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Hun, Alan, Avar, and other Steppe Nomad Movements
#11
I think there should be some caution when discussing whether a tribe was Turkic or Indo-European regarding the Huns as it should be mentioned that a lot of these groups were basically confederations of different groups rather than one particular tribe but with one particular group maintaining their leadership. Their leadership might have been a particular tribe but it is just a fact of life with steppe & Central Asian politics that their leadership situation was very fluid by nature either through conquest or marriage & submission. Priscus mentions about meeting a Hun warrior who to his surprise spoke good Greek who was formerly a Greek trader enslaved by the Huns with the capture of Vimiacium on the Danube but through his bravery had won his freedom fighting for Attila in a possible revolt of the Akatiri against Attila on the death of Bleda & now was married to a Hun woman & fathered Hun children & was an honoured Hun warrior. I think a lot of later groups called themselves Huns to awe their neighbours. Although I don’t know if it is true but I have read where the Hephthalites were named after one of their early chiefs. Even going back to 1st & 2nd century Rome I have read where on Trajan’s column there is a picture of a Roxolani warrior who according to Professor Andreas Alfoldi seems to have Mongolian features. So basically these groups would have been a mixture of different races at least at the origins of these tribal groupings. Image of Roxolani warrior below, The image looks a bit damaged so I can't really tell but I thought I would post it anyway because even Alan king/chief Saul who fought under Stilicho was described as having Hunnic features.



Regards
Michael Kerr
Michael Kerr
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
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Hun, Alan, Avar, and other Steppe Nomad Movements - by Michael Kerr - 02-15-2014, 05:06 AM

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