Chionites, Chionitae or Xionites () meaning "Western Barbarians", Middle Persian: Xiyon, (Hiun/Hion), Avestan: Xiiaona) were a nomadic tribe prominent in Transoxania and Bactria.Wolgang Felix in Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Chionites". ( to Online Edition 2006)
The Chionites arrived in the mid-4^th century with the wave of immigration from Central Asia into Iran in late antiquity. They had been influenced by the Kushan and Bactrian cultures, and became a threat on the northeastern frontier of the Sassanid Empire.A. Shapur Shahbazi in Encyclopedia Iranica, "Sasanian Dynasty". ( to Online Edition 2006)

Origins

It is difficult to determine the ethnic composition of the Chionites. In addition, there is no evidence that the Chionites were different from the Hephthalites. In other words, the Hepthalites may have been a prominent tribe or clan of the Chionites.

In 1932 Sir Harold Walter Bailey wrote:Harold Walter Bailey, Iranian Studies, Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London. BSOAS, vol. 6, No. 4 (1932)

In 1944 Carlile Aylmer Macartney wrote:

A more recent specialist, Richard Nelson Frye wrote in 1991:

In 1992 Wolfgang Felix considered the Chionites a tribe of probable Iranian origin that was prominent in Bactria and Transoxania in late antiquity.

According to A.S. Shahbazi (2005), the Chionites were a "Hunnic" people who by the early fourth century had mixed with north Iranian elements in Transoxiana, adopted the Kushan-Bactrian language, and threatened Persia.

History

Early history

thumb|"Barbarians" according to Chinese cosmology of [[Han dynasty. Those in the east were called Dongyi (東夷), those in the west Xirong (西戎), those in the south Nanman (南蠻), and those in the north Beidi (北狄).]]
In the earliest periods, the Chionites (Xiōng (匈) were more of a concern to the Chinese than to the Persians. They dominated the smaller Donghu nations beyond Tianshan in the East Asian steppes who were known as the Xiong (匈)'s Serfs until the Xionites hold over them was broken by the Chinese by the end of the Sino-Xiongnu War. Chionite campaigns are better documented in connection with the history of Central Asia, particularly during the second half of the 4^th century AD until the mid 5^th century AD. Their most famous rulers were called the Kidarites.

At the end of the 4^th century AD, a new wave of Hunnic tribes (Alchon) invaded Bactria, pushing the Kidarites into Gandhara.

Alchon

Alchon or Alχon (Uarkhon) became the new name of the Chionites in 460 when Khingila I united the Uar with the Chionites under his Hephthal ruling élite. In India the Alchon were not distinguished from their immediate White Huns predecessors and both are known as Sveta-Hunas there. Perhaps complimenting this term, Procopius (527-565) wrote that they were white skinned, had an organized kingship, and that their life was not wild/nomadic but that they lived in cities. The Alchon were called Varkhon or Varkunites (Ouar-Khonitai) by Menander Protector (538-582) literally referring to the Uar and Hunnoi. Around 630, Theophylact Simocatta wrote that the European "Avars" were initially composed of two nations, the Uar and the Hunnoi tribes. He wrote that: "...the Barsilt, the Unogurs and the Sabirs were struck with horror... and honoured the newcomers with brilliant gifts..."Theophilactus Simocatta, Historiae, -Ed. C. deBoor. Lipsiae, 1887, ps.251, 258 when the Avars first arrived in their lands in 555AD.

Although the power of the Alchon in Bactria was shattered in the 560's by a combination of Sassanid and proto-Turkic forces, the last Hephthal king Narana/Narendra managed to maintain some kind of rule between 570 and 600 AD over the 'nspk' or 'napki' or 'nezak' tribes that remained after most of the Alchon had fled to the west.

Coinage

Alchon Huns refers to a tribe which minted coins in Bactria in the 5th & 6th centuries. The name Khigi on one of the coins and Narendra on another has led some scholars of the area to believe that the Hephthalite Khagans Khingila and Narana were of the AlChoNo tribe inscribed in Bactrian script on the coins in question. They imitated the earlier style of their Hephthalite predecessors, the Kidarite Hun successors to the Kushans. In particular the Alchon style imitates the coins of Kidarite Varhran I (syn. Kushan Varhran IV).

Red Huns and White Huns

The name Xyon is found in Avestan and Pahlavi texts. In the Avestan tradition (Yts. 9.30-31, 19.87) the Xiiaona were characterized as enemies of Vishtaspa, the patron of Zoroaster. In the later Pahlavi tradition, the Red Huns (Karmir Xyon) and White Huns (Spet Xyon) are mentioned. The Red Huns of the Pahlavi tradition (7th C.) have been identified by Harold Walter Bailey as the Kermichiones or Ermechiones. According to Bailey the Hara Huna of Indian sources are to be identified with the Karmir Xyon of the Avesta. Similarly he identifies the Sveta Huna of Indian sources with the Spet Xyon of the Avesta. Bailey argues that the name Xyon was transferred to the Huna owing to similarity of sound, as Tur was adapted to Turk in Pahlavi tradition. It is necessary therefore to differentiate between "Kermichiones/Ermechiones", "Red Huns" or "Hara Huna", identified with the Kidarite dynasty, and "Xionites" "White Huns" or "Sveta Huna", identified with the Hephthalite dynasty.

See also

• European Avars

• Hunas

• Uar

• Hunni