This volume is a concise introduction to the history and culture of the Huns. This ancient people had a famous reputation in Eurasian Late Antiquity. However, their history has often been evaluated as a footnote in the histories of the later Roman Empire and early Germanic peoples. Kim addresses this imbalance and challenges the commonly held assumption that the Huns were a savage people who contributed little to world history, examining striking geopolitical changes brought about by the Hunnic expansion over much of continental Eurasia and revealing the Huns' contribution to European, Iranian, Chinese and Indian civilization and statecraft. By examining Hunnic culture as a Eurasian whole, "The Huns" provides a full picture of their society which demonstrates that this was a complex group with a wide variety of ethnic and linguistic identities. Making available critical information from both primary and secondary sources regarding the Huns' Inner Asian origins, which would otherwise be largely unavailable to most English speaking students and Classical scholars, this is a crucial tool for those interested in the study of Eurasian Late Antiquity.
Author(s): Hyun Jin Kim
Series: Peoples of the Ancient World
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2016
Language: English
Pages: XIV+194
List of figures vii
List of maps ix
List of tables xi
Acknowledgements xiii
INTRODUCTION 1
Inner Asia: the homeland of the Huns 2
Nomads? The Huns, a heterogeneous agro-pastoralist society 4
The quest for ethnicity and origins: who are the Huns? 5
1. THE XIONGNU HUN EMPIRE 12
Political organization of the Xiongnu Huns 12
Political history of the Xiongnu Huns 19
Southern Xiongnu and Xianbei conquest of China 26
The archaeology of the Xiongnu 32
2. THE SO-CALLED 'TWO-HUNDRED YEARS INTERLUDE' 37
3. THE HUNS OF CENTRAL ASIA AND SOUTH ASIA: THE KIDARITE AND HEPHTHALITE WHITE HUNS 44
Who were the White Huns? 45
White Hunnic expansion and the Kidarite dynasty 47
White Hunnic Empire at its zenith under the Hephthalite dynasty 53
Later Hunnic states in Central Asia and South Asia 56
Political organization and culture of the White Huns 59
Hunnic impact on Iran and India 61
4. THE HUNS OF EUROPE 66
Pre-Hunnic Huns? 66
Europe on the eve of Hunnic arrival 67
The invasion of the Huns 74
Uldin 77
Ruga and Octar 79
Hunnic political organization in Europe 81
5. ATTILA THE HUN 92
Bleda and Attila 92
Attila as the supreme ruler 93
Attila invades the west 95
6. THE HUNS AFTER ATTILA 109
Hunnic civil war and the dissolution of the Hunnic Empire 109
Post-Attila kings of Europe 114
Brief reunification and final dissolution of the western Hunnic realm 125
7. THE HUNS OF THE PONTIC STEPPES: THE UTIGUR-KUTRIGUR 'BULGAR' HUNS 132
The Oghurs 132
The political history of the Bulgar Huns, the Caucasian Huns and the Avars 135
8. THE LEGACY OF THE HUNS 142
Redrawing the political map of Europe 142
Impact of the Hun Inner Asian political model 149
The impact of the Huns and Alans on European military practices 159
Cultural and artistic influence of the Huns in the light of archaeological evidence 164
CONCLUSION 174
Select bibliography 177
Index 189
