Miirosan to Khurasan: Huns, Alkhans and the creation of East Iran

Abstract

Khurasan emerged in the medieval Islamic world, particularly after the ‘Abbasid Revolution’ of
750, as one of the major centres of power and influence in the domains of the Abbasid Caliphate.
While most studies consider this from the point of view of Islamic history, the roots of the rise of this
region goes back to the late antique period. This article studies the emergence of the region
throughout the first millennium by considering the history of the region under the Kushan, KushanoSasnaian, Kidarite, Alkhan, Hephthalite, and Western Turk rule. By considering numismatic
evidence, Bactrian documents, and epigraphic sources, the article develops the idea that the region
emerged as an independent and culturally central area during the Kushan and immediate postKushan period and became the center of a political and cultural production, which eventually entered
the pages of history in the early Islamic period.