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Iranian Huns
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Iranian Huns
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, Uzbekistan, Eastern Iran, Pakistan, and Northwest India, between the fourth and seventh centuries. 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 in the 1960s and is based on his study of coins. The term "Iranian Huns" coined by Göbl has been sometimes accepted in research, especially in German academia, and reflects how some of the namings and inscriptions of the Kidarites and Hephthalites used an Iranian language, and the bulk of the population they ruled was Iranian. Their origin is controversially discussed. Göbl describes four groups: Kidarites, Alchons, Nezaks, and Hephthalites as the Iranian Huns based on numismatic evidence available at his time. But recent descriptions also put the Xionites as a fifth group. In recent research, it is debated whether the new arrivals came as one wave or several waves of different peoples.
They are roughly equivalent to the Hunas [citation needed]. Related to the Iranian Huns are the Uar, Hunas and uncertain terms from various languages like "White Hun", "Red Hun" and others.
The Iranian Huns are not to be confused with the European Huns led by Attila. A few reports exist from Late antiquity, coming from China and India where they are referred to as Hunas. Much of the information comes from the study of coins, of which many have been found. These coins raise many problems of chronology and interpretation. Furthermore, coins of the Iranian Huns cannot always be assigned to a definite ruler.[citation needed]
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. 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]
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 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.
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. 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). The Persians are known to have paid tribute to the Kidarites.
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Iranian Huns
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, Uzbekistan, Eastern Iran, Pakistan, and Northwest India, between the fourth and seventh centuries. 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 in the 1960s and is based on his study of coins. The term "Iranian Huns" coined by Göbl has been sometimes accepted in research, especially in German academia, and reflects how some of the namings and inscriptions of the Kidarites and Hephthalites used an Iranian language, and the bulk of the population they ruled was Iranian. Their origin is controversially discussed. Göbl describes four groups: Kidarites, Alchons, Nezaks, and Hephthalites as the Iranian Huns based on numismatic evidence available at his time. But recent descriptions also put the Xionites as a fifth group. In recent research, it is debated whether the new arrivals came as one wave or several waves of different peoples.
They are roughly equivalent to the Hunas [citation needed]. Related to the Iranian Huns are the Uar, Hunas and uncertain terms from various languages like "White Hun", "Red Hun" and others.
The Iranian Huns are not to be confused with the European Huns led by Attila. A few reports exist from Late antiquity, coming from China and India where they are referred to as Hunas. Much of the information comes from the study of coins, of which many have been found. These coins raise many problems of chronology and interpretation. Furthermore, coins of the Iranian Huns cannot always be assigned to a definite ruler.[citation needed]
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. 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]
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 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.
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. 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). The Persians are known to have paid tribute to the Kidarites.
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