Kidarites

The Kidarites, also called the Kidara Huns, were a dynasty that ruled Bactria and adjoining parts of Central Asia and Gandhara in the fourth and fifth centuries. They belonged to the broader Huna peoples known in Europe as the Chionites, and are often identified with them. The name derives from Kidara, a ruler who minted coins at Balkh around 360 and who may have led the group westward from the oases of eastern Central Asia. The Kidarites controlled the routes between Sogdia, Bactria and the Indian frontier and issued a distinctive gold and silver coinage imitating Kushan and Sasanian models. Their capital was at Balkh, and their authority extended across the Hindu Kush into Gandhara, where they patronized Buddhist institutions. Sasanian kings campaigned against them repeatedly; Bahram V and Yazdegerd II attacked Kidarite territory, and Peroz I finally defeated them around 467. In the last quarter of the fifth century the Kidarites were displaced by the Alchon Huns, and by about 520 Gandhara was under Hephthalite rule. Their memory survived in Iranian and Indian sources as one of the Hunnic dynasties of late antiquity.