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72-561: The Persian name is believed to possibly be a reference to gold found in bed of the Zarafshan River and its tributaries, which has ushered prosperity to the region from ancient times. The range extends over 370 kilometres (230 mi) in an east−west direction along the south of Sughd Region in Tajikistan , reaching the highest point of 5,489 metres (18,009 ft) (Chimtarga Peak) in its central part. South-west of Panjakent

144-576: A brother of Peroz took the Sasanian throne. In 488, a Hepthalite army vanquished the Sasaniana army of Balash, and was able to put Kavad I (488–496, 498–531) on the throne. In 496–498, Kavad I was overthrown by the nobles and clergy, escaped, and restored himself with a Hephthalite army. Joshua the Stylite reports numerous instances in which Kavadh led Hepthalite ("Hun") troops, in the capture of

216-504: A gorge going across the ridge. The road connecting Dushanbe and Khujand is built in the ridge. The geological formations in the mountains of the upper Zarafshan Valley contain minerals such as coal, iron, gold alum and sulphur. Gold is reported from the entire course of the Fan Darya, Kashtutu Darya, and Maghian Darya. The slopes of the range have been populated since antiquity. Prehistoric Siypantosh Rock Paintings are preserved in

288-527: A group of people named Havitaras but it is unclear whether the term denotes Hephthalites. The Indians also used the expression "White Huns" ( Sveta Huna ) for the Hephthalites. According to recent scholarship, the stronghold of the Hephthalites was always Tokharistan on the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush , in what is present-day southern Uzbekistan and northern Afghanistan . Their capital

360-400: A length of 2,530 kilometres (1,570 mi). There are several passes crossing the range, including Akhba-Tavastfin, Akhba-Bevut, Akhba-Guzun, Akhba-Surkltat, Darkh Pass, Minora, and Marda-Kishtigeh. Various elevations include 3,550 metres (11,650 ft) at Kshtut Pass, 5,600 metres (18,400 ft) at Mount Chandara, and 4,600 metres (15,100 ft) at Mount Hazret Sultan. Fan Darya makes

432-526: A local tribe of the Tokharistan ( Bactria ) region, with their origin in the nearby Western Himalayas . He also used as an argument the presence of numerous Bactrian names among the Hephthalites, and the fact that the Chinese reported that they practiced polyandry , a well-known West Himalayan cultural trait. According to a recent reappraisal of the Chinese sources by de la Vaissière (2003), only

504-623: A recent reappraisal of the Chinese sources, suggest that the Hephthalites were initially of Turkic origin, and later adopted the Bactrian language, first for administrative purposes, and possibly later as a native language — according to Rezakhani (2017) , this thesis is seemingly the "most prominent at present". In effect, the Hephthalites may have been a confederation of various people, speaking different languages. According to Richard Nelson Frye : Just as later nomadic empires were confederations of many peoples, we may tentatively propose that

576-991: Is crossed in the meridional direction by three rivers: the Fan Darya , the Kashtutu Darya , and the Maghian Darrya , all of which flow north and are left tributaries of the Zarafshan. The part of the Zarafshan Range east of the Fan Darya is known as the Matcha Range . It has heights around 5 kilometres (16,000 ft) and in the east, it is connected to the Alay Range and the Turkestan Range. This point (the Matcha Mountains)

648-582: Is dated to 483/484 CE. With the Sasanian Empire paying a heavy tribute, from 474, the Hephthalites themselves adopted the winged, triple-crescent crowned Peroz I as the design for their coinage. Benefiting from the influx of Sasanian silver coins , the Hephthalites did not develop their own coinage: they either minted coins with the same designs as the Sasanians, or simply countermarked Sasanian coins with their own symbols. They did not inscribe

720-733: Is the location of the Zarafshan Glacier , which is 24.75 kilometres (15.38 mi) long and is one of the longest glaciers of the Central Asia. The northern slopes of the Matcha Range are relatively smooth and descend to the Zarafshan, whereas the southern slopes sharply drop to the valley of the Yaghnob River . The highest part of the range is located between the Fan Darya and the Kashtutu Darya and includes

792-533: Is unlike that of their kinsmen, nor do they live a savage life as they do; but they are ruled by one king, and since they possess a lawful constitution, they observe right and justice in their dealings both with one another and with their neighbors, in no degree less than the Romans and the Persians The Hephthalites were first known to the Chinese in 456 CE, when a Hephthalite embassy arrived at

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864-597: The Beishi , describing the situation in the first half of the 6th century CE around the time Song Yun visited Central Asia, the language of the Hephthalites was different from that of the Rouran, Gaoju or other tribes of Central Asia, but that probably reflects their acculturation and adoption of the Bactrian language since their arrival in Bactria in the 4th century CE. The Liangshu and Liang Zhigongtu do explain that

936-518: The Altai region, among the waves of invading Huns. Following their westward or southward expansion, the Hephthalites settled in Bactria , and displaced the Alchon Huns , who expanded into Northern India. The Hephthalites came into contact with the Sasanian Empire , and were involved in helping militarily Peroz I seize the throne from his brother Hormizd III . Later, in the late 5th century,

1008-664: The First Turkic Khaganate and the Sasanian Empire defeated them. After 560 CE, they established "principalities" in the area of Tokharistan , under the suzerainty of the Western Turks (in the areas north of the Oxus ) and of the Sasanian Empire (in the areas south of the Oxus ), before the Tokhara Yabghus took over in 625. The Imperial Hephthalites, based in Bactria , expanded eastwards to

1080-613: The Kidarites (who arrived from around 380 CE), but recent studies suggest that instead there may have been a single massive wave of nomadic migrations around 350–360 CE, the "Great Invasion", triggered by climate change and the onset of aridity in the grazing grounds of the Altay region, and that these nomadic tribes vied for supremacy thereafter in their new territories in Southern Central Asia. As they rose to prominence,

1152-699: The Kidarites and by the Alkhon , and succeeded by the Nezak Huns and by the First Turkic Khaganate. All of these Hunnic peoples have often been controversially linked to the Huns who invaded Eastern Europe during the same period, and/or have been referred to as "Huns", but scholars have reached no consensus about any such connection. The stronghold of the Hephthalites was Tokharistan (present-day southern Uzbekistan and northern Afghanistan ) on

1224-876: The Middle Chinese pronunciation ( IPA [ʔjɛpdɑt] ) better than the modern Mandarin pronunciation, are more consistent with the Greek Hephthalite . Some Chinese chroniclers suggest that the root Hephtha- (as in Yàndàiyílìtuó or Yèdā ) was technically a title equivalent to "emperor", while Huá was the name of the dominant tribe. In ancient India , names such as Hephthalite were unknown. The Hephthalites were part of, or offshoots of, people known in India as Hunas or Turushkas , although these names may have referred to broader groups or neighbouring peoples. Ancient Sanskrit text Pravishyasutra mentions

1296-696: The Northern Wei (i.e. circa 360 CE) 嚈噠國 ，或云 高車 之別種，或云 大月氏 之別種。其原出於塞北。自金山而南。[...] 至 後魏 文帝 時已八九十年矣 The Gaoju (高車 lit. "High Cart"), also known as Tiele , were early Turkic speakers related to the earlier Dingling , who were once conquered by the Xiongnu . Weishu also mentioned the linguistic and ethnic proximity between the Gaoju and the Xiongnu. De la Vaissière proposes that the Hephthalites had originally been one Oghuric-speaking tribe who belonged

1368-754: The Osh and Batken regions of Kyrgyzstan . The Syr Darya river flows through it. It contains the Akash Massif and Mogoltau Massif Important Bird Areas . Sughd is separated from the rest of Tajikistan by the Gissar Range (passes may be closed in winter). The southern part of the region is the east-west valley of the upper Zarafshan River . North, over the Turkestan Range, is the Ferghana Valley . The region has 29% of Tajikistan's population and one-third of its arable land . It produces two-thirds of

1440-615: The Rouran Khaganate but split from their overlords in the early fifth century. The next time they were mentioned was in Persian sources as foes of Yazdegerd II (435–457), who from 442, fought 'tribes of the Hephthalites', according to the Armenian Elisee Vardaped . In 453, Yazdegerd moved his court east to deal with the Hephthalites or related groups. In 458, a Hephthalite king called Akhshunwar helped

1512-783: The Sasanian Emperor Peroz I (458–484) gain the Persian throne from his brother. Before his accession to the throne, Peroz had been the Sasanian for Sistan in the far east of the Empire, and therefore had been one of the first to enter into contact with the Hephthalites and request their help. The Hephthalites may have also helped the Sasanians to eliminate another Hunnic tribe, the Kidarites : by 467, Peroz I, with Hephthalite aid, reportedly managed to capture Balaam and put an end to Kidarite rule in Transoxiana once and for all. The weakened Kidarites had to take refuge in

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1584-649: The Sasanian Empire , but some of them remained as local rulers in the region of Tokharistan for the next 150 years, under the suzerainty of the Western Turks, followed by the Tokhara Yabghus . Among the principalities which remained in Hephthalite hands even after the Turkic overcame their territory were: Chaganian , and Khuttal in the Vakhsh Valley . The Hephthalites were originally vassals of

1656-547: The Tarim Basin , westwards to Sogdia and southwards through Afghanistan , but they never went beyond the Hindu-Kush , which was occupied by the Alchon Huns , previously thought to be an extension of the Hephthalites. They were a tribal confederation and included both nomadic and settled urban communities. They formed part of the four major states known collectively as Xyon (Xionites) or Huna , being preceded by

1728-896: The White Huns (also known as the White Hunas , in Iranian as the Spet Xyon and in Prakrit as the Sveta-huna ), were a people who lived in Central Asia during the 5th to 8th centuries CE, part of the larger group of Eastern Iranian Huns . They formed an empire, the Imperial Hephthalites , and were militarily important from 450 CE, when they defeated the Kidarites , to 560 CE, when combined forces from

1800-477: The Xiongnu ". This massive migration was apparently triggered by climate change , with aridity affecting the mountain grazing grounds of the Altay Mountains during the 4th century CE. According to Amanda Lomazoff and Aaron Ralby, there is a high synchronicity between the "reign of terror" of Attila in the west and the southern expansion of the Hephthalites, with extensive territorial overlap between

1872-661: The Yaghnob Valley are the Yaghnobi . The Fann Mountains, and, to a lesser extent, the Matcha Mountains are popular among mountaineers and hikers. Sughd Region Sughd Province , also referred to as the Sogdia Region , is one of the four administrative divisions and one of the three provinces that make up Tajikistan . Centered in the historical Sogdiana , it is located in the northwest of

1944-448: The official language of the Hephthalite elite was East Iranian. In 1959, Kazuo Enoki proposed that the Hephthalites were probably Indo-European (East) Iranians who originated in Bactria / Tokharistan , based on the fact that ancient sources generally located them in the area between Sogdia and the Hindu-Kush , and the Hephthalites had some Iranian characteristics. Richard Nelson Frye cautiously accepted Enoki's hypothesis, while at

2016-579: The Bandian complex in 484 CE. In 456–457 a Hephthalite embassy arrived in China, during the reign of Emperor Wen of the Northern Wei . By 458 they were strong enough to intervene in Persia . Around 466 they probably took Transoxianan lands from the Kidarites with Persian help but soon took from Persia the area of Balkh and eastern Kushanshahr . In the second half of the fifth century they controlled

2088-495: The Chinese court of the Northern Wei . The Chinese used various names for the Hephthalites, such as Hua (滑), Ye-tha-i-li-to (simp. 厌带夷栗陁, trad. 厭帶夷粟陁) or more briefly Ye-da (嚈噠). Ancient imperial Chinese chronicles give various explanations about the origins of the Hephthalites: Kazuo Enoki made a first groundbreaking analysis of the Chinese sources in 1959, suggesting that the Hephthalites were

2160-599: The European Huns , but may have been causally related with their movement. The tribes in question deliberately called themselves "Huns" in order to frighten their enemies. On the contrary, de la Vaissière considers that the Hepthalites were part of the great Hunnic migrations of the 4th century CE from the Altai region that also reached Europe, and that these Huns "were the political, and partly cultural, heirs of

2232-577: The Fann Mountains. The western part of the range is up to 3 kilometres (9,800 ft) and is forested. The southern slopes of the western part of the ridge belong to the drainage basin of the Kashka Darya , which rises in the range's southern watershed. The river terminates between Panjakent and Lake Karakul . Water is precious in the region and is utilized for irrigation − an irrigation system that has developed involves 85 main canal totalling

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2304-564: The Gaoju/Tiele confederation. This and several later Chinese chronicles also report that the Hephthalites may have originated from the Da Yuezhi , probably because of their settlement in the former Da Yuezhi territory of Bactria . Later Chinese sources become quite confused about the origins of the Hephthalites, and this may be due to their progressive assimilation of Bactrian culture and language once they settled there. According to

2376-490: The Hephthalites displaced the Kidarites and then the Alchon Huns , who expanded into Gandhara and Northern India. The Hephthalites also entered into conflict with the Sasanians. The reliefs of the Bandian complex seem to show the initial defeat of the Hephthalites against the Sasanians in 425 CE, and then their alliance with them, from the time of Bahram V (420-438 CE), until they invaded Sasanian territory and destroyed

2448-561: The Hephthalites expanded into vast areas of Central Asia , and occupied the Tarim Basin as far as Turfan , taking control of the area from the Rourans , who had been collecting heavy tribute from the oasis cities, but were now weakening under the assaults of the Chinese Northern Wei dynasty . There have been several theories regarding the origins of the Hephthalites, with the Iranian and Altaic theories being

2520-513: The Hephthalites originally had no written language and adopted the hu (local, "Barbarian") alphabet, in this case, the Bactrian script . Overall, de la Vaissière considers that the Hephthalites were part of the great Hunnic migrations of the 4th century CE from the Altai region that also reached Europe and that these Huns "were the political, and partly cultural, heirs, of the Xiongnu ". The Hepthalites appear in several mural paintings in

2592-527: The Hephthalites were Hephthal , Hep't'al & Tetal and sometimes identified with the Kushans . To the Persians, Hephthalites are Hephtal, Hephtel, & Hēvtāls. To Arabs, Hephthalites were Haital , Hetal , Heithal , Haiethal , Heyâthelites , (al-)Hayaṭila ( هياطلة ), and sometimes identified as Turks . According to Zeki Velidi Togan (1985), the form Ha y tal in Persian and Arabic sources in

2664-518: The Hephthalites"). The seal is dated to the end 5th century- early 6th century CE. The ethnic name "Ebodalo", and title "Ebodalo Yabghu", have also been discovered in contemporary Bactrian documents of the Kingdom of Rob describing administrative functions under the Hephthalites. Byzantine Greek sources referred to them as Hephthalitae ( Ἐφθαλῖται ), Abdel or Avdel . To the Armenians,

2736-462: The Huns and the Hephthalites in Central Asia. The 6th-century Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea (History of the Wars, Book I. ch. 3), related them to the Huns in Europe, but insisted on cultural and sociological differences, highlighting the sophistication of the Hephthalites: The Ephthalitae Huns, who are called White Huns [...] The Ephthalitae are of the stock of the Huns in fact as well as in name, however, they do not mingle with any of

2808-412: The Huns known to us, for they occupy a land neither adjoining nor even very near to them; but their territory lies immediately to the north of Persia [...] They are not nomads like the other Hunnic peoples, but for a long period have been established in a goodly land... They are the only ones among the Huns who have white bodies and countenances which are not ugly. It is also true that their manner of living

2880-409: The Northern Wei ( Weishu ) as quoted in the later Tongdian , reports that they migrated southward from the Altai region circa 360 CE: The Hephthalites are a branch of the Gaoju (高車, "High Carts") or the Da Yuezhi , they originated from the north of the Chinese frontier and came down south from the Jinshan ( Altai ) mountains [...] This was 80 to 90 years before Emperor Wen (r. 440–465 CE) of

2952-431: The Turkic Gaoju origin of the Hephthalites should be retained as indicative of their primary ethnicity, and the mention of the Da Yuezhi only stems from the fact that, at the time, the Hephthalites had already settled in the former Da Yuezhi territory of Bactria , where they are known to have used the Eastern Iranian Bactrian language . The earliest Chinese source on this encounter, the near-contemporary chronicles of

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3024-415: The Uzbek portion of the range. In about 400 BC, they belonged to the Iranian civilization of Sogdiana . In 330 BC, during the Asian Campaign, troops of Alexander the Great reached the Zarafshan Valley. The name of Lake Iskanderkul clearly originates from the name of Alexander - Iskander; however, attempts to place a connection between the lake and the campaign only exist at the level of legend. Together with

3096-405: The Zeravshan Valley runs east for approximately 250 kilometres (160 mi) from Samarkand and separates the Zarafshan Range from the Turkestan Range . To the south, the Hisar range runs parallel to the Zarafshan Range. To the west of Lake Iskanderkul , the Zarafshan Range and the Gissar Range are connected by the Fann Mountains , which is the highest part of both ranges. The Zarafshan Range

3168-412: The appellation of "Tokharistan school of art", or the "Hephthalite stage in the History of Central Asia Art". The paintings of Tavka Kurgan , of very high quality, also belong to this school of art, and are closely related to other paintings of the Tokharistan school such as Balalyk tepe , in the depiction of clothes, and especially in the treatment of the faces. This "Hephthalite period" in art, with

3240-449: The area of Gandhara . Later, however, from 474 CE, Peroz I fought three wars with his former allies the Hephthalites. In the first two, he himself was captured and ransomed. Following his second defeat, he had to offer thirty mules loaded with silver drachms to the Hephthalites, and also had to leave his son Kavad as a hostage. The coinage of Peroz I in effect flooded Tokharistan, taking precedence over all other Sasanian issues. In

3312-412: The area of Tokharistan , especially in banquet scenes at Balalyk tepe and as donors to the Buddha in the ceiling painting of the 35-meter Buddha at the Buddhas of Bamyan . Several of the figures in these paintings have a characteristic appearance, with belted jackets with a unique lapel of their tunic being folded on the right side, a style which became popular under the Hephthalites, the cropped hair,

3384-464: The authority at the local level remained with the beks. The whole Zarafshan Range was inside the okrug. On January 1, 1887 Samarkand Oblast was established, with the administrative center in Samarkand. In 1924, Samarkand Oblast was abolished and split between newly established Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic and Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic , corresponding to the contemporary division between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. All valleys of

3456-443: The caftans with a triangular collar folded on the right, the particular cropped hairstyle, the crowns with crescents, have been found in many of the areas historically occupied and ruled by the Hephthalites, in Sogdia , Bamyan (modern Afghanistan ), or in Kucha in the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang , China ). This points to a "political and cultural unification of Central Asia " with similar artistic styles and iconography, under

3528-444: The country's GDP. The economy of Sughd has been growing steadily since 2000, at the average rate of 13.2% in 2008 and 13.3% in 2009. In 2009, farming, trade and industrial production contributed 28.2%, 25.8% and 14.0% to the GRP (gross regional product) of Sughd, respectively. Since 2000, the output of industrial production increased two-fold, at an average annual growth rate of 5–8%. A free economic zone has been established in

3600-433: The country, with an area of some 25,400 square kilometers and a population of 2,707,300 (2020 estimate), up from 2,233,550 according to the 2010 census and 1,871,979 in 2000. The capital is Khujand . The Province's ethnic composition in 2010 was 84% Tajik, 14.8% Uzbek, 0.6% Kyrgyz, 0.4% Russian and 0.1% Tatar. The province shares a border with the Jizzakh , Namangan , Samarkand and Fergana regions of Uzbekistan , and

3672-416: The deserts of Turkmenistan as far as the Caspian Sea and possibly Merv . By 500 they held the whole of Bactria and the Pamirs and parts of Afghanistan . In 509, they captured Sogdia and they took 'Sughd' (the capital of Sogdiana ). To the east, they captured the Tarim Basin and went as far as Urumqi . Around 560 CE their empire was destroyed by an alliance of the First Turkic Khaganate and

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3744-522: The first period was a clerical error for Ha b tal , as Arabic -b - resembles -y - . In Chinese chronicles, the Hephthalites are called Yàndàiyílìtuó ( Chinese : 厭帶夷栗陀 ), or in the more usual abbreviated form, Yèdā 嚈噠 or in the 635 Book of Liang as the Huá 滑 . The latter name has been given various Latinisations , including Yeda , Ye-ta , Ye-tha ; Ye-dā and Yanda . The corresponding Cantonese and Korean names Yipdaat and Yeoptal ( Korean : 엽달 ), which preserve aspects of

3816-402: The hair accessories, their distinctive physionomy and their round beardless faces. The figures at Bamyan must represent the donors and potentates who supported the building of the monumental giant Buddha. These remarkable paintings participate "to the artistic tradition of the Hephthalite ruling classes of Tukharistan ". The paintings related to the Hephthalites have often been grouped under

3888-401: The main ones. The most prominent theory at present seems to be that the Hephthalites were initially of Turkic origin, and later adopted the Bactrian language. According to most specialist scholars, the Hephthalites adopted Bactrian as their official language, just as the Kushans had done, following their settlement in Bactria / Tokharistan . Bactrian was an Eastern Iranian language , but

3960-412: The middle of the 6th century, the Sasanian Empire paid tribute to the Hephthalites. Bactria came under formal Hephthalite rule from that time. Taxes were levied by the Hephthalites over the local population: a contract in the Bactrian language from the archive of the Kingdom of Rob , has been found, which mentions taxes from the Hephthalites, requiring the sale of land in order to pay these taxes. It

4032-411: The mountains, including the Zarafshan Range. In 1870, Alexey Fedchenko lead an expedition to the Zarafshan Valley, and in 1880, Ivan Mushketov discovered the Zarafshan Glacier and investigated the upper part of the valley. In 1892, Vladimir Komarov investigated the Yaghnob valley. In 1868, Zarafshan Okrug was split from the Emirate of Bukhara . The Okrug was controlled by Russian authorities, but

4104-473: The name of their ruler, contrary to the habit of the Alchon Huns or the Kidarites before them. Exceptionally, one coin type deviates from the Sasanian design, by showing the bust of a Hepthalite prince holding a drinking cup. Overall, the Sasanians paid "an enormous tribute" to the Hephthalites, until the 530s and the rise of Khosrow I . Following their victory over Peroz I, the Hepthalites became protectors and benefactors of his son Kavad I , as Balash ,

4176-495: The northern slopes of the Hindu Kush , and their capital was probably at Kunduz , having come from the east, possibly from the area of Pamir . By 479 the Hephthalites had conquered Sogdia and driven the Kidarites eastwards, and by 493 they had captured parts of Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin (in present-day Northwest China ). The Alchon Huns , formerly confused with the Hephthalites, expanded into Northern India as well. The sources for Hephthalite history are sparse and

4248-747: The opinions of historians differ. There is no king-list, and historians are not sure how the group arose or what language they initially spoke. They seem to have called themselves Ebodalo (ηβοδαλο, hence Hephthal ), often abbreviated Eb (ηβ), a name they wrote in the Bactrian script on some of their coins. The origin of the name "Hephthalites" is unknown, it may stem either from a Khotanese word *Hitala meaning "Strong", from hypothetical Sogdian * Heβtalīt , plural of * Heβtalak , or from postulated Middle Persian *haft āl "the Seven Al ". The Hephthalites called themselves ēbodāl ( Bactrian : , Greek script: [ηβοδαλο] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |3= ( help ) ) in their inscriptions, which

4320-404: The range are populated. There are no towns in the range; the closest towns are Panjakent and Samarkand . A major road between Dushanbe and Khujand crosses the range; another road to Samarkand follows the Zarafshan River. The roads into secondary valleys, including the Yaghnob valley, are mostly unpaved and poorly maintained. Most of the population of the range are Tajiks . The population of

4392-400: The range crosses from Tajikistan into Uzbekistan , where it continues at decreasing elevations (1,500–2,000 metres (4,900–6,600 ft)) along the internal border between Samarkand and Kashkadarya Regions provinces, until it blends into the desert south-west of Samarkand . There are two other mountain ranges running in an east−west direction parallel to the Zarafshan Range. To the north,

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4464-523: The region called Sughd Free Economic Zone . Sughd province counts the following 8 district-level cities (with population estimate as of 2020): The province is divided into 10 districts ( Tajik : ноҳия , nohiya or Russian : район , raion ). Furthermore, several cities ( shahr ) also cover other towns ( shahrak ) and rural localities. These are listed under "city districts". Hephthalite Empire The Hephthalites ( Bactrian : ηβοδαλο , romanized:  Ebodalo ), sometimes called

4536-426: The rest of Western Tajikistan, the Zarafshan Range has changed hands several times, being part of the Hephthalite Empire , the Umayyad Caliphate , and the Samanid Empire . In the 13th century, it was taken over by the Mongols , and in the 16th century, became part of the Khanate of Bukhara . The Zarafshan, Yaghnob, and Fan Darya valleys were essentially controlled by local authorities (beks). The fortress of Sarvoda

4608-402: The rule of the Hephthalites. The Hephthalites were a vassal state to the Rouran Khaganate until the beginning of the 5th century. There were close contacts between them, although they had different languages and cultures, and the Hephthalites borrowed much of their political organization from Rourans. In particular, the title " Khan ", which according to McGovern was original to the Rourans,

4680-447: The ruling groups of these invaders were, or at least included, Turkic-speaking tribesmen from the east and north, although most probably the bulk of the people in the confederation of Chionites and then Hephhtalites spoke an Iranian language. In this case, as normal, the nomads adopted the written language, institutions, and culture of the settled folks. According to Martin Schottky, the Hephthalites apparently had no direct connection with

4752-453: The same time stressing that the Hephthalites "were probably a mixed horde". According to the Encyclopaedia Iranica and Encyclopaedia of Islam , the Hephthalites possibly originated in what is today Afghanistan . A few scholars, such as Marquart and Grousset proposed Proto-Mongolic origins. Yu Taishan traced the Hephthalites' origins to the Xianbei and further to Goguryeo . Other scholars such as de la Vaissière , based on

4824-426: The third battle, at the Battle of Herat (484) , he was vanquished by the Hepthalite king Kun-khi, and for the next two years the Hephthalites plundered and controlled the eastern part of the Sasanian Empire. Perozduxt, the daughter of Peroz, was captured and became a lady as the Hephtalite court, as Queen of king Kun-khi. She became pregnant and had a daughter who would later marry her uncle Kavad I . From 474 until

4896-400: Was borrowed by the Hephthalite rulers. The reason for the migration of the Hephthalites southeast was to avoid a pressure of the Rourans. The Hephthalites became a significant political entity in Bactria around 450 CE, or sometime before. It has been commonly assumed that the Hephthalites formed a third wave of migrations into Central Asia, after the Chionites (who arrived circa 350 CE) and

4968-463: Was built to protect the gorge of the Fan Darya. In 1862, the Russian Empire started to penetrate to Central Asia. By 1870, Russian troops occupied both the Zarafshan and the Yaghnob valleys, with the last operation being the Iskanderkul Expedition in the spring of 1870, under the command of the Major General Alexander Abramov . During the expedition, Russian troops took the Yaghnob Valley under control. After 1870, military topographers started to map

5040-432: Was commonly abbreviated to ( ηβ , "Eb") in their coinage. An important and unique seal, held in the private collection of Professor Dr. Aman ur Rahman and published by Nicholas Sims-Williams in 2011, shows an early Hepthalite ruler with a round beardless face and slanted almond-shaped eyes, wearing a radiate crown with a single crescent, and framed by the Bactrian script legend ηβοδαλο ββγο ("The Lord [ Yabghu ] of

5112-407: Was probably at Kunduz , which was known to the 11th-century scholar al-Biruni as War-Walīz , a possible origin of one of the names given by the Chinese to Hephthalites: 滑 ( Middle Chinese ( ZS ) * ɦˠuat̚ > standard Chinese : Huá ). The Hephthalites may have come from the East, through the Pamir Mountains , possibly from the area of Badakhshan . Alternatively, they may have migrated from

5184-697: Was written in the Greek alphabet , a remnant of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom in the 3rd–2nd century BCE. Bactrian , beyond being an official language, was also the language of the local populations ruled by the Hephthalites. The Hephthalites inscribed their coins in Bactrian , the titles they held were Bactrian, such as XOAΔHO or Šao, and of probable Chinese origin, such as Yabghu , the names of Hephthalite rulers given in Ferdowsi 's Shahnameh are Iranian, and gem inscriptions and other evidence shows that

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