The relief on the smaller of these tenth-century vessels depicts a Hungarian warrior. The vessels, part of the ancient Hungarian treasure of Nagyszentimiklos found in 1799, are now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna.

Almos grew up to be a tall, handsome, and dark-eyed young man.  He was goodwilled, generous, wise, and brave.  Upon reaching adulthood he married the daughter of one of the princes of Scythia, by whom he had a son, Arpad.

Soon after Arpad’s birth, the seven princes of the Magyars elected Almos as their ruler.  They sealed this election with an oath, called the “Blood Oath,” so called because the princes all drank from a single cup in which their blood had been intermingled.  They swore to accept Almos and all his descendants as their rulers.  They also agreed to share equally from their future conquests.

Following this oath, the Magyars began their long journey to reclaim the lands of the great Attila.  But this trek took them many years.  Like Moses, who saw the Promised Land but was never permitted to enter it, Almos too was only given the chance to look down into the plains of Pannonia.  The conquest of future Hungary was completed by his son, Arpad.  Arpad also established a long line of kings who ruled the blessed lands of their Hun forefathers for many centuries.