Iranian Huns
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The term Iranian Huns is sometimes used for a group of different tribes that lived in Central Asia, in the historical regions of Transoxiana, Bactria, Tokharistan, Kabul Valley, and Gandhara, overlapping with the modern-day Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzebekistan, Eastern Iran, Pakistan, and Northwest India, between the fourth and seventh centuries.[1] They also threatened the Northeast borders of Sasanian Iran and forced the Shahs to lead many ill-documented campaigns against them.
The term was introduced by Robert Göbl
They are roughly equivalent to the
Problems with sources and names
The Iranian Huns are not to be confused with the European
In the fourth century various central Asian tribes began to attack the Persian Sasanian Empire. The sources sometimes call these people 'Huns', but their origin is unclear. It is probable that they were not related to the Huns who appeared on the south Russian steppe about 375 and attacked the Roman Empire. The two terms should be clearly separated. Like 'Scythian', ‘Hun’ in its various forms was used loosely by ancient historians to refer to various steppe tribes of which they knew little.[5] In modern research, it is often accepted that the term 'Hun' was often used, because of its fame, for various mixed groups and is not to be understood as the name of a concrete ethnic group.[citation needed]
Xionites
The Xionites were not included in Robert Göbl's classification because they left no coinage. More recent research has found a connection between the Xionites and Göbl's first wave of Iranian Huns.
Ca. 350[7] a group called the Xionites began to attack the Sassanid Empire. They conquered Bactria, but Shapur II eventually reconciled them. Later they allied with the Persians, participated in the Roman-Persian War and joined in the Siege of Amida (359) under their king Grumbates. Written reports come from Ammianus Marcellinus, among others. The Middle Persian term Xyon seems to be related to both 'Xionite' and 'Hun' but does not imply that all groups with this name were related or ethnically homogenous. Among the Iranian Huns, except possibly the Xionites, we can recognize definite Iranian elements, notably the Bactrian language as an administrative language and coin inscriptions.
Kidarites
Göbl's first group were the Kidarites who near the end of the fourth century were involved in the aftermath of the fall of the Kushan Empire (after 225, see Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom). Recent research has the Kidarites as a clan of the Xionites, or somehow derived from them so that the two groups cannot be strictly distinguished.[11] Both groups appear as serious opponents of the Persians. Priscus said that the Sasanids fought 'Kidarite Huns'. This was probably at the time of Bahram V (420–438) and certainly the time of Yazdegerd II (438–457).[12] The Persians are known to have paid tribute to the Kidarites.
The name Kidarites comes from their first known ruler, Kidara (circa 350–385). They made coins in imitation of the Kushano-Sasanids who had previously ruled the area. Many coin-hoards have been found in the Kabul area which allows us to date the start of their rule to about 380. Kidarite coins found in Gandhara suggest that their rule sometimes extended into northern India. Their coins are inscribed in Bactrian, Sogdian and Middle Persian and in the Brahmi script.
Their power fell in the later fifth century. Their capital, Balkh, fell in 467 probably after a great victory of
Alkhons
The second wave was the Alkhons who established themselves in the Kabul area around 400. Their history must be reconstructed almost exclusively from coin-hoards. Their coins are based on Sassanid models, probably because they took over the Persian mint at Kabul. The Bactrian word "Alxanno" is stamped on their coins, from which we derive the name "Alkhon". It is not clear whether this word means a tribe, or a ruler, or is a royal title.[13]
Under their king
Nezak
Göbl's third wave were the Nezak Huns who settled around Kabul. Early scholars called them 'Napki'. The exact chronology is unclear. The first written accounts come from the early seventh century. Some place their foundation in the late sixth century after the fall of the Hephthalites. The coins imply a foundation in the late fifth century.[15] If we accept the early dating they were under pressure from the Hephthalites, but by the later dating they profited from the Hephthalite collapse.[16]
Their coins are strongly based on Sassanid models but are clearly recognizable by their distinctive bulls-head crowns which allow the coins to be divided into types. It seems that returning Alkhon groups met the Nizaks and produced an Alkhon-Nizak mixed language.
It is certain that they expanded to
Hephthalites
The fourth and most important wave were the Hephthalites who arrived in the mid fifth century. As with the other groups an exact chronology is difficult to establish. From later Perso-Arabic sources such as Al-Tabari it appears that they were opponents of the Persians already in the first half of the fifth century, although the sources use the vague term “Turk”. The few reports of Greco-Roman authors, who often had little knowledge of events so far east, made little distinction between the different groups and it seems more probable that they referred to other Iranian Huns who arrived before the Hephthalites proper. They were called "White Huns" by Procopius who gives some information. Their coins are based on current Persian models.
To the end of the fifth century they had spread from eastern Tocharistan (Bactria) and brought several neighboring areas under control. They expanded not to India but to Transoxana. The Hunas reported from Indian sources were probably Alkhons (see above). By the beginning of the sixth century they controlled a significant area in Bactria and Sogdia.
The Hephthalites had many conflicts with the Persians. In 484
References and notes
- Robert Göbl: Dokumente zur Geschichte der iranischen Hunnen in Baktrien und Indien. 4 Bände. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1967.
- Christoph Baumer, History of Central Asia, volume 2
- UNESCO, History of Civilizations in Central Asia, Volume III, pages119-184 on Kidarites and Hephthalites
- Other sources and notes in de:Iranische Hunnen
- notes:
- JSTOR 10.3366/j.ctt1g04zr8.
From Chinese sources, it appears that different waves of invaders came via the same route, crossing the Syr Darya into Transoxiana, then invading Bactria/Tokharistan, and eventually crossing the Hindu Kush into the Kabul Valley and ultimately Gandhara.
- ^ "GÖBL, ROBERT". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
- ^ Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft: Alter Orient-Griechische Geschichte-Römische Geschichte. Band III,7: The History of Ancient Iran, Richard Nelson Frye, C.H.Beck, 1984 p.346
- ^ Turko-Persia in Historical Perspective, Robert L. Canfield, Cambridge University Press, 2002 p.49
- ^ a b c Huns in Encyclopædia Iranica.
- ^ Baumer, v2, p94, note 75
- ^ Cf. e.g. Boris A. Litvinsky (ed): The crossroads of civilizations. A.D. 250 to 750 (= History of Civilizations of Central Asia Bd. 3). Paris 1996, p. 120.
- ^ "CNG: eAuction 208. HUNNIC TRIBES, Kidarites. Kidara. Circa AD 350-385. AR Drachm (28mm, 3.97 g, 3h)". CNG Coins. Retrieved 2017-08-11.
- ^ The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila, Michael Maas, Cambridge University Press, 2014 p.284sq
- ^ Encyclopaedia Iranica, article Kidarites: "On Gandhāran coins bearing their name the ruler is always clean-shaven, a fashion more typical of Altaic people than of Iranians" in "KIDARITES – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org.
- ^ Daniel T. Potts: Nomadism in Iran. From Antiquity to the Modern Era. 2014, p. 129.
- ^ Daniel T. Potts: Nomadism in Iran. From Antiquity to the Modern Era. Oxford 2014, pp136 and 138. See also Nikolaus Schindel: The Sasanian Eastern Wars in the 5th Century. The Numismatic Evidence. In: A. Panaino, A. Piras (Hrsg.): Proceedings of the 5th Conference of the Societas Iranologica Europaea. Volume I. Mailand 2006, pp 675–689, here pp 678–680. Linked Wikipedia articles also call them 'Hephthalites' or 'Huns'
- ^ For coin interpretation see Michael Alram: Hunnic Coinage. In: Encyclopædia Iranica
- ^ Among others Boris A. Litvinsky: The Hephthalite Empire. In: Boris A. Litvinsky (Hrsg.): The crossroads of civilizations. A.D. 250 to 750. =UNESCO, volume iii, Paris 1996, p. 141–143. Compare to A. D. Bivar: Hephthalites. In: Encyclopædia Iranica, who emphasizes the difficulty of a clear distinction.
- ^ See Klaus Vondrovec: Coinage of the Nezak. In: M. Alram, D. Klimburg-Salter, M. Inaba, M. Pfisterer (publisher): Coins, Art and Chronology II. The First Millennium C.E. in the Indo-Iranian Borderlands. Wien 2010, p 169–190, here pp 169 and 173f.
- ^ Late date assumed by Frantz Grenet: Nezak. In: Encyclopædia Iranica
- ^ KURBANOV, AYDOGDY (2010). THE HEPHTHALITES: ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS (PDF). Berlin: Berlin Freie Universität. pp. 135–136.
- ^ "DELBARJĪN – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org.
- ^ Ilyasov, Jangar. "The Hephthalite Terracotta // Silk Road Art and Archaeology. Vol. 7. Kamakura, 2001, 187–200": 187–197.
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