Hephthalite (White Hun) king, Akhshunwar, by unknown artist

September 09, 2023

Hephthalite (White Hun) king, Akhshunwar, by unknown artist

"According to the Arab historian al-Tabari, Peroz, while still a prince, fled to the ‘country of the Haitals, or Hephthalites’ and asked the king to provide him with troops to ‘take possession of the kingdom of his father [Yazdgird II]’. Another source states that Peroz‘ was supported by the inhabitants of Tokharistan and the neighbouring regions’ and refers to ‘the people which conquered Tokharistan called Haital [that is Hephthalites]’.

In the 460s or the 470s Peroz waged three wars against the Hephthalites. The first war ended in his being taken prisoner and later released for a ransom partly paid by the Byzantine emperor. The second war ended as ingloriously as the first: Peroz was defeated and was once more taken prisoner. He was forced to give assurances never again to oppose the Hephthalites and to send instructions that a huge ransom should be paid for him. Since the treasury was unable to send the ransom, Peroz left his son as hostage.

Against the counsel of the aristocracy and the clergy, Peroz prepared in Gurgan for a third campaign against the Hephthalites. Ghazar highlights the opposition amongst his men towards the campaign, stating that the Iranian forces were demoralised at the prospect of facing the Hepthalites to the point of near mutiny.

In Iran, according to Lazar of P’arp: Even in time of peace the mere sight or mention of a Hephthalite terrified everybody, and there was no question of going to war openly against one, for everybody remembered all too clearly the calamities and defeats inflicted by the Hephthalites on the king of the Aryans and on the Persians. Not only the common soldiers but also the dignitaries and military chiefs feared the Hephthalites. When Peroz set off on campaign, ‘his troops went forward more like men condemned to death than warriors marching to war’. When news of the third campaign reached the king of the Hephthalites, he sent his representative to Peroz with this message: ‘You concluded peace with me in writing, under seal, and you promised not to make war against me. We defined common frontiers not to be crossed with hostile intent by either party.’"

A tower erected as a boundary marker near the Oxus by Peroz's grandfather, Bahram V, was destroyed by Peroz. This event is reported by both Dinawari (d. 896) and al-Tabari (d. 923). The latter reported that Peroz had the tower tied to fifty elephants and three hundred men linked together and dragged it in front of his men, while he walked behind the tower, feigning not to have violated his grandfather's peace treaty.

Akhshunvar ordered deep pits to be dug, lightly timbered over and topped with soil. These booby traps, laid in the path of the pursuing Sasanian army, played a decisive part, breaking its battle formation and ensnaring many soldiers. Peroz was killed and many of his retinue, including his daughter, were taken prisoner by the Hephthalites, who seized his treasure.

Pseudo-Joshua, who portrays Peroz in a hostile manner, proposed that Peroz may have been able to escape from the trench, but subsequently either died of hunger in a cleft in a mountain or was killed and eaten by wild animals in a forest."

-taken from wikipedia and The Hephthalite empire by Litvinsky, B.A. (History of civilizations of Central Asia, v. 3: The Crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750)