The Steppe and Central Asia (1st–5th c.)Politics and state

Hunnic kings of Bactria: the Kidarites

After the nomad invasions of the mid-4th century Bactria passed from the Sasanian Kushanshahs to Hunnic rulers: Armenian sources tell of a “king of the Kushans” at Balkh who repeatedly defeated the Persians, in events dated to 368–379. The dynasty named after Kidara took the old title Kushanshah, extended its rule to Gandhara and probably part of Sogdiana, and held Bactria until 467, when the Sasanians, probably with the Hephthalites, drove it out.

Date: between 360 and 370 – 467start: exact date unknown: an interval is given; end: year known · duration: ≈ 102 years
Place: Balkh (Bactra)today: Balkh, Balkh Province, Afghanistan · Central and Northern Asia
Participants: Kidarites, Sasanian Empire, Shapur II
Threads: The Steppe and Central Asia (1st–5th c.)
Also known as: Kidarite Huns; Kidara; Jiduoluo; Kushanshah; Tokharistan; Кидара; Цидоло; Гунны-кидариты; Тохаристан

The invasion of the Chionites and other nomads in the 350s ended the rule of the Kushanshahs, the Sasanian princes who had governed Bactria. Shapur II made the invaders his allies in 358, but the alliance was short-lived: the Epic Histories attributed to P‘awstos Buzand tell how a “king of the Kushans” reigning at Balkh routed Persian armies several times — events dated to 368–379, the last years of Shapur’s reign; “Kushan” here means simply the power that held Bactria. The Sasanian title Kushanshah passed to new rulers, whom the sources describe as Huns.

Their dynasty is named after Kidara, whose name appears on coins in Brahmi and Sogdian script and, as Jiduoluo, in the Chinese History of the Wei, which calls him a king of the Great Yuezhi who crossed the great mountains and subdued five kingdoms north of Gandhara; the Byzantine historian Priscus speaks of the “Kidarite Huns”. The Kidarites styled themselves Kushanshah, and one of their seals combines this title with that of king of the Huns. Their rule in Sogdiana coincided with new fortifications at Samarkand and Paykent and the foundation of towns such as Panjikent. In 467 they were driven from their capital, probably Balkh, by the Sasanian king Peroz, most likely together with the Hephthalites, and a remnant kingdom in Gandhara sent embassies to China until 477.

The chronology is disputed. Reference works date the Kidarite kingdom in Bactria to 360–370, and Hunnic rule there is attested from the late 360s. The other datings concern Kidara himself: numismatists (R. Göbl, J. Cribb, M. Alram) place a first Kidara at Kapisa, south of the Hindu Kush near Kabul, around 390 on the evidence of a coin hoard, while F. Grenet and É. de la Vaissière, following the Chinese and Byzantine texts, put him in the 420s–430s.

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Kushano-Sasanians in Gandhara: Sasanian claims reach Peshawarbetween 240 and 262 · South Asiathe Kidarites later extended their rule to Gandhara, once held by the Kushano-Sasanians
The Kushano-Sasanian kingdom in Bactriabetween 230 and 262 – between 350 and 370 · Central and Northern Asiathe Hunnic kings took Bactria and the title Kushanshah from the Sasanian Kushanshahs
Shapur II’s war with the Chionitesc. 350 – 358 · Central and Northern Asiathe Kidarites seem to have emerged from the Hunnic invaders of the mid-4th century
Campaigns of Samudragupta and the Allahabad pillar prashastibetween 330 and 353 – between 370 and 376 · South AsiaD. R. Bhandarkar took the ‘Daivaputra-Shahi-Shahanushahi’ of the eulogy for a single ruler, possibly the Kidarite Kidara; F. Grenet, however, dates Kidara to the 420s–430s