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Hun, Alan, Avar, and other Steppe Nomad Movements
#47
In regard to the Kidarites, they could possibly have been Turkic but in Sogdiana they were known as Iranian Huna so they seem to have been associated with Kushans or earlier Yueh-chih but their empire reached its peak about 350AD, well before Gokturks who rose late 6th century. They could be ancestors but no proof as far as I know.
In regard to these tribes you mentioned (Itimari, Rhobasci, Boisci, Alpicuri and Tonguri, there seem to be some discrepancies in Priscus. In Fragment 1 in about 300AD they are located near Maeotic marshes and Don being pushed by the Huns and in Fragment 2 in about 432AD Rua is demanding the leaders of these slightly differently named but still the same tribes who are now living north of the Danube in Fragment 2 they are the Amilzuri, Itimari, Tounsoures & Boisci who wish to cross the Danube to seek Roman protection. The only explanation seems to be that the Huns have taken over the tribes but the various old leadership groups have flown the coup and were still creating problems for the huns but we are looking at 100-130 years difference. So I am naturally suspicious of these tribal names, I even think that Alpicuri/Amilzuri are the same as Alkitziri. I also think Rhobasci is the same as Boisci with Rho put in front as Rhos/Rheos could be an old Greek word meaning river or stream but could go back to Indo-European roots srou/sreu/sru meaning to flow. Just as an aside as a person who reads a lot about Sarmatians, I have always been disappointed with a lot of explanations about how Roxalani/Rhoksalans/Rox-alan/Roksh-alan name came about with various explanations saying that the Rox/Rhoks prefix meant light, bright, fair, lightly armed, shining or Rus. Dr Laszlo Torday whose main interest is Central Asian history and linguistics and tribal ethnology in his book ‘Mounted Archers’ thinks that with the Rox/Rhos in front of Alan, means ‘River Lords’ or River Alans as all Alans liked others to think that they were ‘noble’ and above other steppe people. So even steppe people had their airs and graces. Ammianus even referred to them as ' the noble Alans' . So the Roxalani, in their history of moving west, always seemed to occupy deltas of major river systems, be it Volga, Don, Dneister and Danube rivers. It seems a much better & sensible explanation than the others. Sorry I digress & back to the topic of huns.
In regard to the Hunnic bow, my understanding is that the Hunnic bow was invented in 1st or 2nd century. Middle to Late Sarmatians used a bigger bow than the Scythian bow shown on Trajan’s Column, the fact that later Sarmatians and Alans discarded the gorytus, which was too small for the Hunnic bow and instead carried a softer bowcase alongside one or two cylindrical quivers proves that they used bigger bows. Maybe they were less powerful than the bow used by the Huns & I accept what you said about Huns using 7 lathe bows but I do not see any evidence that the Hun’s bow was the super weapon that made the difference unless I read Peter Heather, E.A. Thompson or OMH’s book which disappointingly is incomplete regarding Hunnic swords etc. I still think it was organisation that defeated the Alans, not superior technology or weaponry.
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 - 03-27-2014, 03:20 PM

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