Balamber is only mentioned by Jordanes, who simply called him "king of the Huns" (rex Hunnorum) and who tells us the story of Balamber crushing the kingdom of Ostrogoths in around 375. Balamber may have been a member of a royal house, but more probably he was - if he ever existed - just a warrior chieftain, because according to Ammianus Marcellinus, the Huns had no kings at that time. Under his leadership the Huns crossed the Volga river and attacked the Alans. Alans retreated to Northern Caucasus. After the war broke out between Alans and Ostrogoths in 370 AD, Balamber invited the Alans to join the Hunnic tribes. After defeating the Ostrogoths in 378 AD, he died on the feast of victory celebration. His death is a mystery. After 75 years his great - grandson Attila the Hun died same way, on his wedding night. His son Baltazár was the first khan of european blood huns, called White Huns.

Balamber is believed to have been a figure invented by the Goths and recounted in Jordanes' account of the Hunnic conquest of the Ostrogoths.