The Khuni, Huni or Chuni were a people of the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

during

late antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

. They have sometimes been referred to as the North Caucasian Huns and are often assumed to be related to the

Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...

who later entered Eastern Europe. However, the

ethnolinguistic Ethnolinguistics (sometimes called cultural linguistics) is an area of anthropological linguistics that studies the relationship between a language and the nonlinguistic cultural behavior of the people who speak that language. __NOTOC__ Examples ...

and geographical origins of the Khuni are unclear. The first contemporaneous reference to the Khuni may be by

Dionysius Periegetes Dionysius Periegetes ( grc-gre, Διονύσιος ὁ Περιηγητής, literally Dionysius the Voyager or Traveller, often Latinized to ''Dionysius Periegeta''), also known as Dionysius of Alexandria or Dionysius the African,''Encyclopædia ...

and

Claudius Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

, in the 2nd century CE, when they are said to be living near the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

. According to

Agathangelos Agathangelos (in xcl, Ագաթանգեղոս Agatʿangełos, in Greek "bearer of good news" or angel, 5th century AD ) is the pseudonym of the author of a life of the first apostle of Armenia, Gregory the Illuminator, who died about 332. He ...

, there were Huns living among the peoples of the Caucasus in 227 and that they were related to the

Iranian Huns The term Iranian Huns is sometimes used for a group of different tribes that lived in Afghanistan and neighboring areas between the fourth and seventh centuries and expanded into northwest India. They are roughly equivalent to the Hunas. They als ...

. In 535 or 537, an

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

n missionary team headed by the bishop Kardost baptized many of the North Caucasian Huns. The

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

source reporting this event also indicates that a writing system for Hunnic was developed. Huns are said to have established a

polity A polity is an identifiable Politics, political entity – a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of Institutionalisation, institutionalized social relation, social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize ...

Daghestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia sit ...

in the 6th century CE. This may have incorporated numerous indigenous Caucasian peoples. In 682 Bishop Israel of

Caucasian Albania Caucasian Albania is a modern exonym for a former state located in ancient times in the Caucasus: mostly in what is now Azerbaijan (where both of its capitals were located). The modern endonyms for the area are ''Aghwank'' and ''Aluank'', among ...

led an unsuccessful delegation to convert

Alp Iluetuer Alp Ilutuer was the Ilutuer (vassal ruler) of the North Caucasian Huns during the 680s CE. He is mentioned in the account of Bishop Israel of Caucasian Albania, who travelled to Alp Ilutuer's court. During his stay in the land of Huns in 681—6 ...

, the ruler of the Caucasian Huns, to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. It has been suggested that Iluetuer is a corruption of the

Khazar The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...

title ''

elteber Elteber ( otk, 𐰃𐰠𐱅𐰋𐰼, elteber or ''(h)elitbär''; Chinese 頡利發 ''xié-lì-fā'' < EMCh: *''γεt-li^H-puat'') was the

'' ("client-ruler) and that this people was subordinate to Khazar rulers from the mid to late 7th century. They are frequently described as being allied with the Khazars in their various wars of the period, particularly against the Caliphate. Little is known about their fate after the early 8th century. It is likely that they became incorporated into the

Khazar Khaganate The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...

. However, it is likely that they survived in some form or another for several centuries, possibly even until the 11th century. Some modern Kumyk authors consider Caucasian Huns to be their ancestors; they also refer to their early medieval polity as Djidan (for reasons unknown). Федоров-Гусейнов Г. С. История происхождения кумыков. Махачкала: Дагкнигоиздат, 1996.

References

Huns

History of the North Caucasus {{Caucasus-ethno-group-stub

See also

References