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Chionites or Xionites Middle Persian: Xiyon, (Hiun/Hion) Chinese: Xiyung (西戎) meaning "Western Rong" or simply Yǔn (狁) or Xiong (匈), Armenian: Hunni, were the inhabitants of Turan from ancient times and dominated various subservient tribes to the east which were known to the Chinese as Xiongnu. According to Armenian sources their capital was at Balkh (Armenian: Kush). Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Coin of Kidara (reigned circa 360-380 CE), founder of the Kidarite Kingdom Obv: King Kidara standing. ... Persian is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... For the span of recorded history starting roughly 5,000-5,500 years ago, see Ancient history. ... This article is on the social structure. ... A Xiongnu belt buckle. ... Today Balkh is a small town in the Province of Balkh, Afghanistan, about 20 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, and some 74 km (46 miles) south of the Amu Darya, the Oxus River of antiquity, of which a tributary formerly flowed past Balkh. ...

Background

In the earliest periods, Xiyon were more of a concern to the Chinese than to the Persians, though echoes of ancient struggles with them can be seen in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh in the conflicts with Turan. The fifth century Armenian historian Moses of Khorene, in his "History of Armenia," introduces the Hunni near the Sarmatians and goes on to describe how they captured the city of Balk (Armenian "Kush") sometime between 194 and 214 explaining why the Greeks call that city Hunuk (Chinese: [1]). Xionite 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. When Liu Can was overthrown by Jin Zhun, and Shi Le established his state, many of the celesial Hunnish tribes around Pingyang (平陽, in modern Linfen, Shanxi) fled west along the Silk Road causing disturbances in Transoxiana as the Xionites began to encroach upon Khorasan and the frontiers of the Kushan state around 320 AD. The Persians of Iran (officially named Persia by West until 1935 while still referred to as Persia by some) are an Iranian people who speak Persian (locally named Fârsi by native speakers) and often refer to themselves as ethnic Iranians as well. ... Ferdowsi Tousi (فردوسی طوسی in Persian) (more commonly transliterated Firdausi, Ferdosi or Ferdusi) (935–1020) is considered to be one of the greatest Persian poets to have ever lived. ... Shahnameh Scenes from the Shahnameh carved into reliefs at Tus, where Ferdowsi is buried. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... (4th century - 5th century - 6th century - other centuries) Events Rome sacked by Visigoths in 410. ... Moses of Chorene was an Armenian scholar, who lived in the fifth century. ... Sarmatia Europæa separated from Sarmatia Asiatica by the Tanais (the River Don), based on Greek literary sources, in a map printed in London, ca 1770. ... Events Roman Empire Pescennius Niger, competitor of Septimius Severus for the Roman Empire, is defeated in three successive battles at Battle of Cyzicus, Battle of Nicaea and Battle of Issus, and killed outside Antioch by Severus troops. ... Liu Can (劉粲) (d. ... Jin Zhun (靳準) (d. ... Shi Le (石勒) (274-333), courtesy name Shilong (世龍), formally Emperor Ming of (Later) Zhao ((後)趙明帝), was the founding emperor of the Chinese/Jie state Later Zhao. ... The Later Zhao (Simplified Chinese character: 后赵, Traditional Chinese character: 後趙, Hanyu pinyin Hòuzhào) (319-351) was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Jin Dynasty (265-420) in China. ... Linfen (临汾) (Pingyang, Jin) is a prefecture-level city in the Prefecture of Linfen ( 临汾市) in the province of Shanxi of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Shanxi (Chinese: 山西; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Shan-hsi; Postal System Pinyin: Shansi) is a province in the northern part of the Peoples Republic of China. ... The Silk Road in the 1st century CE. For other uses, see Silk Road (disambiguation). ... Map showing modern Transoxiana. ... Khorasan (also spelled Khurasan and Khorassan; Xorasan or Xurasan in Kurdish; خراسان in Persian) is an area, located in eastern and northeastern Iran. ... Boundary of the Kushan empire, c. ...

Although they fought against the Sassanians, early 5th century "OIONO" coins (thought to have been minted by Xionite rulers) imitate Sassanian drachmas. For more information on coins see Alchon. Head of king Shapur II (Sasanian dynasty A.D. 4th century). ... Europe in 450 The 5th century is the period from 401 - 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... Alchon Huns refers to a tribe which minted coins in Bactria in the 5th & 6th centuries. ...

The Xionite king Grumbat mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus and included in the Kidara dynastic list was a cause of much concern to the Persians. Between 353 AD and 358 AD, the Xionites under Grumbat attacked in the eastern frontiers of Shapur II's empire along with other nomad tribes. After a prolonged struggle they were forced to conclude a peace, and their king, Grumbate, accompanied Shapur II in the war against the Romans. Victories of Xionites during their campaigns in the Eastern Caspian lands are described by Ammianus Marcellinus: Coin of Kidara (reigned circa 360-380 CE), founder of the Kidarite Kingdom Obv: King Kidara standing. ... Shapur II was king of Persia (310 - 379). ...

"Their new king Grumbat was already famous for "many victories". But notwithstanding the victories, the Xionites could not create a state union of some stability"

[Ammian Marcellin, p. 20].

A southern portion of Xionites in Transoxiana became better known as Kidarites from 360 AD after Kidara (Chinese: Ki-To-Lo) of the "Ki" clan (of Yuezhi ethnicity) a Kushan vassal in NWFP, led a Bactrian portion of Xionites to overthrow the Kushans in India where he established his dynasty. Coin of Kidara (reigned circa 360-380 CE), founder of the Kidarite Kingdom Obv: King Kidara standing. ... The migrations of the Yuezhi through Central Asia, from around 176 to 30 BCE. Yuezhi (Chinese:月氏, also 月支, Wade-Giles: Yüeh-Chih) or Da Yuezhi (Chinese:大月氏, also 大月支, Great Yuezhi) is the Chinese name for an ancient Central Asian people. ... Boundary of the Kushan empire, c. ... North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) is geographically the smallest of the four provinces of Pakistan. ... Boundary of the Kushan empire, c. ...

"Red Huns"

The southern "Huns" who remained in the Red Desert (the so-called Red Huns) eventually united with the Uar in 460 AD under Khingila I who established the Hephthalite empire which flourished until submiting to Gokturk rule in 567AD. The Kyzyl Kum (Uzbek: red sand; also called Qyzylqum) is a desert in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. ... According to Theophylaktos Simokattes, Uar (滑 Hua), along with the Hunnoi (混夷 Gun-i), are the names associated with the two biggest tribes of Procopiuss White Huns. They were called Varkhon or Varkunites (OuarKhonitai) by Menander Protector, after whom the Balkan mountains were named (by sheer coincidence the mythical home of... The Hephthalites, also known as White Huns, were a nomadic people who lived across western China, Central Asia, South Asia and northern India in the fourth through sixth centuries AD. The term Hephthalite derives from Greek, supposedly a rendering of Hayathelite (from the term Haital = Big/Powerful in the dialect...

White Huns

The Greek envoy Rhetor refers to the White Huns as Kidarites. In India, the Xionites are called Sveta-Hūna meaning "White Huns" and when they united with the Uar under the Hepthalite clan, the Indians made no distinction continuing to call all three Hunas. Indian records indicate that the Huna had already established themselves in Afghanistan and NWFP in present day Pakistan by the first half of the fifth century, and the Gupta emperor Skandagupta had repelled a Hūna invasion in 455 all before the Hephthal clan came along. Rhetoric (from Greek ρητωρ, rhêtôr, orator) is one of the three original liberal arts or trivium (the other members are dialectic and grammar). ... According to Theophylaktos Simokattes, Uar (滑 Hua), along with the Hunnoi (混夷 Gun-i), are the names associated with the two biggest tribes of Procopiuss White Huns. They were called Varkhon or Varkunites (OuarKhonitai) by Menander Protector, after whom the Balkan mountains were named (by sheer coincidence the mythical home of... Billon drachm of the Hephthalite King Napki Malka (Afghanistan/ Gandhara, c. ... North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) is geographically the smallest of the four provinces of Pakistan. ... Skandagupta was a ruler of northern India under the Gupta dynasty. ... Events June 2 - Gaiseric leads the Vandals into Rome and plunder the city for two weeks. ...

Relation to other "Huns"

The Xionites were probably the húnyí (混夷) "Mixed-Barbarians" that chinese records mention roaming in the west. Morevover, the journey of the Ki clan from Bactria to the Ukrainian and Danubian plains is recorded in various myths about the origins of certain European Hun tribes documented in the Kiev Chronicles, and by Bar Hebraeus, as well as in the Chronicle of the late 12thC. Jacobite patriarch of Antioch Michael the Syrian. However, western Huns already present on the Black Sea Steppes might not have been as closely related to the northern Black Desert Xionite "Kidarites" and their Alchon or Hunas relatives as is usually presumed. The Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes of diverse origin who appeared in Europe in the 4th century. ... The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara Gum (“Black Sand”) (Turkmen: Garagum, Russian: Каракумы) is a desert in Central Asia. ... Coin of Kidara (reigned circa 360-380 CE), founder of the Kidarite Kingdom Obv: King Kidara standing. ... Alchon Huns refers to a tribe which minted coins in Bactria in the 5th & 6th centuries. ... Billon drachm of the Hephthalite King Napki Malka (Afghanistan/ Gandhara, c. ...

Khingila I

Khingila I forced a portion of the Kidarites westward when he united the Red Desert Huns with the Uar and began pushing into India where they became known as the "White" (Sanskrit: Sveta) Hunas and were said to have been of fair complexion according to Procopius, although according to the central asian order of cosmic precedence, White Huns would simply mean Western Huns (as the name Xiyon actually implies). The Kyzyl Kum (Uzbek: red sand; also called Qyzylqum) is a desert in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. ... The Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes of diverse origin who appeared in Europe in the 4th century. ... According to Theophylaktos Simokattes, Uar (滑 Hua), along with the Hunnoi (混夷 Gun-i), are the names associated with the two biggest tribes of Procopiuss White Huns. They were called Varkhon or Varkunites (OuarKhonitai) by Menander Protector, after whom the Balkan mountains were named (by sheer coincidence the mythical home of... Billon drachm of the Hephthalite King Napki Malka (Afghanistan/ Gandhara, c. ... Procopius (in Greek Προκόπιος, c. ...

Sources

V.Zlatarski, Izvestieto na Mihail Sirijski za preselenieto na bylgarite. - V: Izbrani proizvedenija, I., S., 1972, s.52

See also

• List of Hunnic Rulers
• Kidarite Kingdom
• Alchoni
• Hunas
• Hazara
• Uar
• Priscos Rhetor
• Zakarias Rhetor