Priscus of Panium was a 5th-century CE Roman historian and sophist from Panium in Thrace. His career is defined by his participation in a diplomatic mission to the court of Attila the Hun in 448/449 CE, where he recorded a famous encounter with a Greek-speaking Roman captive. Following the death of Emperor Theodosius II, he entered the service of the general Marcian and was associated with the poet Christodorus.
His major work is a fragmentary eight-book History covering the period from Attila's rise to the reign of Emperor Zeno. It provides a detailed contemporary account of the Huns and late Roman affairs. A separate rhetorical work is noted but lost.
Priscus is a paramount primary source for the 5th-century Roman Empire, the Huns, and the Barbarian invasions. His fragments offer invaluable ethnographic detail and a reliable critical narrative, heavily utilized by later historians like Jordanes. His clear, classical prose provides a crucial Greek perspective on late antiquity.