Hephthalites

Hephthalites
ηβοδαλο

Ebodalo
Empire: 440s–560[1]
Principalities in Tokharistan and the Hindu-Kush until 710.[2]
Tamga of the Imperial Hephthalites, known as "Tamgha S2".[3][4] of Hephthalites
Tamga of the Imperial Hephthalites, known as "Tamgha S2".[3][4]
Territory of the Hepthalite Empire, circa 500
StatusNomadic empire
Capital
Common languages
Religion
Historical eraLate antiquity
• Established
Empire: 440s
• Disestablished
560[1]
Principalities in Tokharistan and the Hindu-Kush until 710.[2]
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Kidarites
Sasanian Empire
Kangju
Alchon Huns
Nezak Huns
First Turkic Khaganate
Sasanian Empire
Turk Shahis
Zunbils
Principality of Chaghaniyan

The Hephthalites (Bactrian: ηβοδαλο, romanized: Ebodalo),[11] sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian as the Spet Xyon and in Prakrit as the Sveta-huna),[12][13] were a people who lived in Central Asia during the 5th to 8th centuries CE, part of the larger group of Eastern Iranian Huns.[14][15] They formed an empire, the Imperial Hephthalites, and were militarily important from 450 CE, when they defeated the Kidarites, to 560 CE, when combined forces from the First Turkic Khaganate and the Sasanian Empire defeated them.[1][16] After 560 CE, they established "principalities" in the area of Tokharistan, under the suzerainty of the Western Turks (in the areas north of the Oxus) and of the Sasanian Empire (in the areas south of the Oxus), before the Tokhara Yabghus took over in 625.[16]

The Imperial Hephthalites, based in Bactria, expanded eastwards to the Tarim Basin, westwards to Sogdia and southwards through Afghanistan, but they never went beyond the Hindu-Kush, which was occupied by the Alchon Huns, previously thought to be an extension of the Hephthalites.[17] They were a tribal confederation and included both nomadic and settled urban communities. They formed part of the four major states known collectively as Xyon (Xionites) or Huna, being preceded by the Kidarites and by the Alkhon, and succeeded by the Nezak Huns and by the First Turkic Khaganate. All of these Hunnic peoples have often been controversially linked to the Huns who invaded Eastern Europe during the same period, and/or have been referred to as "Huns", but scholars have reached no consensus about any such connection.

The stronghold of the Hephthalites was Tokharistan (present-day southern Uzbekistan and northern Afghanistan) on the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush, and their capital was probably at Kunduz, having come[clarification needed] from the east, possibly from the area of Pamir.[16] By 479 the Hephthalites had conquered Sogdia and driven the Kidarites eastwards, and by 493 they had captured parts of Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin (in present-day Northwest China). The Alchon Huns, formerly confused with the Hephthalites, expanded into Northern India as well.[18]

The sources for Hephthalite history are sparse and the opinions of historians differ. There is no king-list, and historians are not sure how the group arose or what language they initially spoke. They seem to have called themselves Ebodalo (ηβοδαλο, hence Hephthal), often abbreviated Eb (ηβ), a name they wrote in the Bactrian script on some of their coins.[19][20][21][22] The origin of the name "Hephthalites" is unknown, it may stem either from a Khotanese word *Hitala meaning "Strong",[23] from hypothetical Sogdian *Heβtalīt, plural of *Heβtalak,[24] or from postulated Middle Persian *haft āl "the Seven[25] Al".[26][a][b]

  1. ^ a b Benjamin, Craig (16 April 2015). The Cambridge World History: Volume 4, A World with States, Empires and Networks 1200 BCE–900 CE. Cambridge University Press. p. 484. ISBN 978-1-316-29830-5.
  2. ^ Nicholson, Oliver (19 April 2018). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press. p. 708. ISBN 978-0-19-256246-3.
  3. ^ Alram et al. 2012–2013. exhibit: 10. Hephthalites In Bactria Archived 29 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Alram 2008.
  5. ^ a b Bivar, A. D. H. "Hephthalites". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  6. ^ Southern, Mark R. V. (2005). Contagious Couplings: Transmission of Expressives in Yiddish Echo Phrases. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 46. ISBN 9780275980870.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Habibi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Kurbanov 2010, p. [page needed].
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Al-Hind was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference DW was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Dani, Litvinsky & Zamir Safi 1996, p. 177.
  12. ^ Dignas, Beate; Winter, Engelbert (2007). Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity: Neighbours and Rivals. Cambridge University Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-521-84925-8.
  13. ^ Goldsworthy, Adrian (2009). The Fall of the West: The Death Of The Roman Superpower. Orion. ISBN 978-0-297-85760-0.
  14. ^ Rezakhani, Khodadad (25 April 2014). "Hephthalites". Iranologie.com. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  15. ^ Schottky, Martin (20 August 2020), "HUNS", Encyclopaedia Iranica Online, Brill, retrieved 5 October 2023
  16. ^ a b c Rezakhani 2017a, p. 208.
  17. ^ Alram 2014, p. 279.
  18. ^ Maas 2015, p. 287
  19. ^ Rezakhani 2017, p. 213.
  20. ^ Rezakhani 2017, p. 217.
  21. ^ Alram 2014, pp. 278–279.
  22. ^ Whitfield, Susan (2018). Silk, Slaves, and Stupas: Material Culture of the Silk Road. University of California Press. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-520-95766-4.
  23. ^ Bailey, H.W. (1979) Dictionary of Khotan Saka. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 482
  24. ^ Gharib B. (1995) Sogdian dictionary. Tehran, Iran: Farhangan publications. p. xvi
  25. ^ Kurbanov 2010, p. 27.
  26. ^ quote: "Sept Aryas". Tremblay X., "Pour une histoire de la Sérinde. Le manichéisme parmi les peuples et religions d’Asie Centrale d’après les sources primaires, Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Iranistik, 28, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademieder Wissenschaften, Vienne 2001, 185; cited in Étienne de la Vaissière, "Theophylact's Turkish Exkurs Revisited" in De Samarcande à Istanbul: étapes orientales . Hommages à Pierre Chuvin II, Paris, CNRS Editions, 2015, p. 93-94 of pp. 91-102


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