The Hephthalites or Ephthalites (), sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian as the Spet Xyon and in Sanskrit and Prakrit as the Sveta-huna), were a people who lived in Central Asia during the 5th to 8th centuries CE, and were a part of what numismatist calls Iranian Huns. 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. 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.
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. 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 from the east, possibly from the area of Pamir. 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.
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 Ephthal/Hephthal), often abbreviated Eb (ηβ), a name they wrote in the Bactrian script on some of their coins. The origin of the name "Hephthalites" is unknown, it may stem either from a Khotanese word *Hitala meaning "Strong",Bailey, H.W. (1979) Dictionary of Khotan Saka. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 482 from hypothetical Sogdian *Heβtalīt, plural of *Heβtalak,Gharib B. (1995) Sogdian dictionary. Tehran, Iran: Farhangan publications. p. xvi or from postulated Middle Persian *haft āl "the Seven Al".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
Name and ethnonyms
The Hephthalites called themselves ēbodālo (Bactrian: ; Greek script: ) in their inscriptions, which was commonly abbreviated to (, eb) in their coinage. An important and unique seal, held in the private collection of Professor Dr. Aman ur Rahman and published by Nicholas Sims-Williams in 2011, shows an early Hepthalite ruler with a round beardless face and slanted almond-shaped eyes, wearing a radiate crown with a single crescent, and framed by the Bactrian script legend ηβοδαλο ββγο ("The Lord [Yabghu] of the Hephthalites"). The seal is dated to the end 5th century- early 6th century CE.. "A seal bearing the legend ηβοδαλο ββγο, "Yabghu/governor of the Hephthal," shows the local, Bactrian form of their name, ēbodāl, which is commonly abbreviated to ηβ on their coins" The ethnic name "Ebodalo", and title "Ebodalo Yabghu", have also been discovered in contemporary Bactrian documents of the Kingdom of Rob describing administrative functions under the Hephthalites.Translations of Nicholas Sims-Williams, quoted in
Byzantine Greek sources referred to them as Ephthalîtai (), Abdel or Avdel. To the Armenians, the Hephthalites were Hephthal, Hep't'al & Tetal and sometimes identified with the Kushans. To the Persians, Hephthalites are Hephtal, Hephtel, & Hēvtāls. To Arabs, Hephthalites were Haital, Hetal, Heithal, Haiethal, Heyâthelites, (al-)Hayaṭila (), and sometimes identified as Turks. According to Zeki Velidi Togan (1985), the form Haytal in Persian and Arabic sources in the first period was a clerical error for Habtal, as Arabic ـبـ resembles ـيـ.Kurbanov, Aydogdy. (2013) "The Hephthalites Disappeared Or Not?" in Studia et Documenta Turcologica, 1. Presa Universitară Clujeană. p. 88 of 87-94
In Chinese chronicles, the Hephthalites are called Yàndàiyílìtuó (), or in the more usual abbreviated form, Yèdā or in the 635 Book of Liang as the Huá . The latter name has been given various Latinisations, including Yeda, Ye-ta, Ye-tha; Ye-dā and Yanda. The corresponding Cantonese and Korean names Yipdaat and Yeoptal (), which preserve aspects of the Middle Chinese pronunciation (IPA ) better than the modern Mandarin pronunciation, are more consistent with the Greek Hephthalite. Some Chinese chroniclers suggest that the root Hephtha- (as in Yàndàiyílìtuó or Yèdā) was technically a title equivalent to "emperor", while Huá was the name of the dominant tribe.
In ancient India, names such as Hephthalite were unknown. The Hephthalites were part of, or offshoots of, people known in India as Hunas or Turushkas, although these names may have referred to broader groups or neighbouring peoples. Ancient Sanskrit text Pravishyasutra mentions a group of people named Havitaras but it is unclear whether the term denotes Hephthalites. The Indians also used the expression "White Huns" (Sveta Huna) for the Hephthalites.
Geographical origin and expansion
According to recent scholarship, the stronghold of the Hephthalites was always Tokharistan on the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush, in what is present-day southern Uzbekistan and northern Afghanistan. Their capital was probably at Kunduz, which was known to the 11th-century scholar al-Biruni as War-Walīz, a possible origin of one of the names given by the Chinese to Hephthalites: (Middle Chinese (ZS) *ɦˠuat̚ > standard Chinese: Huá).
The Hephthalites may have come from the East, through the Pamir Mountains, possibly from the area of Badakhshan. Alternatively, they may have migrated from the Altai region, among the waves of invading Huns.
Following their westward or southward expansion, the Hephthalites settled in Bactria, and displaced the Alchon Huns, who expanded into Northern India. 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.
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 Rourans, who had been collecting heavy tribute from the oasis cities, but were now weakening under the assaults of the Chinese Northern Wei dynasty..
Origins and characteristics
There are several theories regarding the origins of the Hephthalites, with the Iranic and Altaic theories being the main ones. The most prominent theory at present seems to be that the Hephthalites were of Turkic origin, and later adopted the Bactrian language.. "The suggestion that the Hephthalites were originally of Turkic origin and only later adopted Bactrian as their administrative, and possibly native, language (de la Vaissière 2007: 122) seems to be most prominent at present."
According to most specialists, the Hephthalites adopted Bactrian as their official language, just as the Kushans had done, following their settlement in Bactria/Tokharistan. Bactrian was an Eastern Iranian language which was written in the Greek alphabet, a legacy of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom in the 3rd–2nd century BCE. Bactrian, beyond being an official language, was also the language of the local populations ruled by the Hephthalites..
The Hephthalites inscribed their coins in Bactrian. The titles they held were Bactrian, such as () or , 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. In 1959, Kazuo Enoki proposed that the Hephthalites were probably (East) Iranians who originated in Bactria/Tokharistan, based on the fact that ancient sources generally located them in the area between Sogdia and the Hindu-Kush, and the Hephthalites had some Iranian characteristics. Richard Nelson Frye cautiously accepted Enoki's hypothesis, while at the same time stressing that the Hephthalites "were probably a mixed horde". Frye writes:
A few scholars, such as Marquart and Grousset proposed Proto-Mongolic origins. Yu Taishan traced the Hephthalites' origins to the Xianbei and further to Goguryeo.
Other scholars such as de la Vaissière, based on a recent reappraisal of the Chinese sources, suggest that the Hephthalites were of Turkic origin, and later adopted the Bactrian language, first for administrative purposes, and possibly later as a native language. According to , this thesis is seemingly the "most prominent at present".. "The suggestion that the Hephthalites were originally of Turkic origin and only later adopted Bactrian as their administrative, and possibly native, language (de la Vaissière 2007: 122) seems to be most prominent at present."
Relation to European Huns According to Martin Schottky, the Hephthalites apparently had no direct connection with the European Huns, but may have been causally related with their movement. The tribes in question deliberately called themselves "Huns" in order to frighten their enemies. On the contrary, de la Vaissière considers that the Hephthalites were part of the great Hunnic migrations of the 4th century CE from the Altai region that also reached Europe, and that these Huns "were the political, and partly cultural, heirs of the Xiongnu". This massive migration was apparently triggered by climate change, with aridity affecting the mountain grazing grounds of the Altay Mountains during the 4th century CE. According to Amanda Lomazoff and Aaron Ralby, there is a high synchronicity between the "reign of terror" of Attila in the west and the southern expansion of the Hephthalites, with extensive territorial overlap between the Huns and the Hephthalites in Central Asia.
The 6th-century Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea (History of the Wars, Book I. ch. 3), related them to the Huns in Europe, but insisted on cultural and sociological differences, highlighting the sophistication of the Hephthalites:
Chinese chronicles
The Hephthalites were first known to the Chinese in 456 CE, when a Hephthalite embassy arrived at the Chinese court of the Northern Wei. The Chinese used various names for the Hephthalites, such as Hua (), Ye-tha-i-li-to (simp. , trad. ) or more briefly Ye-da (嚈噠).Du You, Tongdian "Vol. 193" folio 5b-6a Ancient imperial Chinese chronicles give various explanations about the origins of the Hephthalites: They were descendants "of the Gaoju or the Da Yuezhi" according to the earliest chronicles such as the Book of Wei or the History of the Northern Dynasties. They were descendants "of the Da Yuezhi tribes", according to many later chronicles.