Xionites
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Chionites or Xionites (Middle Persian: Xiyon, (Hiun/Hion) Chinese: Xiōng (匈) or Xīyung4 (西戎) meaning "Western Barbarians"), sometimes identified with a tribe known as Red Huns, were a nomadic tribe prominent in Transoxania and Bactria whose origins remain controversial. By the early fourth century the Chionites who had adopted the Kushan-Bactrian culture and language, became a threat on the northeastern frontiers of Sassanian Persia[1].
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[edit] Origins
It is difficult to determine the ethnic composition of Chionites. Like many other nomadic peoples of the Central Asian steppes, they were probably a confederation of different tribes and origins[2]. In addition, there is no evidence that the Chionites were different from the Hephthalites. In other words, the Hepthalites may have been a prominent tribe or clan of the Chionites or vice versa.[3] There seems to be a consensus among modern scholars that the Chionites, or at least their ruling elite, were of Iranian origin[4][2], while a more general "Hunnic" origin is also discussed[5][6][7] (origins of the Huns is also controversial) .
[edit] History
In the earliest periods, Xiyon were more of a concern to the Chinese than to the Persians. They dominated the smaller Donghu nations beyond Tianshan in the East Asian steppes who were known as the Xiong(匈)'s Serfs until the Xiong's hold over them was broken by the Chinese by the end of the Sino-Xiongnu War. Chionite campaigns are better documented in connection to a number of events of the political history of Central Asia particularly during the second half of the 4th century AD until the mid 5th century AD. Their most famous rulers were called the Kidarites.
They are first mentioned by Greek historian Ammianus Marcellinus in connection with the Sassanid emperor Shahpur II.
[edit] Alchon
Alchon or Alχon (Uarkhon) became the new name of the Chionites in 460 when Khingila I united the Uar with the Chionites under his Hephthal ruling élite. In India the Alχon were not distinguished from their immediate White Huns predecessors and both are known as Sveta-Hunas there. Perhaps complimenting this term, Procopius (527-565) wrote that they were white skinned, had an organized kingship, and that their life was not wild/nomadic but that they lived in cities. The Alchon were called Varkhon or Varkunites (OuarKhonitai) by Menander Protector (538-582) literally referring to the Uar & Hunnoi. Around 630, Theophylaktos Simokattes wrote that the European "Avars" were initially composed of two nations, the Uar and the Hunnoi tribes. He wrote that: "...the Barsilt, the Unogurs and the Sabirs were struck with horror... and honoured the Newcommers with brilliant gifts..."[8] when the Avars first arrived in their lands in 555AD.
Although the power of the Alχon in Bactria was shattered in the 560's by a combination of Sassanid and proto-Turkic forces, the last Hephthal king Narana/Narendra managed to maintain some kind of rule between 570 and 600 AD over the 'nspk' or 'napki' or 'nezak' tribes that remained after most of the Alχon had fled to the west.
[edit] Coinage
Alχon minted coins in Bactria in the 5th & 6th centuries. The name Khigi on one of the coins and Narendra on another has led some scholars of the area to believe that the Hephthalite Khagans Khingila and Narana were of the AlChoNo tribe inscribed in Bactrian script on the coins in question. They imitated the earlier style of their Hephthalite predecessors, the Kidarite Hun successors to the Kushans. In particular the Alχon style imitates the coins of Kidarite Varhran I (syn. Kushan Varhran IV).
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ A. Shapur Shahbazi in Encyclopedia Iranica, "Sasanian Dynasty", Online Edition 2006, (LINK)
- ^ a b M. Schottky in Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Huns - Iranian Huns", Online Edition 2006, (LINK): ... according to Göbl, Iran and India underwent several successive invasions by clearly distinct tribes, whom he referred to collectively as "Iranian Huns." [...] a prominent characteristic, which they shared with all other Central Asian power constellations, was their ethnic mixture, among which the elite was said to be Iranian, or at least expressed itself as such through its coinage (Göbl, 1978, p. 107)
- ^ Richard Nelson Frye, "Emperor Ardeshir and the cycle of history"
- ^ W. Felix in Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Chionites", Online Edition 2006, (LINK)
- ^ Carlile Aylmer Macartney, "On the Greek Sources for the History of the Turks in the Sixth Century"
- ^ Nomads of the Steppe
- ^ Edward Gibbon "The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. II"
- ^ Theophilactus Simocatta, Historiae, -Ed. C. deBoor. Lipsiae, 1887, ps.251, 258
