Hunni
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yǔn (狁) or Xūn (獯) (Armenian: Hunni, Pahlavi:Huna) is the name of a tribal polity from Turan that organised themselves into Northern "Black" (beyond the Jaxartes), Southern "Red" (in Hindu Kush south of the Oxus), Eastern "Blue" (in Tianshan), and Western "White" (around Khiva) hordes. They were the Húnyí (混夷) "Mixed-Barbarians" that Chinese records mention roaming in the west.
Echoes of ancient struggles with them can be seen in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh in the conflicts with Turan. Artefacts found from the area they inhabited dating from their period indicate their totem animal seems to have been the (rein)deer. An inscription on the walls of the royal palace in Persepolis about Darius's empire calls them Hunae. It appears that a combination of both the Battle of Ikh Bayan and Ban Chao's efforts are responsible for their first appearance in the West. The Armenian historian Moses of Khorene (fifth century), 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]). Later, the Armenian Patriarch John (c.728) mentions an ancient town of Hunor's foundation (Hunorcerta) in the Otene region suggesting a connection to the Utigur. The Armenian Agathangelus also mentions also that there are "Huns" living amongst the peoples of the Caucasus Mtns.
Rule came from the Hū (呼) clan (originally from Afrasiab) based in Hūsìmì (呼似密). According to Sima Qian, these rulers were descendants of Chunwei (淳維), son of Jie, the final ruler of the Xia Dynasty. According to the Armenian sources their capital was at Balkh (Armenian: Kush).
They have thus often been referred to as Xiōng (匈) or Xīyung4 (西戎) meaning "Western Barbarians" in China and Xiyon (Hiun/Hion) in Persian. They dominated the smaller Donghu nations beyond Tianshan in the East Asian steppes who were known as the Xiong(匈)'s Serfs until the Xiong's hold over them was broken by the Chinese by the end of the the Sino-Xiongnu War.
