Hephthalites

The Hephthalites,^[1] also known as the White Huns (Sanskrit: Sveta-huna; Old Persian: Spet Xyon; Bactrian: Εβοδαλο, or Ebodalo in Romanized form),^[2][3] were an ethnic group whose members lived in Central Asia from the 5th to 8th century CE, part of the larger group of the Iranian Huns.^{[4][5][better source needed][dubious ]}

Map of the Hephthalite Empire circa 500 AD.

Hephthalites from period offering painting 6th century China.

History

The Hephthalites formed an empire, sometimes called the Imperial Hephthalites, and were militarily significant from 450 CE, when they defeated the Kidarites, to 560 CE, when combined forces from the First Turkic Khaganate and the Sassanid Empire defeated them.^[6][7] After 560 CE, they established "principalities" in the area of Tokharistan, under the suzerainty of the Western Turkic Khaganate (Traditional Chinese: 西突厥汗國) – north of the Oxus – and of the Sassanid Empire – in the areas south of the Oxus – before the Tokhara Yabghus took over the region in 625 CE.^{[7][better source needed]}

Related pages

• Sogdia
• Scythia
• Tocharians
• Tang Dynasty
• Sassanid Empire
• Indo-Iranian peoples
• Indo-Iranian languages