Afghanistan, Hephtalites, 1 Drachm – ND

Description

The heftalitas or white huns formed an empire in Central Asia, becoming important among the victory over the Kiditas towards the 450 A.D. and the defeat against Sasánidas and the first Turkish Khaganate in the 560 A.D. Apparently they were vassals of the Yuan Yuan who subsequently gained their own strength, but would have adopted certain customs (including the name Khan) of those. Its origin and relationship with other huns (those who invade Eastern Europe at this time, the Huns Alchon, or the Hunos Nezak), is not clear. In any case, they were a tribal confederation formed by both nomads and sedentary and centered on botria, among the current Afghanistan and Uzbequistan. Its expansion, pushed the Huns Alchon north of India. Apparently they adopted the botrio as their language as the Kushan had done, being a language of Iranian origin, but written in Greek. Some historians consider them an alliance of tribes of different origins, considering that the leaders were probably of Turkish origin. On the relationship with the Huns of Atila, as we have said, things are not very clear. Apparently various groups would have used the term hun to identify themselves by the fear it generated, but the historian Procopio de Cesarea, established clear social and aspect distinctions between the Huns of Attila and the hephthalites. In any case, it is believed that all these migrations have a common root that is probably a climate change in Central Asia that forced many peoples to dispute more scarce resources and emigrate in a waterfall. As we have said, its importance as an empire comes to an end after the defeat at the hands of the Sasanids and the first Turkish Khaganate, later remaining in some places as regional leaders for just over a century.