34 Facts About Hephthalites

Hephthalites, sometimes called the White Huns, were a people who lived in Central Asia during the 5th to 8th centuries CE.

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 mistakenly regarded as an extension of the Hephthalites.

Stronghold of the Hephthalites was Tokharistan on the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush, and their capital was probably at Kunduz, having come from the east, possibly from the area of Badakhshan.

Hephthalites called themselves ebodal in their inscriptions, which was commonly abbreviated to in their coinage.

The Hephthalites came into contact with the Sasanian Empire, and were involved in helping militarily Peroz I seize the throne from his brother Hormizd III.

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Later, in the late 5th century, the Hephthalites expanded into vast areas of Central Asia, and occupied the Tarim Basin as far as Turfan, taking control of the area from the Ruanruans, who had been collecting heavy tribute from the oasis cities, but were now weakening under the assaults of the Chinese Wei Dynasty.

Hephthalites inscribed their coins in Bactrian, an Iranian language written in the Greek script, the titles they held were Bactrian, such as XOA?HO or Sao, and of probable Chinese origin, such as Yabghu, the names of Hephthalite rulers given in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh are Iranian, and gem inscriptions and other evidence shows that the official language of the Hephthalite elite was East Iranian.

Hephthalites were first known to the Chinese in 456 CE, when a Hephthalite embassy arrived at the Chinese court of the Northern Wei.

Kazuo Enoki made a first groundbreaking analysis of the Chinese sources in 1959, suggesting that the Hephthalites were a local tribe of the Tokharistan region, with their origin in the nearby Western Himalayas.

Hephthalites used as an argument the presence of numerous Bactrian names among the Hephthalites, and the fact that the Chinese reported that they practiced polyandry, a well-known West Himalayan cultural trait.

The Liangshu and Liang Zhigongtu do explain that the Hephthalites originally had no written language and adopted the hu alphabet, in this case, the Bactrian script.

Paintings related to the Hephthalites have often been grouped under the appellation of "Tokharistan school of art", or the "Hephthalite stage in the History of Central Asia Art".

Hephthalites were a vassal state to the Rouran Khaganate until the beginning of the 5th century.

Hephthalites became a significant political entity in Bactria around 450 CE, or sometime before.

Hephthalites were originally vassals of the Rouran Khaganate but split from their overlords in the early fifth century.

Hephthalites became pregnant and had a daughter who would later marry her uncle Kavad I From 474 until the middle of the 6th century, the Sasanian Empire paid tribute to the Hephthalites.

Hephthalites conquered the territory of Sogdiana, beyond the Oxus, which was incorporated into their Empire.

The Hephthalites probably ruled over a confederation of local rulers or governors, linked through alliance agreements.

The Hephthalites took on the role of major intermediary on the Silk Road, after their great predecessor the Kushans, and contracted local Sogdians to carry on the trade of silk and other luxury goods between the China Empire and the Sasanian Empire.

The symbol of the Hephthalites appears on the residual coinage of Samarkand, probably as a consequence of the Hephthalite control of Sogdia, and becomes prominent in Sogdian coinage from 500 to 700 CE, including in the coinage of their indigenous successors the Ikhshids, ending with the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana.

Hephthalites continued to occupy the Tarim Basin until the end of their Empire, circa 560 CE.

Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang mentions that no envoys from the Hephthalites came before 516 to the southern court, and it was only in that year that a Hephthalite King named Yilituo Yandai sent an ambassador named Puduoda[].

Hephthalites's representation is derived from the iconography of the Iranian god Mithra, as revered in Sogdia.

Hephthalites is riding a two-wheeled golden charriot, pulled by four horses.

Hephthalites wears a crenalated crown with single crescent and korymbos, a round-neck tunic and a Sasanian headband.

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Hephthalites rulers are shown short-haired, wearing tunics, and are often depicted together with their female consort.

Circa 600, the Hephthalites were raiding the Sasanian Empire as far as Ispahan in central Iran.

The Hephthalites issued numerous coins imitating the coinage of Khosrow II, adding on the obverse a Hephthalite signature in Sogdian and a Tamgha symbol.

In 652 CE, following the Siege of Herat to which the Hephthalites participated, the Arabs captured the cities of northern Tokharistan, Balkh included, and the Hepthalites principalities were forced to pay tribute and accept Arab garrisons.

The Hephthalites again rebelled in 654 CE, leading to the Battle of Badghis.

The church's presence among the Hephthalites enabled them to expand their missionary work across the Oxus.

In 591, some Hephthalites serving in the army of the rebel Bahram Chobin were captured by Khosrow II and sent to the Roman emperor Maurice as a diplomatic gift.

Hephthalites governed a confederation of various people, many of whom were probably of Iranian descent, speaking an Iranian language.

Historians such as Beckwith, referring to Etienne de la Vaissiere, say that the Hephthalites were not necessarily one and the same as the Hunas.