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, 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^[2] 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,^[3] and the bulk of the population they ruled was Iranian.^[4] Their origin is controversially discussed.^[5] 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.^[6]^[5]

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.

^ Rezakhani, Khodadad (2017). "The Iranian Huns and the Kidarites". Written at Edinburgh, Scotland. ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh Studies in Ancient Persia. University of Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, DeGruyter. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-4744-0030-5. 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 Huns in Encyclopædia Iranica.
^ Baumer, v2, p94, note 75

[1] Rezakhani, Khodadad (2017). "The Iranian Huns and the Kidarites". Written at Edinburgh, Scotland. ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh Studies in Ancient Persia. University of Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, DeGruyter. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-4744-0030-5. 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.

[iranicaonline-2] "GÖBL, ROBERT". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 2017-08-10.

[3] 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

[4] Turko-Persia in Historical Perspective, Robert L. Canfield, Cambridge University Press, 2002 p.49

[:0-5] Huns in Encyclopædia Iranica.

[6] Baumer, v2, p94, note 75

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