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# Huns/Talk

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Establishment of the first Hun state is also the first appearance of the culture of horseback migration in history.

Mounted nomads had dominated the steppe since at least the appearance of the Scythian tribes. Don't they count for something?

As far as I know the story of Scythians go back to only 7th and 8th century BC. So, Huns seem to be a little bit older. On the other hand, my initiation date for Huns (1400 BC) is highly disputable and indeed they became a significant power only after the 2nd century BC. Anyway, probably even Sumerians were a nomadic, horse-back culture who took their origins from Persian, Indian or maybe from Altaic tribes (for their language have some striking similarities with Altaic languages). So, I would better change this statement. I am planning to go on working this article (hopefully) in the future with some friendly help ErdemTuzun.

I would be very surprised if any relationship between Sumerian and Altaic speech was more than coincidental - as far as I know no proposal for a relationship between Sumerian and any other language has gained general acceptance. But that is neither here nor there. Regarding horses, the Sumerians were definitely not a horse-back culture since horses had yet to be domesticated at the time (they used oxen and onagers instead). I don't think that horses were ever used as mounts until the iron age. In short, antiquity of the Huns, whatever that may be, is not the same as antiquity of the Huns as a mounted group and I don't think the transition could have possibly taken place before around the time of the Scythians anyways.

You seem to be correct about the Scythians but probably the first mounted horses were used for warfare long before than we both presume: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=115394&tocid=10301#10301.toc ErdemTuzun

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Last edited June 11, 2001 3:36 pm (diff)
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