Kidarites
Sign in to saveThe Kidarites, or Kidara Huns, were a dynasty that ruled Bactria and adjoining parts of Central Asia and India in the 4th and 5th centuries. The Kidarites belonged to a complex group of peoples known collectively in India as the Huna, and in Europe as the Chionites (from the Iranian names Xwn/Xyon), and may even be considered as identical to the Chionites. The 5th century Byzantine historian Priscus called them Kidarite Huns, or "Huns who are Kidarites". Chinese annals referred to them as the Ta Yüeh-chih, or Lesser Yüeh-chih. The Huna/Xionite tribes are often linked, albeit controversially, t
Key facts
- Country.native_name
- Kidarites
- Country.common_name
- Kidarites
- Country.government_type
- Monarchy
- Country.era
- Late Antiquity
- Country.year_start
- 320 CE
- Country.year_end
- 467 CE
- Country.p1
- Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom
- Country.p2
- Kushan Empire
- Country.s2
- Hephthalites
- Country.s1
- Alchon Huns
- Country.flag_type
- Kidarite Tamga
- Country.image_coat
- Kidarite_Tamga.png
- Country.symbol_type
- Tamga of the Kidarites
- Country.image_map_caption
- Territory of the Kidarite kingdom, and main Asian polities
- Country.image_map2_caption
- Territory of the Kidarites,
- Country.common_languages
- Bactrian (written)
- Country.capital
- Bactria
- Country.religion
- BuddhismHinduism
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
Show 3 more facts
- Commons category
- Kidarites
- inception
- 0301-00-00
- dissolved, abolished or demolished date
- 0520-00-00
via Wikidata · CC0
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Article
18 sectionsContents
- Origins
- Kidarite kingdom
- First appearance in literary sources
- Migration into Bactria
- Fortresses
- Expansion to northwest India
- Economy
- Religion
- Conflicts with the Gupta Empire
- Conflict with Sasanian emperor Peroz I and the Hephthalites
- Continental synchronism of Hunnic wars
- Kidarite successors
- Ushrushana
- Main Kidarite rulers
- See also
- References and notes
- Sources
- Further reading
The Kidarites, or Kidara Huns, were a dynasty that ruled Bactria and adjoining parts of Central Asia and India in the 4th and 5th centuries. The Kidarites belonged to a complex group of peoples known collectively in India as the Huna, and in Europe as the Chionites (from the Iranian names Xwn/Xyon), and may even be considered as identical to the Chionites. The 5th century Byzantine historian Priscus called them Kidarite Huns, or "Huns who are Kidarites". Chinese annals referred to them as the Ta Yüeh-chih, or Lesser Yüeh-chih. The Huna/Xionite tribes are often linked, albeit controversially, to the Huns who invaded Eastern Europe around the same period. They are entirely different from the Hephthalites, who replaced them about a century later.
The Kidarites were named after Kidara (Chinese: 寄多羅 Jiduoluo, MC: Kjie-ta-la) one of their main rulers. The Kidarites appear to have been a part of a Huna horde known in Latin sources as the "Kermichiones" (from the Iranian Karmir Xyon) or "Red Huna". The Kidarites established the first of four major Xionite/Huna states in Central Asia, followed by the Alchon, the Hephthalites and the Nezak.