Xionites  Xionites, Chionites, or Chionitae (Middle Persian: "Xiyōn" or "Hiyōn"; Avestan: "Xiiaona"; Sogdian "xwn"; Pahlavi "Xyon") are Romanisations of the ethnonym of a nomadic people who were prominent in Transoxania and Bactria. The Xionites appear to be synonymous with the Huna peoples of classical/medieval India, and possibly also the Huns of European late antiquity. It is unclear whether the Xionites were connected to a people named in Ancient China as the "Xunyu" ("Hünyü" 獯鬻; Wade–Giles "Hsünyü"), Xianyun 猃狁 (Wade–Giles "Hsien-yün") and Xiongnu (匈奴 Wade–Giles "Hsiung-nu"). (While some sources use names such as Hunas, Huns and Xiongnu interchangeably, this remains controversial.) They were first described by the Roman historian, Ammianus Marcellinus, who was in Bactria during 356-57 CE; he described the "Chionitæ" as living with the Kushans. Ammianus indicates that the Xionites had previously lived in Transoxiana and, after entering Bactria, became vassals of the Kushans, were influenced culturally by them and had adopted the Bactrian language. They had attacked the Sassanid Empire, but later (led by a chief named Grumbates), served as mercenaries in the Sassanian army. Within the Xionites, there seem to have been two main subgroups, which were known in the Iranian languages by names such as "Karmir Xyon" and "Spet Xyon". The prefixes "karmir" ("red") and "speta" ("white") likely refer to Central Asian traditions in which particular colours symbolised the cardinal points. The "Karmir Xyon" were known in European sources as the "Kermichiones" or "Red Huns", and some scholars have identified them with the Kidarites and/or Alchon. The "Spet Xyon" or "White Huns" appear to have been the known in India by the cognate name "Sveta-huna", and are often identified, controversially, with the Hephtalites.