Hun, Alan, Avar, and other Steppe Nomad Movements

[Flavivs Aetivs]

Magister Militum Flavius Aetius wrote:

The Xiongnu were not Huns, I should mention. That idea was discounted and disproved in the 1940's.

Although this thread doesn't seem to be discussing Lamellar armour anymore I still find it interesting as to Hunnic origins & tribal structure so maybe it can be moved or topic name changed. Although I agree with you up to a point that the Xiongnu did not move en masse to Europe I still feel elements of the Northern Xiongnu who probably had a Yeniseian tribal core ruling over various Altaic & Iranian groups migrated west over 2 centuries to become the Huns. Austalian historian Hyun Jin Kim speculates that the heavier concentration of Turkic peoples in the western half of old Xiongnu empire is likely to have contributed to a shift from a Yeniseian core language to a Turkic one & as they moved into Europe probably had a growing Germanic language so yes they would have been multi-lingual. But I wouldn't write off all connections.
Firstly in regard to the name there are the ancient Sogdian letters from early 4th century where the writer, a Sogdian merchant actually called the Southern Xiongnu who sacked the old Chinese capital Louyang in 311AD Huns.
Secondly the placement of European Hunnic cauldrons on the banks of rivers matches the placement of Xiongnu cauldrons near rivers in the Ordos region of Inner Mongolia.
Thirdly the European Huns & the Xiongnu practised a very similar sword cult.
Fourthly the Huns seem to have the same or a very similar military and aristocratic organization to the Xiongnu. Organized into 24 tribes or groups with the top echelon '4 horns' for sons & younger brothers ‘6 horns' Alti (six) Cur (nobles) for close relatives through marriage etc & the other 14 horns for trusted allies. This could explain the Alticurs or Alpicurs or Greek rendering 'Oultizouroi' as a group of tribes rather than one tribe.
Also although both were famed for cavalry they both had heavy sedentary elements. Both also used a growing bureaucracy from the Chinese for Xiongnu & Romans & Greeks for Huns which showed a higher level of sophistication than ancient writers gave them credit for.
By the 4th century he says that there were 2 Central Asian Steppe empires that were neighbours& probably pushed the Huns west. The Rouran (Avars) who were virtually overlord of the whole of Inner Asia & the Kidarite/Hephtalite empires who were pressuring the Sassanid empire & the Indian Gupta empire.
Regards
Michael Kerr

The Xiongnu, like the Huns, were an Altaic people (it used to be thought they were Mongoloid but that is not true). I am not against that some of their traditions and hegemony may have had influence on the Huns, however it is more likely that the Xiongnu were influenced by the Turks, and that these patterns between the Xiongnu and Huns were separate.

The Cauldron theory has been discussed to death, and the conclusion is that the evidence is circumstantial at best. Many Turkish groups had similar practices, and it is more likely that this was just commonly shared.

The Alpilcur Huns (Oultizouroi is Greek for Ultinzurs which were a different group), as you said, consisted of multiple "tribes." This gets into hunnic organization and the half-family and friends clan and half military unit called a "Cuneus" which Maenchen-Helfen discusses in his "On the World of the Huns."

At the time of the Hunnic migration the Avars themselves were migrating. This was a combination of factors:

In about 350 the Kidarites/Chionites begin expansion. The "Rouran" or "Juan Juan" which we know as the Avars, begin to move North towards the Aral sea, where various "Huns" reside. The Avars first probably encountered what would become the Saragur and Sabir Huns (the last Hunnic groups to enter Europe) who pushed other tribes, who pressured the Alpilcurs and Ultinzurs. This happened at the same time a drought hit Central Asia (As predicted by the El Nino Cycle) which would have caused the simultaneous expansion and disruptions of other Nomadic tribes in that era.

In 460 the effect begins again, but to a lesser extent, with the Avars pushing the last of the Huns into Europe (other than the Volga Bulgars who were probably related to the Huns). This was caused by a Second drought (the third would result in the Avars themselves moving) and the beginning of Hepthaltite expansion (which reached it's height in 550 when the Avars moved).

It was a combination of factors, but it seemed the Central Asian Empires and Drought coupled to force these peoples to move.