Kidarites
Kidarites | |||||||||||||
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320–467 | |||||||||||||
Tamga of the Kidarites
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Kidara | |||||||||||||
• fl. 425 | Varhran I | ||||||||||||
• fl. 500 | Kandik | ||||||||||||
Historical era | Late Antiquity | ||||||||||||
• Established | 320 | ||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 467 | ||||||||||||
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The Kidarites, or Kidara Huns,
The Kidarites were named after
In 360–370 CE, a Kidarite kingdom was established in Central Asian regions previously ruled by the
Origins
A nomadic people, the Kidarites appear to have originated in the
The Kidarites appear to have been synonymous with the Karmir Xyon ("Red Xionites" or, more controversially, "Red Huns"),
The name of their eponymous ruler
Contemporary Chinese and Roman sources suggest that, during the 4th century, the Kidarites began to encroach on the territory of Greater Khorasan and the Kushan Empire – migrating through Transoxiana into Bactria,[18] where they were initially vassals of the Kushans and adopted many elements of Kushano-Bactrian culture. The Kidarites also initially put pressure on the Sasanian Empire, but later served as mercenaries in the Sassanian army, under which they fought the Romans in Mesopotamia, led by a chief named Grumbates (fl. 353–358 CE). Some of the Kidarites apparently became a ruling dynasty of the Kushan Empire, leading to the epithet "Little Kushans".[19][20]
Kidarite kingdom
First appearance in literary sources
The first evidence are gold coins discovered in
Archaeological, numismatic, and sigillographic evidence demonstrates the Kidarites ruled a realm just as refined as that of the Sasanians. They swiftly adopted Iranian imperial symbolism and titulature, as demonstrated by a seal; "Lord Ularg, the king of the Huns, the great Kushan-shah, the Samarkandian, of the Afrigan (?) family."[26]
Most other data we currently have on the Kidarite kingdom are from Chinese and Byzantine sources from the middle of the 5th century. The Kidarites were the first Huna to bother India. Indian records note that the Hūna had established themselves in modern Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier Province by the first half of the 5th century, and the Gupta emperor Skandagupta had repelled a Hūna invasion in 455. The Kidarites are the last dynasty to regard themselves (on the legend of their coins) as the inheritors of the Kushan empire, which had disappeared as an independent entity two centuries earlier.[original research?]
Migration into Bactria
Around 350, the Sasanian Emperor
After a prolonged struggle (353–358) they were forced to conclude an alliance, and their king Grumbates accompanied Shapur II in the war against the Romans, agreeing to enlist his light cavalrymen into the Persian army and accompanying Shapur II. The presence of "Grumbates, king of the Chionitae" and his Xionites with Shapur II during campaigns in the Western Caspian lands, in the area of Corduene, is described by the contemporary eyewitness Ammianus Marcellinus:[31]
Grumbates Chionitarum rex novus aetate quidem media rugosisque membris sed mente quadam grandifica multisque victoriarum insignibus nobilis.
"Grumbates, the new king of the Xionites, while he was middle aged, and his limbs were wrinkled, he was endowed with a mind that acted grandly, and was famous for his many, significant victories."— Ammianus Marcellinus, 18.6.22.[32]
The presence of Grumbates alongside Shapur II is also recorded at the successful Siege of Amida in 359, in which Grumbates lost his son:[17]
"Grumbates, king of the Chionitae, went boldly up to the walls to effect that mission, with a brave body of guards; and when a skilful reconnoitrer had noticed him coming within shot, he let fly his balista, and struck down his son in the flower of his youth, who was at his father's side, piercing through his breastplate, breast and all; and he was a prince who in stature and beauty was superior to all his comrades. "
— Ammianus Marcellinus, 19.1.7.[33]
Later the alliance fell apart, and by the time of
According to
The Kidarites based their capital in
Fortresses
Kafir-kala is an ancient fortress 12 kilometers south of the city center of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, protecting the southern border of the Samarkand oasis.[37] It consists in a central citadel built in mud-bricks and measuring 75 × 75 meters at its base has six towers and is surrounded by a moat, still visible today.[37] Living quarters were located outside the citadel.[37] The citadel was first occupied by the Kidarites in the 4th-5th century, whose coinage and bullae have been found.[38][39]
Expansion to northwest India
The Kidarites consolidated their power in Northern Afghanistan before conquering Peshawar and parts of northwest India including Gandhara probably sometime between 390 and 410,[40] around the end of the rule of Gupta Emperor Chandragupta II or beginning of the rule of Kumaragupta I.[41] It is probably the rise of the Hephthalites and the defeats against the Sasanians which pushed the Kidarites into northern India.
Economy
The Kidarites issued gold coins on the model of Kushan coinage, inscribing their own names but still claiming the Kushan heritage by using the title "Kushan".[42] The volume of Kidarite gold coinage was nevertheless much smaller than that of the Great Kushans, probably owing to a decline of commerce and the loss of major international trade routes.[43]
Coins with the title or name
Religion
It seems
It has been argued that the spread of Indian culture and religions as far as Sogdia corresponded to the rule of the Kidarites over the regions from Sogdia to Gandhara.[5]
Some Buddhist works of art, in a style marking some evolution compared to the art of Gandhara, have been suggested as belonging to the Kidarite period, such as the sculptures of Paitava.[48]
Conflicts with the Gupta Empire
The Kidarites may have confronted the
"(Skandagupta), by whose two arms the earth was shaken, when he, the creator (of a disturbance like that) of a terrible whirlpool, joined in close conflict with the Hûnas; . . . . . . among enemies . . . . . . arrows . . . . . . . . . . . . proclaimed . . . . . . . . . . . . just as if it were the roaring of (the river) Ganga, making itself noticed in (their) ears."
Even after these encounters, the Kidarites seem to have retained the western part of the Gupta Empire, particularly central and western Punjab, until they were displaced by the invasion of the Alchon Huns at the end of the 5th century.[53][17] While they still ruled in Gandhara, the Kidarites are known to have sent an embassy to China in 477.[54]
The Huna invasion are said to have seriously damaged
The Kidarites were cut from their Bactrian nomadic roots by the rise of the Hephthalites in the 450s. The Kidarites also seem to have been defeated by the Sasanian emperor Peroz in 467 CE, with Peroz reconquering Balkh and issuing coinage there as "Peroz King of Kings".[8]
Conflict with Sasanian emperor Peroz I and the Hephthalites
Since the foundation of the Sasanian Empire, its rulers had demonstrated the sovereignty and power of their realm through collection of tribute, particularly from the Romans.[61] However, the Sasanian efforts were disrupted in the early 5th century by the Kidarites, who forced Yazdegerd I (r. 399–420), Bahram V (r. 420–438), and/or Yazdegerd II (r. 438–457) to pay them tribute.[61][62] Although this did not trouble the Sasanian treasury, it was nevertheless humiliating.[63] Yazdegerd II eventually refused to pay tribute, which would later be used as the casus belli of the Kidarites, who declared war against the ruling Sasanian king Peroz I in c. 464.[64][62] Peroz lacked manpower to fight, and therefore asked for financial aid by the Byzantine Empire, who declined his request.[65] He then offered peace to the king of the Kidarites, Kunkhas, and offered him his sister in marriage, but sent a woman of low status instead. After some time Kunkhas found about Peroz's false promise, and then in turn tried to trick him, by requesting him to send military experts to strengthen his army.[65]
When a group of 300 military experts arrived to the court of Kunkhas at Balaam (possibly Balkh), they were either killed or disfigured and sent back to Iran, with the information that Kunkhas did this due to Peroz's false promise.[65] Around this time, Peroz allied himself with the Hephthalites or the Alchon Huns of Mehama, the ruler of Kadag in eastern Bactria.[66] With their help, he finally vanquished Kidarites in 466, and brought Bactria briefly under Sasanian control, where he issued gold coins of himself at Balkh.[67][26] The style of the gold coin was largely based on the Kidarite coins, and displayed Peroz wearing his second crown.[22][68] The following year (467), a Sasanian embassy arrived to the Byzantine capital of Constantinople, where the victory over the Kidarites was announced. The Sasanian embassy sent to the Northern Wei in 468 may have likewise done the same.[69]
Although the Kidarites still controlled some places such as Gandhara and Punjab, they would never be an issue for the Sasanians again.[7] But in India itself, the Kidarites may also have been losing territory to the Gupta Empire, following the 455 victories of Skandagupta.[70] This created a power vacuum, which the Alchon Huns were able to fill, allowing them to reclaim the lost territories of the Kidarites.[70]
Continental synchronism of Hunnic wars
There is an astounding synchronism between, on the one hand, the conflicts between the Kidarite Huns and the
A few gold coins of the Kidarites were also found as far as Hungary and Poland in Europe, as a result of Asiatic migrations.[68]
Kidarite successors
Many small Kidarite kingdoms seem to have survived in northwest India, and are known through their coinage. They were particularly present in
The numismatic evidence as well as the so-called "Hephthalite bowl" from
Ushrushana
Remnants of the Kidarites in Eastern Sogdiana may have been associated with the
Main Kidarite rulers
Yosada | c.335 CE[25] |
Kirada | c.335-345[25] |
Peroz | c.345-350[25] |
Kidara |
c.350-390[25] |
Grumbates | c.359 |
Kungas | ? |
Brahmi Buddhatala | fl. c. 370 |
Piro | fl. 388/400 |
Varhran (II) | fl. c. 425 |
Goboziko |
fl. c. 450 |
Salanavira | mid 400s |
Vinayaditya | late 400s |
Kandik | early 500s |
See also
History of Tajikistan |
---|
Timeline |
Tajikistan portal |
History of Turkmenistan |
---|
Turkmenistan portal |
History of Afghanistan | |
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Timeline | |
410–557 | |
Nezak Huns | 484–711 |
References and notes
- ISBN 978-94-93194-00-7.
- ISBN 978-94-93194-00-7.
- ^ Cribb 2010, p. 91.
- ^ ISBN 9789231032110.
- ^ a b Cribb 2010, pp. 95–96.
- ^ a b Daryaee 2014, p. 17.
- ^ a b c Sasanian Seals and Sealings, Rika Gyselen, Peeters Publishers, 2007, p.1
- ^ a b c d e f The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila, Michael Maas, Cambridge University Press, 2014 p.284sq
- ^ a b 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.
- JSTOR 24049310.
- ISBN 978-92-3-103211-0.
- ISBN 9781107021754.
- ^ Mitterwallner, Gritli von (1986). Kuṣāṇa Coins and Kuṣāṇa Sculptures from Mathurā. Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of U.P., Lucknow.
- ^ Ancient Coin Collecting VI: Non-Classical Cultures, Wayne G. Sayles, p. 79, https://books.google.com/books?id=YTGRcVLMg6MC&pg=PA78
- ^ Grenet, Frantz (2006). "A Hunnish Kushanshah". Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology: 125–131.
- ^ Cribb 2010, p. 97.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i The Huns, Hyun Jin Kim, Routledge, 2015 p.50 sq
- ^ a b History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Ahmad Hasan Dani, B. A. Litvinsky, Unesco p.119 sq
- JSTOR 42680025.
- JSTOR 41926398.
The Yueh-chih origin of Kidara is clearly established...
- ^ a b c Cribb 2010, p. 99.
- ^ a b c d e Cribb 2018, p. 23.
- ^ Cribb 2010, p. 109.
- ^ Cribb 2010, p. 123.
- ^ a b c d e Cribb & Donovan 2014, p. 4.
- ^ a b Payne 2015, p. 285.
- ^ A similar coin with reading of the legend
- ^ Lerner, Judith A. (210). Observations on the Typology and Style of Seals and Sealings from Bactria and the Indo-Iranian Borderlands, in Coins, Art and Chronology II. The First Millennium CE in the Indo-Iranian Borderlands. Vienna: ÖAW. p. 246, note 7.
- ISBN 0226742210.
- ^ Daryaee 2009.
- ^ Unesco p.38 sq
- ^ Ammianus Marcellinus 18.6.22
- ^ Ammianus Marcellinus 18.6.22
- ^ The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila, Michael Maas p.286
- ^ The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila, Michael Maas p.287
- ^ "Antiquities of Samarkand. Kurgan in the Vicinity of Samarkand. Location of Kafir Kala". www.wdl.org. 1868.
- ^ hdl:11585/572547.
- ^ "Administration, law and urban organization in the Late Antique and Early Medieval period". Universitetet i Bergen (in Norwegian Bokmål). Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
- ^ "The Kidarites in Bactria". pro.geo.univie.ac.at. Coin Cabinet of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
- ISBN 9789231032110.
- ISBN 9788124600177.
- ^ a b Tandon, Pankaj (2009). "An Important New Copper Coin of Gadahara". Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society (200): 19.
- ^ ISBN 9789231032110.
- ^ ISBN 9788120805927.
- ^ ISBN 9788170170358.
- ^ A Comprehensive History of India. Orient Longmans. 1957. p. 253.
- .
- .
- .
- ISBN 9789004039025.
- ISBN 9789004185258.
- ^ Malwa Through the Ages, from the Earliest Times to 1305 A.D by Kailash Chand Jain p.242
- ^ ISBN 9789231032110.
- ISBN 9789231032110.
- ^ Longman History & Civics ICSE 9 by Singh p.81
- JSTOR 44710198.
- ISBN 978-3700168973.
- ISBN 978-1-78969-648-6.
- ISBN 978-1-4744-0030-5.
- ^ Alram 2014, p. 272.
- ^ a b Payne 2016, p. 18.
- ^ a b Payne 2015, p. 287.
- ^ Bonner 2020, p. 100.
- ^ Potts 2018, pp. 291, 294.
- ^ a b c Zeimal 1996, p. 130.
- ^ Rezakhani 2017, pp. 102, 121.
- ^ Rezakhani 2017, pp. 102, 121, 127.
- ^ a b Alram 2014, p. 271.
- ^ Bonner 2020, p. 126.
- ^ ISBN 978-94-93194-00-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-94-93194-00-7.
- ISBN 0-8135-1304-9.
- ^ a b c Alram 2014, pp. 274–275.
- ^ Iaroslav Lebedynsky, "Les Nomades", p172.
- ^ British Museum notice
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Armenian geographer states that the principal tribes of Bulgars were called Kuphi-Bulgars, Duchi-Bulgars, Oghkhundur-Bulgars, and Kidar-Bulgars, by the last-named of which he meant the Kidarites, a branch of the Huns.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4744-0031-2.
Apart from Gandhara, however, a Kidarite kingdom may have survived in Sogdiana, possibly in the area of Ustrushana.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4744-0031-2.
However, we should not assume that the Kidarite presence in eastern Sogdiana disappeared quickly after their demise in Tokharistan. Indeed, centuries later, in the early ninth century, the local king of Ustrushana and the Abbasid general Al-Afshin bore the personal name of Khydhar...
- ISBN 978-1-4744-0031-2.
Sources
- Alram, Michael (2014). "From the Sasanians to the Huns New Numismatic Evidence from the Hindu Kush". The Numismatic Chronicle. 174: 261–291. JSTOR 44710198. (registration required)
- Bonner, Michael (2020). The Last Empire of Iran. New York: Gorgias Press. pp. 1–406. ISBN 978-1463206161.
- ISBN 978-1-78491-855-2.
- Cribb, Joe (2010). Alram, M. (ed.). "The Kidarites, the numismatic evidence.pdf". Coins, Art and Chronology Ii, Edited by M. Alram et al. Coins, Art and Chronology II: 91–146.
- Cribb, Joe; Donovan, Peter (2014). Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite Coins A Catalogue of Coins From the American Numismatic Society by David Jongeward and Joe Cribb with Peter Donovan. p. 4.
- Daryaee, Touraj (2009). "Šāpur II". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
- ISBN 978-0857716668.
- Payne, Richard (2015). "The Reinvention of Iran: The Sasanian Empire and the Huns". In Maas, Michael (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila. Cambridge University Press. pp. 282–299. ISBN 978-1-107-63388-9.
- Payne, Richard (2016). "The Making of Turan: The Fall and Transformation of the Iranian East in Late Antiquity". Journal of Late Antiquity. 9. Johns Hopkins University Press: 4–41. S2CID 156673274.
- Potts, Daniel T. (2018). "Sasanian Iran and its northeastern frontier". In Mass, Michael; Di Cosmo, Nicola (eds.). Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–538. ISBN 9781316146040.
- Rezakhani, Khodadad (2017). ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 1–256. ISBN 9781474400305.
- Zeimal, E. V. (1996). "The Kidarite kingdom in Central Asia". History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume III: The Crossroads of Civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. Paris: UNESCO. pp. 119–135. ISBN 92-3-103211-9.
- ENOKI, K., « On the Date of the Kidarites (I) », Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko, 27, 1969, p. 1–26.
- GRENET, F. « Regional Interaction in Central Asia and North-West India in the Kidarite and Hephtalite Period », in SIMS-WILLIAMS, N. (ed.), Indo-Iranian Languages and Peoples, (Proceedings of the British Academy), London, 2002, p. 203–224.
Further reading
- Angelov, Alexander (2018). "Kidarites". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8.
- Wan, Xiang. "寄多罗人年代与族属考 (On the dates and the nationality of the Kidarites)" (in Chinese).
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