A prominent Hephthalite: Katulph and the fall of the Hephthalite Empire

The Byzantine author Menander Protector reports the story of Kάτogvλφoς (Katulph), a member of Hephthalite nobility. This prominent Hephthalite took part in the events of the defeat of the Hephthalite Empire. He was one of the most important political persons of that epoch and area, someone who was the advisor not just of the Hephthalite ruler, but later the Turk Istami and what is more the Persian Great King Xusrō Anōsarwān I. This treatise deals with the so far unexamined Kάτogvλφoς-story and tries to define who Kάτogvλφoς actually was. Beside the thorough examination of the Byzantine source and the name Kάτogvλφoς I clarify some serious misunderstandings (such as the identification of Kάτogvλφoς with the last Hephthalite ruler), which are widespread in the secondary sources (for example in the works of Drouin, Haussig and Ghirshman).

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