Maenchen-Helfen J.Otto. The world of the Huns: studies in their history and culture

London: University of Califomia Press, 1973. — XXIX, 602 p., illustr.Maenchen-Helfen differed from other historians of Eurasia in his unique competence in philology, archaeologv, and the history of art. The range of his interests is apparent from a glance at his publications, extending in subject from Das Märchen von der Schwanenjungfrau in Japan to Le Cicogne di Aquileia, and from Manichaeans in Siberia to Germanic and Hunnic Names of Iranian Origin. He did not need to guess the identities of tribes, populations, or cities. He knew the primary texts, whether in Greek or Russian or Persian or Chinese. This linguistic ability is particularly necessary in the study of the Huns and their nomadic cognates, since the name Hun has been applied to many peoples of different ethnic character, including Ostrogoths, Magyars, and Seljuks. Even ancient nomadic people north of China, the Hsiung-nu, not related to any of thesc, were called Hun by their Sogdian neighbors. Maenchen-Helfen knew the Chinese sources that teli of the Hsiung-nu, and thus could evaluate the relationship of these sources to European sources of Hunnic history.