Later the Persian king Peroz fought a war concerning borderland with the nation of the Hephthalite Huns, who are called ‘White Huns’; he gathered a remarkable force and marched against them. (2) The Hephthalites are Huns in fact as much as they are in name but they do not mix in any way with those Huns that we know because they neither occupy land that is adjacent to theirs nor do they even live very close to them; instead they live straight north of Persia where they have a city named Gorgo that is situated on Persian borderland and where the two frequently fight each other over borderland. (3) For they are not nomads like the other Hunnic peoples but have been settling on good land for a long time. (4) For this reason they have never invaded Roman territory, except together with the Median army. They are the only ones among the Huns299 who have a white skin colour and who are not unpleasant to look at. (5) Neither is their way of life in any way similar to that of the others nor do they lead a savage life like the others do, but they are ruled by one king, have a lawful constitution and deal with one another and their neighbours on the basis of what is right and just, in no way less than the Romans and Persians.300
Procopius touches upon the problems faced by the Persians on their Northeastern frontier during the fifth century. The Byzantine historian uses the long peace between Rome and Persia in order to digress; he focuses on the events in the Persian East and gives us an elaborate account of the Sasanian confrontations with their most important enemy during the fifth century, the Hephthalites.301 Whereas during the third and fourth centuries the Sasanians had been threatened primarily by the Empire of the Kusan,302 from the fifth century onwards they had to deal with more and more nomadic tribes, whose individual history and ethnic identity are enigmatic and discussed controversially among scholars.108 Among these tribes were the Hephthalites, who were called ‘White Huns’ and who during the fifth century founded a powerful empire in so-called ‘Scythian Mesopotamia’, between Amu-Darja and Syr-Darja. Procopius points to the non-nomadic lifestyle of the Hephthalites and their political organisation, which distinguished them from the other Hunnic tribes. During the fifth century the Hephthalites were the most dangerous enemy of the Sasanians and forced them to exert all their energies in the East.
Although both Bahram V Gor and Yazdgard II had to deal repeatedly with the Hephthalites, they eventually succeeded in fending off their attacks.303 In the course of these confrontations Yazdgard II suffered numerous defeats between 443 and 450. When after his death in 457 his sons contended for the Persian throne, one of them, Peroz secured his rule with the help of the Hephthalites. However, this alliance did not last very long. Almost the entire reign of Peroz was also characterised by fighting with the Hephthalites and by crushing Sasanian defeats.304 A first phase of confrontations was ended around 469 by a humiliating peace. The Hephthalites held Peroz’ son Kavadh hostage until the Persians offered a high ransom. According to the chronicle of Josua the Stylite the Roman emperor was among those who supported the Persians by contributing money to the war against the Hephthalites.305
At the beginning of the 480s Peroz took up fighting against the Hephthalites in breech of the existing agreements; in 484 the Sasanians suffered yet another crushing defeat and Peroz met his death in what is now Afghanistan.306 As a consequence of this military catastrophe the Heph-thalites advanced into Eastern Iran, demanded annual tributary payments and intervened repeatedly in the internal affairs of the Persian Empire.
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