have been the name of Charaton's clan or tribe rather than his personal name; he compares theKyrgyz tribal nameBozton (Gray Coats).^[4]

F. Altheim suggested that the name is a title from*qara-tun, meaning "black people", with black referencing the direction north.^[5]

Maenchen-Helfen also suggests anIranian etymology as a potential alternative, withchara- deriving from a word akin toParthianhara, xara (dark), as in the Parthian nameCharaspes.^[4] He further notes that the-ton element is also found in theScythian name Sardonius and theOssetian name Syrdon.^[4]

In the end of 412 or beginning of 413, Charaton received theRoman ambassadorOlympiodorus sent byHonorius.^[6] Olympiodorus travelled to Charaton's kingdom by sea, but does not record whether the sea in question was theBlack Sea or theAdriatic Sea. As theHistory deals exclusively with theWestern Roman Empire, it was probably the Adriatic, and Olympiodorus visited them somewhere in thePannonian Basin.^[7] Olympiodorus recounts;

"Donatus and the Huns, and the skillfulness of their kings in shooting with the bow. The author relates that he himself was sent on a mission to them and Donatus, and gives a tragic account of his wanderings and perils by the sea. How Donatus, being deceived by an oath, was unlawfully put to death. How Charaton, the first of the kings, being incensed by the murder, was appeased by presents from the emperor."^[8]

Although some scholars such as E. A. Thompson andHyun Jin Kim have readDonatus as being a previous ruler,^[9][10] others, such asFranz Altheim andOtto Maenchen-Helfen, reject this assumption.^[6] Maenchen-Helfen argues that the nameDonatus was common in the Roman Empire and that Donatus may have been a Roman who fled the empire to live with the Huns, as others are known to have done.^[11]

• Kim, Hyun Jin (2013).The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe. Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9781107009066.
• Maenchen-Helfen, Otto J. (1973).The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture.University of California Press.ISBN 9780520015968.
• Pritsak, Omeljan (1982)."The Hunnic Language of the Attila Clan"(PDF).Harvard Ukrainian Studies.IV (4). Cambridge, Massachusetts:Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.ISSN 0363-5570. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2016-12-13. Retrieved2015-11-21.
• Thompson, E. A. (1996). Heather, Peter (ed.).The Huns. Blackwell Publishers.ISBN 978-0-631-15899-8.

• Kings of the Huns
• 5th-century monarchs in Europe
• 5th-century Hunnic kings

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata