# Turks and Persians Destroy the Hephthalites (c. 557–560 CE)

URL: https://allhistories.com/tajikistan/timeline/557-turks-and-persians-destroy-the-hephthalites
Location: Amu Darya frontier
Themes: Turkic Khaganate, Hephthalites

Around 557 the Turkic khagan of the west allied with the Sasanian king Khosrow I and destroyed the Hephthalite state. Scholars date the war variously from about 555 to 567, and the destruction of the empire is often placed around 560. The result was a common Turkic–Persian border on the Amu Darya. The First Turkic Khaganate had been founded in 552 after the rebellion of the Ashina clan against the Rouran, and its western part was ruled by a separate prince. The Persians had been paying tribute to the Hephthalites since the fifth century, and the Turks gained a common border with Persia along the river. Hephthalite principalities survived in places like Chaghaniyan and Badakhshan under Turkic suzerainty, and Sogdian was used for diplomacy and coinage by the Turks. In 589 the Sasanians defeated the Turks, but Bactria stayed a dependency of the khaganate until the end of the century. The war created the political world that Chinese pilgrims later described. At this point in the timeline (c. 557 CE), the Hephthalite Empire was ruled by its kings, among them Akhshunwar and his successors (c. 467 – 560 CE). The main location of this event lies outside present-day Tajikistan.

## Why it matters
The war ended Hephthalite supremacy and started two centuries of Turkic overlordship over Sogdiana, Tokharistan and the Pamirs.

Ruler at the Time: [Hephthalite kings (Akhshunwar and successors)](https://allhistories.com/tajikistan/rulers/hephthalite-kings-akhshunwar-and-successors)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — First Turkic Khaganate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Turkic_Khaganate)