(Redirected from Hun)
Hunnish Camp.
The 'Huns' were an early confederation of
Central Asian
equestrian nomads or semi-nomads.
[1] .
Some of these
Eurasian tribes moved into
Europe in the
4th and
5th centuries, most famously under
Attila the Hun. Huns remaining in
Asia are recorded by neighboring peoples to the south, east, and west as having occupied Central Asia roughly from the 4th century to the 6th century, with some surviving in the
Caucasus until the early 8th century. The only extant description of Attila's appearance is that of
Priscus: ''"short of stature, with a broad chest and a large head; his eyes were small, his beard thin and sprinkled with gray; and he had a flat nose and a swarthy complexion, showing the evidences of his origin."''
Origin and identity
Hunnish Cavalary.
Research and debate about the
Asian ancestral origins of the Huns has been ongoing since the 18th century. For example
philologists still debate to this day which
ethnonym from
Chinese,
Persian or
Armenian sources is identical with the
Latin ''Hunni'' or the
Greek ''Chounnoi'' as evidence of the Huns' identity.
[2]
Recent
genetic research
shows that each of the great
confederations of steppe warriors was not an ethnically
homogeneous people, but rather an ethnic union of '
Ural-Altaic' (
Turkic,
Tungus,
Mongol, and
Finno-Ugric) clans. Hun identity is further complicated by the fame of the name, as apparently many
clans claimed to be Huns for the prestige of the name. Similarly, Greek or Latin chroniclers may have used "Huns" in a more general sense, to describe social or ethnic characteristics, believed place of origin, or reputation.
2 "''All we can say safely''", says
Walter Pohl,"''is that the name Huns, in late antiquity, described prestigious ruling groups of steppe warriors''".
2
These views come in the context of the
ethnocentric and
nationalistic scholarship of past generations, which often presumed that ethnic homogeneity must underlie a socially and culturally homogeneous people.
[3]
Evidence from genetic and
ethnogenesis research contrasts with traditional theories based on
Chinese records,
archaeology,
linguistics and other indirect evidence. These theories contain various elements: that the name "Hun" first described a nomadic ruling group of warriors whose ethnic origins were in
Central Asia, and was most likely in present day
Mongolia; that possibly they were related to, or part of, the
Xiongnu（匈奴 which means 'fierce slaves') (first suggested by
Joseph de Guignes in the 18th century); that the Xiongnu were defeated by the
Chinese Han Empire; and that this is why they left Mongolia and moved west, eventually invading
Europe 200 years later. Indirect evidence includes the transmission of the
composite bow, the so-called
Hun bow, from
Central Asia to the west.
This narrative is ingrained in western (and eastern) historiography, but the evidence is often indirect or ambiguous. The Huns left practically no written records. There is no record of what happened between the time they left
China and arrived in Europe 150 years later. The last mention of the northern Xiongnu was their defeat by the Chinese in
151 at the lake of
Barkol, after which they fled to the western steppe at
K’ang-chü (centered on the city of
Turkistan in
Kazakhstan).
Chinese records between the
3rd and
4th century suggest that a small tribe called
Yueban, remnants of northern Xiongnu, was distributed about the steppe of
Kazakhstan.
One recent line of reasoning favors a political and cultural link between the Huns and the Xiongnu. The Central Asian (
Sogdian and
Bactrian) sources of the 4th century translate "Huns" as "Xiongnu", and "Xiongnu" as "Huns"; also, Xiongnu and Hunnish
cauldrons are virtually identical, and were buried on the same spots (river banks) in
Hungary and in the
Ordos.
[4]
The Huns may be of
Turkic origin. This school of thought emerged when
Joseph de Guignes in the
18th century identified the Huns with the ''Xiongnu'' or ''(H)siung-nu''.
[5] It is supported by O. Maenchen-Helfen on the basis of his
linguistic studies.
[6][7]
English scholar
Peter Heather called the Huns "the first group of Turkic, as opposed to
Iranian, nomads to have intruded into Europe".
[8]
Turkish researcher Kemal Cemal bolsters this assertion by showing similarities in words and names in
Turkic and
Hunnic languages, and similarities in systems of governance of Hunnic and Turkic tribes. Hungarian historian
Gyula Nemeth also supports this view.
[9]
Uyghur historian
Turghun Almas has suggested a link between the Huns and the Uyghurs, a
Turkic speaking people who reside in
Xinjiang,
China.
The so-called "
White Huns" of
Procopius were probably not related to the classical Huns, but were most likely related to the
Indo-European Iranians and
Tocharians.
[10][11][12]
History
2nd-5th centuries
Dionysius Periegetes describes a people who may be Huns living near the
Caspian Sea in the
2nd century. By AD
139, the European geographer
Ptolemy writes that the "Khuni" are next to the
Dnieper River and ruled by "Suni". He lists the "
Chuni" as among the "Sarmatian"
White Hun tribes in the second century, although it is not known for certain if these people were the Huns. The
5th century Armenian historian
Moses of Khorene, in his "History of Armenia," introduces the ''Hunni'' near the
Sarmatians and describes their capture of the city of
Balk ("Kush" in
Armenian) sometime between
194 and
214, which explains why the
Greeks call that city ''Hunuk''.
Following the defeat of the
Xiongnu by the
Han, Xiongnu history is unknown for a century; thereafter, the Liu family of southern Xiongnu
Tiefu attempted to establish a state in western
China (see
Han Zhao).
Chionites (OIONO/Xiyon) appear on the scene in
Transoxiana in
320 immediately after
Jin Zhun overthrew
Liu Can, sending the Xiongnu into chaos. Later
Kidara came along to lead the
Chionites into pressing on the
Kushans.
In the west,
Ostrogoths came in contact with the Huns in AD
358. The Armenians mention
Vund c.370: the first recorded Hunnish leader in the
Caucasus region. The
Romans invited the Huns east of
Ukraine to settle
Pannonia in
361, and in
372 they pushed west led by their king
Balimir, and defeated the
Alans. In the east, in the early
5th century,
Tiefu Xia is the last southern Xiongnu dynasty in Western China and the ''
Alchon'' / ''
Huna'' appear in what is now
Afghanistan and
Pakistan. At this point deciphering Hunnish histories for the multi-linguist becomes easier with relatively well-documented events in
Byzantine,
Armenian,
Iranian,
Indian, and
Chinese sources.
European Huns
The Huns appeared in Europe in the
4th century, apparently from in Central Asia. They first appeared north of the
Black Sea, forcing a large number of
Goths to seek refuge in the Roman Empire; later, the Huns appeared west of the
Carpathians in
Pannonia, probably sometime between
400 and
410, perhaps triggering the massive migration of
Germanic tribes westward across the
Rhine in December
406.
The establishment of the
5th century Hunnic Empire marks a historically early instance of
horseback migration. Under the leadership of
Attila the Hun, the Huns achieved hegemony over several well-organized rivals by using superior weaponry such as the
Hun bow, and a well-organized system of taxation. Supplementing their wealth by plundering wealthy
Roman cities to the south, the Huns maintained the loyalties of a diverse number of tributary tribes.
Attila's Huns incorporated groups of unrelated
tributary peoples. In Europe,
Alans,
Gepids,
Scirii,
Rugians,
Sarmatians,
Slavs and
Gothic tribes all united under the Hun family military elite. After Attila's death, some of his Huns eventually settled in Pannonia, but the Empire dissolved after his sons were defeated by
Ardaric's coalition at the
Battle of Nedao in
454, at modern day
Nedava.
Memory of the Hunnish conquest was
transmitted orally among
Germanic peoples and is an important component in the
Old Norse ''
Völsunga saga'' and ''
Hervarar saga'', and the
Middle High German ''
Nibelungenlied'', all of which portray
Migrations period events a millennium before their written recordings. In the ''Hervarar saga'', the Goths make first contact with the bow-wielding Huns and meet them in an epic battle on the plains of the
Danube. In the ''Völsunga saga'' and the ''Nibelungenlied'', Attila (''
Atli'' in Norse and ''
Etzel'' in German) defeats the
Frankish king
Sigebert I (''
Sigurðr'' or ''
Siegfried'') and the
Burgundian King
Guntram (''
Gunnar'' or ''
Gunther''), but is later assassinated by Queen
Fredegund (''
Gudrun'' or ''
Kriemhild''), the sister of the latter and wife of the former.
Successor nations
Many nations have tried to assert themselves as ethnic or cultural successors to the Huns. For instance, the
Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans may indicate that they believed themselves to have been descended from Attila. The
Bulgars certainly were part of the Hun tribal alliance for some time, and some have hypothesized in the past that the
Chuvash language (which is believed to have descended from the
Bulgar language) is the closest surviving relative of the Hunnish language.
[13]
The
Magyars (Hungarians) also have laid claims to Hunnish heritage. Because the Huns who invaded Europe represented a loose coalition of various peoples, it is possible that Magyars were part of it. Until the early 20th century, many Hungarian historians believed that the
Székely people (the Hungarians' "brother nation" who live in
Transylvania) were the descendants of the Huns.
The names "Hun" and "Hungarian" sound alike, but differ in
etymology. The name "Hungarian" is derived from a Turkish phrase "onogur" which means "ten tribes", which possibly refers to a tribal covenant between the different Hungarian tribes that moved into the area of today's Hungary at the end of the 9th century.
In
2005, a group of about 2,500 Hungarians petitioned the government for recognition of minority status as direct descendants of Attila. The bid failed, but gained some publicity for the group, which formed in the early 1990s and appears to represent a special Hun(garian)-centric brand of mysticism. The self-proclaimed Huns are not known to possess any distinctly Hunnish culture or language beyond what would be available from historical and modern-mystical Hungarian sources.
[14]
While it is clear that the Huns left descendants all over Eastern Europe, the disintegration of the Hun Empire meant they never regained their lost glory. One reason was that the Huns never fully established the mechanisms of a state, such as bureaucracy and taxes, unlike the
Magyars or
Golden Horde. Once disorganized, the Huns were absorbed by more organized polities.
Historiography
The term "Hun" has been also used to describe peoples with no historical connection to what scholars consider to be "Huns".
On
July 27,
1900, during the
Boxer Rebellion in China,
Kaiser Wilhelm II of
Germany gave the order to "make the name 'German' remembered in China for a thousand years, so that no Chinaman will ever again dare to even squint at a German". This speech, wherein Kaiser Wilhelm invoked the memory of the
5th-century Huns, coupled with the
Pickelhaube or spiked
helmet worn by German forces until
1916, that was reminiscent of ancient Hun (and Hungarian) helmets, gave rise to later English use of the term for the German enemy during
World War I. This usage was reinforced by
Allied propaganda throughout the war, and many pilots of the RFC referred to their foe as "The Hun". The usage resurfaced during
World War II.
See also
★
Hunnic Empire
★
Hunnic language
★
List of Hunnic Rulers
★
Hungarian history
★
Xiongnu
Notes
1. Walter Pohl has remarked "early medieval peoples were far less homogeneous than often thought. They themselves shared the fundamental belief to be of common origin; and modern historians, for a long time, found no reason to think otherwise." (Walter Pohl, "Conceptions of Ethnicity in Early Medieval Studies" ''Debating the Middle Ages: Issues and Readings'', ed. Lester K. Little and Barbara H. Rosenwein, (Blackwell), 1998, p 16). In reviewing Joachim Werner's ''Beiträge zur Archäologie des Attila-Reiches'' (Munich 1956), in ''Speculum'' '33'.1 (January 1958), p 159, Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen noted with relief that "the author is not concerned with the slightly infantile question, 'who' the Huns were; he does not ask where the Huns 'ultimately' came from."
2. Walter Pohl (1999), "Huns" in ''Late Antiquity'', editor Peter Brown, p.501-502 .. further references to F.H Bauml and M. Birnbaum, eds., ''Atilla: The Man and His Image'' (1993). Peter Heather, "The Huns and the End of the Roman Empire in Western Europe," ''English Historical Review'' 90 (1995):4-41. Peter Heather, ''The Fall of the Roman Empire'' (2005). Otto Maenchen-Helfen, ''The World of the Huns'' (1973). E. de la Vaissière, Huns et Xiongnu "Central Asiatic Journal" 2005-1 pp. 3-26
3. Michael Kulikowski (2006). ''Rome's Gothic Wars''. Cambridge University Press. Page 52-54
4. E. de la Vaissière, Huns et Xiongnu "Central Asiatic Journal" 2005-1 pp. 3-26
5. "Sir H. H. Howorth, History of the Mongols (1876-1880); 6th Congress of Orientalists, Leiden, 1883 (Actes, part iv. pp. 177-195); de Guignes, Histoire generale des Huns, des Turcs, des Mongoles, et des autres Tartares occidentaux (1756-1758)"
6. Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen. The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture. University of California Press, 1973
7. Otto Maenchen-Helfen, Language of Huns
8. Peter Heather, "The Huns and the End of Roman Empire in Western Europe", ''The English Historical Review'', Vol. 110, No. 435, February 1995, p. 5.
9. "Europe: The Origins of the Huns", on The History Files, based on conversations with Kemal Cemal, Turkey, 2002
10. Columbia Encyclopedia
11. Encyclopædia Britannica
12. Encyclopaedia Iranica - ''"Hephthalites: Iranian Huns"''
13. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1997: ''Turkic languages''.
"Formerly, scholars considered Chuvash not properly a Turkic language at all but, rather, the only surviving representative of a separate subdivision of the Altaic languages probably spoken by the Huns."
14. BBC News - "Hungary blocks Hun minority bid" - By Nick Thorpe, April 12, 2005
Further reading
★ de la Vaissière, E. "Huns et Xiongnu", Central Asiatic Journal, 2005-1, p. 3-26.
★ Lindner, Rudi Paul. "Nomadism, Horses and Huns", ''Past and Present'', No. 92. (Aug., 1981), pp. 3–19.
★ Otto J. Mänchen-Helfen (ed. Max Knight): ''The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture'' (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1973) ISBN 0-520-01596-7
★ Otto J. Mänchen-Helfen: ''Huns and Hsiung-Nu'' (published in ''Byzantion'', vol. XVII, 1944-45, pp. 222-243)
★ Otto J. Mänchen-Helfen: ''The Legend of the Origin of the Huns'' (published in ''Byzantion'', vol. XVII, 1944-45, pp. 244-251)
★ E. A. Thompson: ''A History of Attila and the Huns'' (London, Oxford University Press, 1948)
★ J. Webster: ''The Huns and Existentialist Thought'' (Loudonville, Siena College Press, 2006)
★
Coinage and History of the White Huns- Waleed Ziad- Articles from the 'Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society', 2004-2006
★ The History Files
Europe: The Origins of the Huns, based on conversations with Kemal Cemal, Turkey, 2002
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