Ephthalites

Hephthalite Empire
Nomadic empire
440s–670
Tamga of the Hephthalites
The Hephthalites (green), c. 500.
Capital		Kunduz (Walwalij, Drapsaka, or Badian) Balkh (Pakhlo)
Languages		Middle Bactrian Gandhari (Gandhara) Sogdian (Sogdiana) Chorasmian Sanskrit Turkic
Religion		Buddhism Hinduism Manichaeism Zoroastrianism
Political structure		Nomadic empire
Historical era		Late Antiquity
•	Established	440s
•	Disestablished	670
Preceded by Succeeded by Kushan Empire Sassanid Empire Gupta Empire Kangju Kidarites Alchon Huns Nezak Huns Kabul Shahi Göktürk Empire Zunbils Principality of Chaghaniyan
Today part of		Afghanistan  China  India  Kazakhstan  Kyrgyzstan  Pakistan  Tajikistan  Turkmenistan  Uzbekistan

The Hephthalites (or Ephthalites) were a people of Central Asia who were militarily important circa 450–560. They were based in Bactria and expanded east to the Tarim Basin, west to Sogdia and south through Afghanistan to northern India. They were a tribal confederation and included both nomadic and settled urban communities. They were part of the four major "Hunic" states known collectively as Xionites or "Hunas", being preceded by the Kidarites, and succeeded by the Alchon Huns and lastly the Nezak Huns. The Sveta Huna or White Huns who invaded northern India are probably the Hephthalites, but the exact relation is not clear.

The stronghold of the Hephthalites was Tokharistan on the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush, in what is present-day northeastern Afghanistan. By 479, the Hephthalites had conquered Sogdia and driven the Kidarites westwards, and by 493 they had captured parts of present-day Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin in what is now Northwest China. They expanded into northwestern India as well.

The sources for Hepthalite history are poor and historians' opinions differ. There is no king-list and historians are not sure how they arose or what language they spoke.

The origin of the name "Hephthalites" is unknown, possibly from either a Khotanese word *Hitala, itself borrowed from Uigur, meaning "Strong" or from postulated Middle Persian *haft āl "the Seven".

The Hephthalites formed in Bactria around 450, or sometime before. In 442 their tribes were fighting the Persians. Around 451 they pushed southeast to Gandhara. In 456 a Hephthalite embassy arrived in China. By 458 they were strong enough to intervene in Persia.