Alans - who are they? Why are Ossetians not Alans? Who are the Alans and the history of their origin.
A. Ovchinnikov
ALANS AND SCYTHIANS. ANOTHER FANTASY.
Alans
First, a few quotes about the Alans from Wikipedia articles. 1) Alans - Iranian-speaking tribes of Scythian-Sarmatian origin; 2) in the 1st-2nd centuries AD. the Alans occupied a dominant position among the Sarmatians of the Azov and Ciscaucasia regions, from where they raided the Crimea, Transcaucasia, Asia Minor, and Media; 3) large tribal associations of Alans were defeated by the Huns in the 4th century AD; 4) part of the Alans participated, starting from the end of the 4th century AD, in the Great Migration of Peoples, reaching North Africa together with the Vandals, forming a kingdom there in the 6th century that lasted more than a hundred years; 5) from the 7th to the 10th century, medieval Alania was part of the Khazar Qanat; 6) in the 4th-6th centuries AD. The Alans formed independently and with their allies principalities and kingdoms on the territory of modern France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Romania, Hungary, leaving behind a memory in Europe in the form of about 300 toponyms - places with Alan roots - (Catalonia, Alençon, etc.) ; 7) “through the Sarmatian-Alanian influence, the heritage of the Scythian civilization entered the culture of many peoples.”
The tribal formation of the Eastern Alans fell only in the 13th century under the blows of the Tatar-Mongol Batu, and modern Ossetians are considered the last fragment of the great Alan ethnos. These are the main provisions of official science, which, alas, again consists of inconsistencies and contradictions. We are interested in the Alans, first of all, in the context of their relationship with the Slavs of the Don region, and these relations were not always cloudless. What kind of Alans are these, “where did they come from”, where did they end up and where did they go? Our version differs in many ways from the commonly used one. So...
The first mentions of the Alans appear at the very beginning of the 1st century AD. in Roman sources. That is, presumably, from the moment of the first contact of the Romans (at first traders, merchants, scouts) with the tribes of the Black Sea region hitherto unknown to them. Alani, a nickname for a people unfamiliar to the Romans, has since forever become part of the designation of “nomadic tribes of Scythian-Sarmatian origin.” Why exactly Scythian-Sarmatian? - yes, simply because the Alans lived in the same borders as the Scythians and, then, the Sarmatians, known to the whole world until then. At the same time, the Alan language is attributed to the same Iranian origin as the Scythian one. How is it known that the Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, and, therefore, the Alans were “Iranian-speaking”?
Scythians and their imaginary “Iranian-language”
Please note that there are no written sources. True, there is a small study that proves the Old Slavic origin of the indistinct and incomprehensible Scythian signs discovered by archaeologists. Further we will see that such an assumption has a right to exist, and with a probability no less than that of generally accepted hypotheses. Although it is not clear how the highly developed Scythian civilization, which reached unsurpassed heights in art, culture and military affairs back in the Bronze Age, could not have written language, which is comparable in time to the appearance of the first creations of ancient Greek masters. The fact that this is really so easy to see by looking at examples of Scythian works of art - see Fig. 1. An ethnos that managed to create such masterpieces could not but have its own writing. The writing of the Aryans, Scythians, Slavs, and Slavic Rus is a separate big topic, to which we will devote a separate chapter. Here we first note that in addition to the loss of samples of material culture of the pre-Christian period during wars and invasions, the era of forced Christianization of Rus', which lasted two and a half centuries, played a role, during which almost the entire cultural and historical heritage of our ancestors, the so-called pagans, was destroyed.
Today, all sources generally consider the language of the Scythians (Sarmatians, Alans) to belong to the Iranian group of Indo-European languages - period! This was determined only by the names of the leaders and kings of these tribes recorded by the ancient Greeks and Romans. There are several dozen of them, for example (here we must take into account the Greek spelling, namely the Greeks’ predilection for the endings os-as): Olkas, Matasiy, Skilur, Palak, Kolandak, Skivlias, Pardokas, Ditylas, Zariva-Tsareva (female), Scolonius, Tevtoma, Tevtar, Shpako, Orpata, Adanfirs, Skopas, Tapsakas, Atey (king) [2]. Let's try to clear these names of Greek sediments, we get: Olk, Mata, Skilur, Palak, Kolandak, Skivl, Pardak, Dit, Tsareva, Skol, Teut, Orpat, Azanfir, Tapsak, Atey. I will give a dozen of the most common non-Muslim names of modern Persia (little has changed culturally there over thousands of years, except that the nuclear reactor started working): Ardashir, Baraz, Javed, Mihran, Parvaz, Sohrab, Shahryar, Sher. And for comparison, a few old Russian names: Yaroslav, Velimir, Dobrogost, Dobrynya, Budimir, Vseslav, Dobran, Uslad, Svetomir, Radislav, Ratibor (and what names, they say, a direct moral and military characteristic of our ancestors). For me, the latter is more consonant with Scythian names than Iranian names, isn’t it?
There is even a 200-word dictionary of the Scythian language, where the author, famous historian, philologist, linguist and Iranian scholar V.I. Abaev - an Ossetian by nationality - again out of thin air, just for the sake of proving the involvement of modern Ossetians in those Alans, “pulls by the ears” some modern Ossetian words and concepts, as if consonant, no, rather, they could be similar to some Alan (Scythian) analogues. If you devote your life to such evidence, then you can compile a Scythian-Honduran dictionary. Such research is carried out on the erroneous assumption that the Russian Plain, the Caucasus, and the Caspian Sea were populated by migrants from the Iranian Plateau, for which there is practically no evidence. That is, it means that all the gigantic spaces of Eurasia from the Elbe to the Urals and from Valdai to the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea were inhabited for thousands of years by some proto-Iranian, and, naturally, Iranian-speaking tribes. And this statement stubbornly, despite the latest discoveries in biology and genetics, continues to be present in almost all educational and popular publications, including online ones and on Wikipedia.
At the same time, the entire “Iranianness” of these million-strong, apparently the most numerous then (and now) tribes of Europe rests, in addition to references to several names of Scythian leaders, also on the consonance of the hydronyms Don-Dnieper-Dniester-Danube-Donets with the Ossetian
Genetics of Alans and Scythians
Here it is impossible not to bring one more, but “killer” argument. According to the latest research data from geneticists, Ossetians have nothing to do with the Scythians and Alans. The fact that the Scythians belonged to the R1a haplogroup on the male Y chromosome is not disputed by anyone and is recognized by the entire scientific community of the world. But so far this circumstance has not yet been imprinted on the brain of an ordinary descendant of the Scythian tribe - and this is you and me, dear reader, Eastern Slavs. Two-thirds (in the territories south of Moscow) we belong to this “Scythian” haplogroup, but the Ossetians do not. Among Ossetians, the percentage of R1a is negligible. But more on this later.
Let's return to the Alans, consider their “Scythian-Sarmatian” origin, because other hypotheses today are unconvincing and are not seriously considered. To this day, for some reason, both in school history textbooks, as well as in universities, when considering the chain of peoples: Aryans-Cimmerians-Scythians-Sarmatians-Slavs - replacing each other in the vast expanses of Eastern and Central Europe - are completely overlooked, already mentioned above, the achievements of molecular genetics of the last twenty years. In the previous chapters, it was shown that the Aryan tribes that appeared on this territory about 4800-4500 years ago (battle ax culture, also known as Yamnaya, also known as Timber and Catacomb culture, also known as Corded Ware culture) were classified according to the male Y chromosome, according to the first ancestor, to haplogroup R1a. The fact that these were precisely arias is mentioned in academic publications, but is bashfully kept silent in more mass editions. The very name of the tribe, the term “Aryan”, Aryan, Aryans was unreasonably sullied by the ideologists of Hitler’s Germany and since then has been almost abusive and cursed for centuries. Restoring historical justice, we once again emphasize: in Germany itself, only up to 15% of those who can be classified as Aryans belong to haplogroup R1a, the rest of the Germans for the most part belong either to the Western European group R1b or the Paleo-European groups I1 and I2. The further development and rethinking of the entire history of Europe, and indeed the world, cannot be done without the rehabilitation of the concept itself, the term “Aryan”.
It is not known exactly what the composition of the pre-Aryan population of the territories under consideration was - Eastern and Central Europe, the Russian Plain, the steppes of the Black Sea region, the Azov region, the Caspian region and the Southern Urals). Most likely, this was an autochthonous Paleo-European population of haplogroup I, preserved and survived after the Ice Age. Today, in the territory of northern Russia, they are clearly visible on gene maps - see Fig. 2. - traces of these tribes: in the Arkhangelsk and Vologda regions, up to 18% of the population belongs to haplogroup I1, Russian Pomors for the most part also belong to this group. It is obvious that the colonization of the Russian Plain by the Aryans had little impact on the Russian north at one time, otherwise these traces would not have been preserved. In southern Russia and Ukraine, the descendants of ancient European aborigines from haplogroup I2a account for up to 12-15%. But it is still unknown for sure; perhaps these are traces of migrations of the Balkan population in later eras. As statistical data on DNA research accumulates, the picture of the world will become increasingly clearer, and many secrets and mysteries that were hitherto inaccessible will be revealed.
The term “Aryan” itself has been known since the 19th century, thanks to the deciphering and translation of the ancient Iranian epic “Zend-Avesta”. Modern studies of the remains of the Aryans of Iran, Transcaucasia, Mesopotamia, Arabia and the Aryans of the Russian Plain prove their complete identity according to their ancestor, the male Y chromosome. Moreover, the primacy is clearly defined, we emphasize this circumstance once again, of the Aryans of Eastern Europe, some of whom migrated to Western Asia, Iran, India 4000-3500 years ago after the colonization and settlement of the European part of Eurasia. Surprisingly, this fact, generally accepted and generally accepted by the scientific community, is still not reflected even in the “advanced” Wikipedia. Hence: the appearance of “the cart before the horse” is completely incomprehensible when it is stated that the Iranian element, including language, prevails in the specified territory.
Cimmerians - predecessors of the Scythians
In modern historical science, it is generally accepted that the Aryans disappeared almost without a trace, dissolving into the tribes that followed them, in particular the Cimmerians and Scythians. We know about the Cimmerians from many sources, but the discoverer – not of the people, but only of their name – is the “father of history” Herodotus. With his light hand in the spaces of Eastern Europe from about 1300 BC. tribes are recorded, called Cimmerians by Herodotus. Where did they come from and where did the tribes that preceded them go? Historians and archaeologists do not have an exact answer to this, only dozens of obscure hypotheses. It turns out that the Cimmerians owe their very name to the Greeks; of course, nothing is known about their self-name. It was determined, however, that they again belonged to the same “Iranian group of languages”, and they “guessed” this only from the three (!) names of the leaders mentioned in the ancient lists. Here they are: Tugdamme, Teushpa, Sandakshatru. And these three names were alternately attributed to the Celts, then to the Thracians and Caucasians, but, in the end, linguists settled on the Iranian version. But I, for example, propose to consider them Russian-Indian - so what?! Those who wanted to see Iranian roots in these names saw it, but I didn’t. Here, and as we will see later, it must be assumed that a powerful layer of the scientific community of some Iranianists has formed, who have been pushing and defending their line for decades. And it is no longer possible for them to turn away from this path - in this case their entire universe will collapse! In historical science it’s like this: whoever saddles whatever topic will defend it to the last drop of ink, even realizing that he is wrong.
The Cimmerians quietly disappear from the historical arena and are replaced in the 8th-7th centuries BC. Scythians. What they called themselves is unknown, since “Scythians” again comes from the Greeks. Then, about two hundred years before the beginning of the New Era, the Sarmatians appeared in the same territories, and the Scythians mysteriously disappeared somewhere. And again, “in all the textbooks of the country”: the Scythians were partially destroyed, partially assimilated by the Sarmatians, the latter being of the same Iranian origin as the Scythians. Nobody thought about how it is possible to “partially destroy and partially assimilate” (that is, kill men and take women as slaves) a huge people known to the entire world of that time and still influencing this world through their cultural heritage! And the answer is on the surface: Scythians and Sarmatians are one and the same. This is confirmed by the findings of geneticists. And according to archaeologists, only the latter, if they want to see some differences in the culture of these two seemingly different peoples, do they find them. And it will become fashionable and relevant to consider them united - irrefutable evidence of this will immediately be found. Over hundreds of years, the culture and way of life of the same ethnic group certainly changes, otherwise we would still be running after mammoths with sticks. Compare Russia in 1900 and 1800 - the people are the same, but the country is completely different. So are the Scythians, Cimmerians, Sarmatians and... Slavs.
Sarmatians. Are Alans Slavs?
At the turn of the 200-300s of the New Era, the Sarmatians were mentioned less and less often in the works of their contemporaries and, on the contrary, under various names, more and more often, Slavs. Herodotus in his time called some Cimmerians, others Scythians - and so it went. The Romans called the same people Sarmatians (Sauromatians), the Byzantines understood about the Slavs - Alans. I want to emphasize again, to stitch with a red thread: there was no chain of different peoples replacing each other on our land; namely: Aryans - Cimmerians - Scythians - Sarmatians - Slavs, these were and are one and the same people, descendants of the ancient Aryans. The well-known Russian researcher of antiquities of the first half of the 19th century, E. Klassen, came to this conclusion, regardless of the achievements of modern science and archeology, relying only on cold logic and numerous testimonies of ancient authors. Following Lomonosov, he was one of the first to draw attention to the discrepancy between the views of historical science of that time (as we see, and today’s) on the problem of the origin and disappearance of the Scythians in relation to the true state of affairs, the correct placement of emphasis and rethinking of primary sources. So, according to Klassen, Alans are a Slavic tribe, whose name is derived from the ancient Russian word “Alan” (which was quite common in his time), which means lowland, pasture. And today the map of Russia is replete with geographical names with a root of similar meaning, “Elan” (transformed from “Alan”). That is, Alans are shepherds, cattle breeders, or steppe Slavs, in contrast to the Slavs of the forest and forest-steppe zones. And we have no reason not to trust this conclusion of the famous Russian scientist. Moreover, almost everywhere it is stated that the Alans are “an Iranian-speaking tribe of the Scythian-Sarmatian type.” As we see, there are big problems with the first statement, but we will consider the second one to be true. Although, it must be admitted, there is no 100% evidence of genetic correspondence between the Alans and the Scythians, but more on that later.
In the meantime, for today, it turns out like this: the southeastern, steppe part of the Scythian-Aryans are the Alans of the early Middle Ages. It was they who were involved in the whirlwind of the Asian-Hunnic invasion during the period of the Great Migration of Peoples, and they also walked throughout Europe and even Africa. It is believed: “the traditions of medieval European chivalry, including vestments and weapons, military equipment, moral code and ideology of the military elite, go back to the Sarmatian-Alan (military) culture. The Alan basis is found in the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.” A characteristic feature of the equipment of the Sarmatian and then Alan knights was a protective shell of a scaly type, which was later transformed into a lighter modification - chain mail. It was these Alan-Scythians who, during the 200 years of their stay in Europe, left behind a memory in toponymy and, what is especially important for us, managed to leave clear imprints of their stay in these places on modern gene maps of Western Europe and North Africa in such a short historical period - see. Fig.3. Traces of haplogroup R1a from 2.5 to 5% could only be left by them. Before and since then, there had been no such long-term invasions of the descendants of the Aryans into the west of Europe.
"New Alans" 8-12 centuries.
The period from the end of the 4th to about the 7th-8th centuries is a dark spot in the history of the ancient, first Alans. But during the same period there are numerous references by contemporary authors to the appearance of Slavic tribes on these lands, in particular the Veneti, Roxolani, Antes, Borusi, and Sklavens. After the redeployment of the Alans, together with the Goths and Huns, to Europe, the Ant tribes from the north and north-west gradually penetrated into the vacated spaces of the Lower Don and Ciscaucasia, and from the east the Avars (from Russian sources), then the Bulgars and Khazars (from 650). It turns out that from the time the Alans left for the west until their first skirmishes with the Avars, about two hundred years passed - and practically nothing is known about this period in the history of the Alans. It turns out that in the period from the end of the 4th century onwards until the beginning of the 2nd millennium, several different ethnic groups lived in the steppe spaces between the Black, Azov and Caspian seas, and without clear boundaries between themselves. These are, firstly, the Alans themselves, about whom it is said in textbooks that they were part of a certain Khazar Khaganate (about which in the next chapter), secondly, the Slavic Rus (Ants), and, thirdly, the Avars, Bulgars , Khazars and even the Pechenegs who appeared here from the end of the 9th century.
Russian chronicles of the 11th century describe in some detail the relationship between the Rus and the Khazars, which were never cloudless. If in the first period of this confrontation the Russians were forced to pay tribute to the Khazars, then in the end, the Kiev prince Svyatoslav “closed” this problem forever, destroying the Khazar Kaganate itself as a state. Next, the Russians had to deal with the Pechenegs, and then with the Polovtsians. But let's return to the Alans. The authors of the Nikon Chronicle, who are quite knowledgeable about the confrontation between the Russians and the Khazars, starting around the 7th century, do not tell us anything about the Alans, who, by the way, lived, according to the legends, on the same lands at the same time.
However, all other, non-Old Russian, sources persistently point to the presence at the same time in these territories of the Alans and their, for some reason, peaceful coexistence with both the Bulgars and the Khazars, often in the same settlement. A classic, but perhaps not the only example, is the Mayatskoye settlement on Tikhaya Sosnya (100 km south of Voronezh). The settlement itself served as one of the symbols to designate the entire “Saltano-Mayatskaya” culture, in which archaeologists and historians lumped together the heritage of the Khazars, Bulgars and Alans. Unprecedented for that era, tolerance and a model of peaceful coexistence of different ethnic groups. Moreover, everything that cannot be identified as belonging to the Bulgar or Khazar culture is automatically considered Alan.
The territories of the North Caucasus, Lower Don, and Caspian Sea, starting from the end of the 7th century, attracted the attention of Arab conquerors. Arab expansion, which by that time had captured Transcaucasia, spreads to the North Caucasus and the steppes of the Kuban region. The settled tribes that lived here are forced to retreat either to the inaccessible gorges of the Caucasus, or to the north, to the Don. Well, since in that era in the Ciscaucasia, according to the then ideas of the Byzantines, Persians and Arabs, Alans lived, then on the Don, of course, the tribes that migrated from the south are also recorded by historians as Alans. But, at the same time, it is not said anywhere how related the Western Alans, lost in Europe and northern Africa back in the 5th-6th centuries, are to these, who remained in the steppes between the Azov and Caspian seas. Here lies another of the main and unsolved mysteries of the early Middle Ages: why are the tribes that lived north of the Caucasus Mountains up to the Volga-Don interfluve considered Alans? Based on what, what research, what excavations? The written evidence of the Romans (including Josephus) ends at the beginning of the New Era, and this is by no means the 7th-8th centuries... It turns out that contemporaries continued to call these tribes “Alans” out of habit, out of inertia, in order to somehow designate heterogeneous, multi-tribal ethnic groups who had gathered by that time in the territories previously occupied by the Western Alans. It turns out that the Alans of the early Middle Ages, the Alans who went to Europe at the end of the 4th century and disappeared among the local population, gave their name to all subsequent “forced migrants” from the Caucasus to the north.
The facts and evidence given by researchers about the “Alan-ness” of the late Alans are unconvincing and seem to be drawn towards a pre-planned answer. These Alans, who migrated to the north, to the Don, in the 7-8 centuries, became one of the bearers of the mentioned Saltanovo-Mayak culture. Once again: the first Alans, the Western Alans of the early Middle Ages, left around 400 along with the Goths and Huns on a campaign against Rome and further to Western Europe; the remaining eastern Alans, according to most historians, continue to remain in the previously occupied territories between Azov and the Caspian Sea, but at the same time, until the invasion of the Avars in 555, nothing is known about them. Almost immediately after the conquest of these Alans by the Khazars in the middle of the 7th century and the latter’s occupation of these lands, around 670 the Arabs pushed the Khazars (and Alans) from the Caucasus to the north. Note that by that time Kiev had already been founded in Rus' and Slavic tribes came to the forefront of history, the Russian-Russians were mentioned for the first time, who became neighbors of just these eastern Alans in the middle and lower Don region.
Historians attribute almost peaceful coexistence with the Khazars to the Eastern Alans, or at least vassalage. And so on until the defeat of the Khazar Kaganate by the Russian prince Svyatoslav in 929. Further, these harmonious Alans also calmly coexist with the Pechenegs, and then with the Polovtsians. But they were unlucky with the Mongol-Tatars, they turned out to be too fierce and had to fight with them, and, having been defeated, take refuge in the impregnable Caucasian gorges. This is how, according to legend, modern North Ossetia was born. However, any textbook will tell you the same thing.
"Don Alans" of the 10th century.
But such an incident occurred not so long ago during a comprehensive study of the remains of the so-called “Don Alans” from the Saltovsky and Dmitrovsky burial grounds (middle Don region). We examined 6 male and 6 female skeletons, presumably from Alan burials and approximately dated no later than the 10th century. I further quote: “... craniological features of the skull, ... osteometric studies, ... odontological sources [and so on] ... allow us to associate the studied remains with the Alan ethnic community.” That is, the task of matching the discovered burials to the Alan ones seems to have been completed, but... DNA analysis unexpectedly revealed that the remains of men, according to their haplotype, belonged to the Central Caucasian, almost autochthonous, group G2a. On the gene map for this haplogroup - see Fig. 2 - the “epicenter” of the spread of this haplogroup is clearly visible - this is the Central Caucasus. Here are the Alans, here are the heirs of the Scythians! Modern Ossetians, by the way, have the following ratio of haplogroups: G2a – up to 70%, J2 – 14% (this is a Middle Eastern group), R1b – 7% (Western European), while the Scythian-Aryan haplogroup R1a is negligible.
As already indicated, the following, which has become canonical, definition of Alans is generally accepted: “Alans are Iranian-speaking nomadic tribes of Scythian-Sarmatian origin.” But the Scythians, the South Siberian, the Ural, and the Eastern European, belonged to the Aryan haplogroup R1a, according to the male Y chromosome, according to the first ancestor, and no one doubts this. This means that the Alans, if they are of Scythian-Sarmatian origin, must physically and biologically also belong to R1a. By the way, female samples according to mitochondrial DNA are assigned to group I (Asian, by the way, but Scythian women for the most part belonged to group H according to this label). In general, female genetic marks allow one to determine only belonging to a certain group (based on the first mother), as well as the closest ancestors along the female line - mother, grandmother... But some kind of localization of an ethnic group by female type is difficult, if not impossible. The same applies to the direction of tribal migrations, since during interpenetration, assimilation or even the conquest of one tribe by another, the female element is shuffled like the queen of spades in a deck of cards. While the mark on the male chromosome (a certain set of nucleotides in the DNA molecule) remains unchanged and constant.
Thus, the whole structure falls apart: either the Alans (but precisely these, “eastern” ones, who remained in the Ciscaucasia after the Western Alans left for Europe in the 5th century) have nothing to do with the Scythians and Sarmatians, or the Scythians (and you and I, as their descendants) are also immigrants from the Caucasus. As the ancients said: tercium non datum (there is no third option) - choose what you like. There is, however, an option that the ancient Alans, the real Alans of the early Middle Ages, like the “quasi-Alans,” also belonged to haplogroup G2a, but then their Scythian-Sarmatian origin again has to be put to rest.
I propose the following way out of this logical dead end and vicious circle. The Alans of the early Middle Ages, who disappeared into the vastness of Europe and Africa in the 5th-7th centuries, were precisely those “heirs of the Scythian-Sarmatian civilization,” or the same Scythians, only they lived “beyond the Don,” to the east of the Don. Slavic cattle breeders, or Alan-Aryans, are the inhabitants of the Trans-Don steppes. And it’s not for nothing that Alan historiography has a gap of 200 years from 400 to 600. In the territories between the Sea of Azov, the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus during this period there is no material evidence (archaeological data) of any stable tribal formations, and so on until the appearance of the Avars (557) and Khazars (650). But then, in clashes with the Khazars, historians again mention certain Alans. But, if these “new Alans” belonged to the Caucasian haplogroup G2a, then it is logical to assume some kind of migration of the Central Caucasian tribes to the north during this period, to the practically empty but fertile steppes of the Kuban, Azov and Don regions. This migration continued for centuries, but the share of representatives of these particular tribes in the population of the Khazar Kaganate (about the Khazars - in the next chapter) was insignificant. Thus, for 350 burial places of the Khazars (possibly also Bulgars) discovered and studied by archaeologists, there are only 10 attributed to the Alans, late Alans, or Caucasian Alans. Moreover, there are not unfounded versions according to which the appearance of G2a marks on the Don is generally associated with even earlier migrations of representatives of this genus from the Balkans and Asia Minor. But let's not go deeper into this jungle.
Are Ossetians descendants of Alans and Scythians?
So, what do we have about the Alans? If you believe the official historical science, especially the Soviet and Russian part of it, then the following sequence of successive tribes, initially belonging to the same ethnic group, has been determined: Scythians - Sarmatians - Alans - modern Ossetians. Moreover, all of them are “Iranian-speaking”. From here, since the majority of Ossetians (70%) have a genetic mark of the “Caucasian” haplogroup in the male line, a logical reverse conclusion can be drawn: the Alans of the early Middle Ages, as well as the Sarmatians and Scythians, should also be assigned to the G2a group based on the male Y chromosome. Dead end again. Again the same conclusion: either declare that the Alans who conquered Europe in the 5th century AD. - these are people from the Caucasus who are not related to the Sarmatians and Scythians; or admit that the Ossetians have nothing to do with either the first Alans or, of course, the Scythians, and all evidence for this was drawn, starting in 1944, by the father of the “Alanism” of the Ossetians, V.I. Abaev. Both are revolutions in historical science, and it is unlikely that any of the greats will go for it. Personally, I would recommend the second option. This leads to the following assumption about the origin of the later, secondary Alans: the tribes that descended from the Caucasus mountains to the liberated territories after the departure of the true Alans to Europe, not immediately, but after 150-200 years, were called Alans by their contemporaries (Byzantines, Persians, Arabs) out of habit , according to the habitat of the former genuine Alans. The Ossetians themselves never considered themselves Alans until the discoveries of the aforementioned Abaev. I think that if this respected scientist (by the way, he lived for 100 years) knew about the insoluble contradiction according to genetic data, he would have devoted his life to other sciences.
Now regarding the Iranian language, or rather, the Iranian-speaking nature of the Scythians, Alans and Ossetians. It is on this that the main arguments of the “Alanists and Scythians” are built, deriving these peoples from the Iranian root. Although language as a means of communication is a very plastic thing, flexible, easily transformable and adaptable to new circumstances. In the history of the Earth, there are hundreds and thousands of examples when conquered peoples, in two or three generations, switched to the language of the conqueror, introducing, of course, elements of their own into the new linguistic substrate. The same situation exists in the relations between neighboring more and less developed civilizations, which actively penetrate and diffuse into each other: language changes, especially “at the boundaries of spheres.” If we had lost the war to Nazi Germany, the survivors today would have communicated with the gentlemen in German, and among themselves in a Russian-German cocktail.
We have already learned about the “Iranianness” of the Scythian language, now about the Ossetians. The self-name of Ossetians is iron, ironets, and “Ossetian” came into the Russian language through the Georgian “ossa, oats”. Iron, of course, is practically Iran and this is not just a coincidence. But let's not rush. As already mentioned, any researcher of antiquity sees in artifacts, archaeological finds, written sources only what he needs for publication, scientific career, fame, money, in the end. And I am afraid that the Iranian roots of the Ossetian language are also attracted by biased linguists, just like the “Iranianity” of the Scytho-Aryan language - examples of the intersection of words are given at the beginning of the article. It is very difficult to imagine how the language of the Aryans (the ancestors of the Scythians) could be Iranian, if in Iran, on the Iranian Plateau, the Iranian-Aryans appeared later than on the Russian Plain by 500-800 years, and they came to their new homeland from here. In one of the previous chapters, the direction of ancient migrations in time and space was shown with appropriate references to sources.
Let us briefly recall that 15-12 thousand years ago, the Caucasian peoples of modern southern Siberia, or Central Asia, began a gradual movement to the west, reaching Europe over the millennia. From here, about 5 thousand years ago, they began their reverse movement towards the Urals, as well as through the Caucasus to Iran and Western Asia, reaching Arabia, and also populated the north of Hindustan. In Iran and India, the Aryans of the Russian Plain appear approximately 3800-3500 years ago. That is, in history and linguistics everything is still turned upside down. As the cartoon character said, “Yes, on the contrary!” The language of the Iranian Persians, both modern and ancient, is a branch of the common Aryan proto-language, but not the other way around. Also Scythian. And this has to be admitted, not right away, I understand: it’s impossible right away, not everyone’s heart can stand it, but over time.
An unbiased, honest analysis and research is required to determine whether the modern Ossetian language corresponds to certain Iranian roots. True, there is still the option of perceiving the language of the conqueror, or the more culturally and economically developed neighboring dominating people. But precisely from the side of the truly Iranian-speaking Persia-Iran, for the entire period under review in the Caucasus, only Iran from the era of the Sassanid Empire could have been - this is the 3rd-7th century AD. But even in this case, Iran’s influence did not extend north of the Main Caucasus Range - so this option does not work either. There was also the campaign of the Persians Darius in the 6th century BC. through these places, but it was quite short-lived.
Now, as for the seemingly undoubted correspondence of the hydronyms of Ossetian rivers such as Ar-don, Karma-don, Fiag-don with a well-defined root “don” - water (river) with the same meaning and sound to the set of the great European rivers Don, Danube , Dnepr, Dniester. There is a corresponding Iranian-Avestan root da-nu (river, to flow) and also in Sanskrit danu- to flow, oozing liquid. The argument, of course, is weighty, but it turns out that “water” roots dn – d-n, similar in meaning, are in the dictionaries of other languages, including Slavic, Semitic and even the Hittites. Some experts are generally inclined to believe that the names of the mentioned large rivers of Europe refer to certain pre-Indo-European languages, that is, the names of the rivers were given by tribes that lived in this territory even before the Aryan invasion. And the Aryans, as colonial conquerors, adopted the names of the largest rivers (mountains, lakes) from the local population, and renamed the less significant ones to their liking, in honor of themselves and their loved ones. Here, by the way, the origin of the hydronym “Voronezh” is also unclear. There are many hypotheses and assumptions, but they are all probabilistic. And it is also quite likely that the word Voronezh itself goes back to pre-Indo-European, pre-Aryan times. The principle of colonialists accepting the geographical names of dominant objects from the local population and renaming less significant ones is also seen in modern times when Europeans conquered other continents.
Today, the exact ethnic composition of the pre-Indo-European (pre-Aryan) population of Eastern Europe has not been determined - from 5000 years ago and earlier. As already mentioned, unique “trails” of traces of presence in the north and south of this zone of the Paleo-European population of haplogroups I1 and I2a, respectively, have been established. Representatives of haplogroups E, G, J - immigrants from the Caucasus, Asia Minor, Western Asia, and the Middle East - could live in the basin of the Don, Kuban and Terek - and still live to this day. Who exactly gave names and in what language to the rivers of Europe and the North Caucasus remains unknown. Perhaps we will never know who was the first on Earth to think of naming a river (water) after the Don and in what strange ways, thanks to what vicissitudes of fate, the small rivers, practically streams, of the Central Caucasus became consonant with the greatest European rivers. This is another mystery for posterity. If the Aryans on their way from Europe to Western Asia, to the notorious Iran - through the Daryal Gorge and the Cross Pass (one of the three main routes when crossing the Main Caucasus Range) - would have stayed here for a long time, sufficient to rename local water flows in their own way , so much so that these names then survived millennia, then they must have left, of course, traces of their presence here in the genetics of the modern population, namely among the Ossetians. But this is not the case. Genetically, these are different ethnic groups; according to genetics, Ossetians are autochthons of the Central Caucasus, but their language is defined as Indo-European, and in this regard, “Don - river” is a killer argument. Well, what if it’s just a banal consonance of unrelated words from languages of different origins?
“Yasy – asy – yazi” of the first Russian chronicles
In the first Russian chronicles, there are often references to the people of Yazi, Yasi, Azy, even Os, who were the Russians’ neighbors along the Don steppe. Scientists clearly connect these Yas-Asses with the Ossetians of our time and, therefore, with the Alans. That is, it is argued that the Asy-Yasi-Az of the Russian chronicles are the Alans. Let's consider how true this is. We are talking about the 9th-11th centuries, that is, starting from pre-Christian Rus'. At this time, the steppes of the Azov region, between the Don and Volga rivers, and the Kuban were occupied simultaneously by several tribes: the Khazars, Pechenegs, Bulgars, and the first detachments of the Polovtsians. We will look at what kind of people these were in the following chapters, but for now we note that among them, in the vicinity of the growing power of Russia, certain Yases also lived. The Russians of that time, basically, were at enmity with these peoples, sometimes, however, entering into short-term alliances with them against others. It was the same with jars. The leaders and princes of all the tribes of the steppe often performed dynastic and allied inter-tribal marriages. Thus, Prince Yaropolk (1116) had a wife, whom he fell in love with during the campaign against Yassy, called Yasynya (“daughter of the Yassy prince”). The wife of Andrei Bogolyubsky (1176) was also named Yasynya, but it is said about her: “she was a Bulgarian by birth” - here the chronicler classifies the Yasians as Bulgars. Let us emphasize: to the Bulgars, and not to the Ossetian Alans, as the majority of researchers would like to see. I would like to go so far as to say, unconditionally and, most importantly, completely unsubstantiated, without written sources or audio recordings: “... the steppe Alans of the Don region of the 8th-10th centuries spoke the same language that the Ossetians spoke in the Middle Ages and still speak , Ironians and Digorians in the Caucasus Mountains."
Perhaps, but not so categorically. The appearance of the Yas-Aces-Os in the neighborhood of Russia in the 8th century can indeed be associated with the forced migration of some foothill Caucasian tribes under the pressure of Arab expansion. And they are similar in haplogroups - (see above). The “Alans” of the Saltovo-Mayak culture, like modern Ossetians, are classified as group G2a. But, as stated in the same work, these are different substrata of one people, separated in time. In other words, these “Don Alans” - (Yas?), having the same G2a genome, are, however, not related to modern Ossetians. The appearance of the first Ossetians (the ancestors of modern Ossetians in these territories - the Daryal Gorge region) is determined in the work to be 1450 years ago, or approximately 550 AD, and the “alleles” of the Don Alans are much older. Ossetians, their origin, language continue to remain one of the unsolved mysteries of history and ethnography. Approximately the same riddles were left to descendants by those who disappeared at the end of the 1st millennium BC. the Etruscans and the Basques still alive today in the Pyrenees mountains. People are a mystery. The only one among the numerous peoples of the Caucasus (except for the Armenians) is a native speaker of an Indo-European language, who also adopted Christianity at about the same time as Russia and remains Orthodox surrounded by Islam. As an assumption: some elements of the language of the Aryans, Scytho-Aryans (Indo-European) could penetrate into Ossetian through the centuries-old border contacts of the ancestors of the Ossetians with the Slavic Russians, with Russia precisely in the pre-Mongol period in the 7-12th centuries. The interpenetration of neighboring languages in border environments is a common phenomenon today. It is enough to visit the south of the Voronezh region to be convinced that a special mixed Russian-Ukrainian dialect is spoken there, which has its own name - surzhik.
Today, unfortunately, we have a completely insufficient amount of data on the genetics of the peoples of southeastern Europe during the period under review. Ancient burials are not systematized and practically not studied in terms of studying the DNA of the discovered remains. Much has to be determined from insignificant, fragmentary data. In particular, this chapter contains references to a genetic study of the remains of the alleged “Don Alans” using only six samples. Of course, this is completely insufficient. But molecular biology, or DNA biology (there is no official name yet) is developing rapidly and I would like to believe that within the lifetime of our generation sufficient data will be accumulated for more unambiguous conclusions, including on the Alans and Scythians.
CONCLUSIONS:
1. The Alans of the early Middle Ages and the Alans of the North Caucasus of the 7th-11th centuries are different peoples, unrelated to each other (except in name);
2. The tribes that lived in this territory during this period were called Alans by their contemporaries by analogy with the tribe that previously lived here;
3. Yasy-Asy-Osy of Russian chronicles is one of the minor tribes neighboring Russia on the border with the Wild Field (Zadonye), and their relationship with modern Ossetians has not been proven;
4. The Iranian-speaking nature of the Scythians-Sarmatians-Alans is one of the established stereotypes of world history. The true chain of “Indo-European” languages looks like this: Aryans - Scythians - Iranians (and Sanskrit). Moreover, the spread of the Proto-Indo-European language (aka Aryan) went from the territory of Eastern Europe in diverging directions to Central, Western and Southern Europe, as well as to Iran (Forward Asia) and Hindustan, along with the migrations of speakers of this language - the ancient Aryans in the period from 5000 to 2000 years ago.
SOURCES:
1. Chudinov V.A. Scythian and Ant writings were discovered. – www.runitsa.ru/publications/publication-8.php;
2. www.academia.edu/7304760/Scythian-names;
3. 4. History of the North Ossetian ASSR, ed. Dzugaeva E.Kh., vol. 1, Ordzhonikidze, “Ir”, 1987, 529 pp.;
5. haplogroup.narod.ru>celeb.html;
6. ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Aryan migrations;
7. Zolin P. Haplogroup R1a and Proto-Indo-Europeanism – www.site/2009/12/07/544;
8. Klassen E. New materials for the further history of the Slavs... Rusograd. Library Rusograd at http://rusograd.da.ru;
9.
Reviews
I fully accept the theory that the Alans have nothing to do with the Ossetians (especially in the Caucasus, no one except the Ossetians themselves classifies them as Alans).
But I must note that all the fabrications about the ancient Slavs and Russians are also taken from thin air, and not only in your work.
One thing is certain:
The Arabs 1300 years ago reached the center of France and they were in heavy armor and chain mail (the famous heavy Arab cavalry) and Europe was forced to urgently arm themselves in the same way and no one except the Arabs could lay claim to the introduction of chain mail and armor in Europe because only terrible fear forced Europeans to urgently produce all this.
Now about the arias.
And what?
Isn’t it a shame for an adult to run around with ideas...oh, we descended from stinkers of such and such a haplogroup?
And discuss this with foam at the mouth.
I am laughing.
But the fact that the Russians allowed themselves to be kept as slaves by the German Romanovs until 1861 is not funny.
And it explains a lot about modernity.
"in the Caucasus, no one except the Ossetians themselves classifies them as Alans).
Only “in the Caucasus” has the right to judge whether the Ossetians are descendants of the Sarmatian tribal union, known as the “Alans”?
One thing is certain:
The Arabs 1300 years ago reached the center of France and they were in heavy armor and chain mail (the famous heavy Arab cavalry) and Europe was forced to urgently arm themselves in the same way and no one except the Arabs could lay claim to the introduction of chain mail and armor in Europe because only terrible fear forced the Europeans to urgently produce all this."
This is your speculation, nonsense, except to indicate that the Arabs invaded the territory of modern France from Spain in the 8th century and gradually took over about half the country. They did not have any heavy cavalry. The defeated feudal lords of Aquitaine lamented that shame had fallen on their Christian heads, for they allowed “lightly armed and mostly devoid of military vehicles Arabs to defeat warriors dressed in armor and armed with the most terrible weapons.” To this, Charles Martell replied: “... they are at the pinnacle of courage and like a stream that overturns everything in its path. Inspiration replaces their armor, courage replaces strength. But when their hands are busy with loot, when they feel the taste of a good, easy life, when ambition takes over the leaders and strife begins between them, then we will go against them, confident of victory."
Now about the arias.
Yes, thousands of years ago, stinking, grimy nomads roamed throughout Eurasia, wild, thieving and stupid, including carriers of haplogroup RA1.
And now there are people (gypsies) who wander around the world.
And what?"
And the fact that this is also speculation, or, to put it in Russian, an attempt to manipulate the facts. In India, haplogroup R1a1 is found mainly among members of the upper castes. The gypsies who came out of India (Rajakhstan) about 10 centuries ago were considered “untouchables” and are carriers of haplogroup H1. Only a small part of the gypsy camps of Central Europe have haplogroup R1a, in particular in Hungary, Slovakia, and Croatia. Either these were representatives of the upper castes, expelled for some sins 525-+120 years ago from India (the common smelly and grimy ancestor of these “Aryans” appeared in Hungary or Slovakia precisely then, and not two thousand years ago), or we are talking about people who received their haplogroup R1a-M576 in a “disordered” way.
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It was not the Huns who put an end to the Roman Empire. She fell under the hooves of the Alan cavalry. The long-skulled eastern people brought a new cult of war to Europe, laying the foundations for medieval chivalry.
"On guard" of Rome
Throughout its history, the Roman Empire more than once faced the invasion of nomadic tribes. Long before the Alans, the borders of the ancient world shook under the hooves of the Sarmatians and Huns. But, unlike their predecessors, the Alans became the first and last non-German people who managed to establish significant settlements in Western Europe. For a long time they existed next to the empire, periodically paying them neighboring “visits”. Many Roman generals spoke about them in their memoirs, describing them as practically invincible warriors.
According to Roman sources, the Alans lived on both sides of the Don, that is, in Asia and Europe, since, according to the geographer Claudius Ptolemy, the border ran along this river. Ptolemy called those who inhabited the western bank of the Don Scythian Alans, and their territory “European Sarmatia”. Those who lived in the East were called Scythians in some sources (from Ptolemy) and Alans in others (from Suetonius). In 337, Constantine the Great accepted the Alans into the Roman Empire as federates and settled them in Pannonia (Central Europe). From a threat, they immediately turned into defenders of the borders of the empire, for the right of settlement and salary. True, not for long.
Almost a hundred years later, dissatisfied with the living conditions in Pannonia, the Alans entered into an alliance with the Germanic Vandal tribes. It was these two peoples, acting together, who gained the glory of the sackers of Rome after they plundered the Eternal City for two weeks. The Roman Empire was never able to recover from this blow. Twenty-one years later, the German leader Odoacer formalized the fall of Rome by forcing the last of the Roman emperors to abdicate. The name of vandals remains a household name to this day.
Alan fashion
Imagine the citizens of Rome who began to imitate the barbarians. The idea that a Roman, dressed in Sarmatian-style trousers, grew a beard and rode a short but fast horse, trying to conform to the barbarian way of life, seems absurd. Oddly enough, for Rome in the 5th century AD, this was not uncommon. The Eternal City was literally “covered” by the fashion for everything “Alanian”. They adopted everything: military and equestrian equipment, weapons; Alan dogs and horses were especially valued. The latter were not distinguished by either beauty or height, but were famous for their endurance, which was attributed to an almost supernatural character.
Fed up with material goods, entangled in the shackles of sophistry and scholasticism, the Roman intelligentsia sought an outlet in everything simple, natural, primitive and, as it seemed to them, close to nature. The barbarian village was contrasted with the noisy Rome, the ancient metropolis, and the representatives of the barbarian tribes themselves were idealized so much that, in part, traces of this “fashion” formed the basis for subsequent medieval legends about courtly knights. The moral and physical advantages of barbarians were a favorite theme of novels and stories of that time.
Thus, in the last centuries of the Roman Empire, the savage took first place on the pedestal among the idols, and the German barbarian became the object of adoration among the readers of Tacitus and Pliny’s “Germania”. The next step was imitation - the Romans sought to look like barbarians, behave like barbarians and, if possible, be barbarians. Thus, the great Rome, in the last period of its existence, plunged into the process of complete barbarization.
The Alans, as well as the rest of the federates in general, were characterized by the exact opposite process. The barbarians preferred to take advantage of the achievements of a large civilization, on the periphery of which they found themselves. During this period, there was a complete exchange of values - the Alans became Romanized, the Romans became Alanized.
Deformed skulls
But not all the customs of the Alans were to the liking of the Romans. Thus, they ignored the fashion for an elongated head and artificial deformation of the skull, which was common among the Alans. In fairness, it should be noted that today a similar feature among the Alans and Sarmatians greatly facilitates the work of historians, allowing them to determine the places of distribution of the latter, thanks to the long skulls found in burials. Thus, it was possible to localize the habitat of the Alans on the Loire, in Western France. According to Sergei Savenko, director of the Pyatigorsk Museum of Local Lore, up to 70% of skulls dating back to the Alan era have an elongated shape.
To achieve an unusual head shape, a newborn whose cranial bones had not yet become strong were bandaged tightly with a ritual leather bandage, decorated with beads, threads, and pendants. They wore it until the bones became stronger, and then there was no need for it - the formed skull itself held its shape. Historians believe that such a custom came from the tradition of the Turkic peoples of strictly swaddling a child. The head of the child, lying motionless in a strong swaddling blanket in a flat wooden cradle, was formed longer in size.
The long head was often not so much fashionable as ritual. In the case of priests, the deformation affected the brain and allowed the clergy to go into a trance. Subsequently, representatives of the local aristocracy took over the tradition, and then it came into widespread use along with fashion.
First knights
This article has already mentioned that the Alans were considered invincible, brave to death and practically invulnerable warriors. Roman commanders, one after another, described all the difficulties of fighting a warlike barbarian tribe.
According to Flavius Arrian, the Alans and Sarmatians were mounted spearmen who attacked the enemy powerfully and quickly. He emphasizes that a phalanx of infantry equipped with projectiles is the most effective means of repelling an Alan attack. The main thing after this is not to “buy” the famous tactical move of all the steppe inhabitants: “false retreat,” which they often turned into victory. When the infantry, with which they had just stood face to face, pursued the fleeing enemy who had upset his ranks, the latter turned his horses and overthrew the foot soldiers. Obviously, their style of fighting subsequently influenced the Roman way of warfare. At least, later talking about the actions of his army, Arrian noted that “The Roman cavalry holds their spears and beats the enemy in the same manner as the Alans and Sarmatians.” This, as well as Arrian’s considerations regarding the combat capabilities of the Alans, confirms the prevailing opinion that in the West they seriously considered the military merits of the Alans.
Their fighting spirit was elevated to a cult. As ancient authors write, death in battle was considered not just honorable, but joyful: among the Alans, the “lucky dead” was considered to be the one who died in battle, serving the god of war; such a dead man was worthy of veneration. Those “unfortunates” who happened to live to old age and die in their bed were despised as cowards and became a shameful stain on the family.
The Alans had a significant influence on the development of military affairs in Europe. Historians associate with their heritage a whole complex of both military-technical and spiritual-ethical achievements that formed the basis of medieval knighthood. According to the research of Howard Reid, the military culture of the Alans played a significant role in the formation of the legend of King Arthur. It is based on the evidence of ancient authors, according to which Emperor Marcus Aurelius recruited 8,000 experienced horsemen - Alans and Sarmatians. Most of them were sent to Hadrian's Wall in Britain. They fought under banners in the form of dragons, and worshiped the god of war - a naked sword stuck in the ground.
The idea of finding an Alan basis in the Arthurian legend is not new. Thus, American researchers, Littleton and Malkor, draw a parallel between the Holy Grail and the sacred cup from the Nart (Ossetian) epic, Nartamonga.
Kingdom of Vandals and Alans
It is not surprising that the Alans, distinguished by such belligerence, in alliance with the no less warlike tribe of Vandals, represented a terrible misfortune. Distinguished by their particular savagery and aggressiveness, they did not enter into an agreement with the empire and did not settle in any area, preferring nomadic robbery and the seizure of more and more new territories. By 422-425, they approached Eastern Spain, took possession of the ships there, and, under the leadership of the leader Geiseric, landed in North Africa. At that time, the Roman colonies on the Dark Continent were going through hard times: they suffered from Berber raids and internal revolts against the central government, in general, they represented a tasty morsel for the united barbarian army of Vandals and Alans. In just a few years they conquered vast African territories that belonged to Rome, led by Carthage. A powerful fleet came into their hands, with the help of which they repeatedly visited the coasts of Sicily and Southern Italy. In 442, Rome was forced to recognize their complete independence, and thirteen years later - its complete defeat.
Alan blood
Throughout their existence, the Alans managed to visit many territories and leave their mark in many countries. Their migration stretched from the Ciscaucasia, through most of Europe, and into Africa. It is not surprising that today many peoples living in these territories claim to be considered the descendants of this famous tribe.
Perhaps the most likely descendants of the Alans are modern Ossetians, who consider themselves the successors of the great Alania. Today among Ossetians there are even movements advocating the return of Ossetia to its supposedly historical name. In fairness, it is worth noting that the Ossetians have grounds to claim the status of descendants of the Alans: a common territory, a common language, which is considered a direct descendant of the Alan, a common folk epic (Nart epic), where the core is supposedly the ancient Alan cycle. The main opponents of this position are the Ingush, who also advocate their right to be called descendants of the great Alans. According to another version, Alans in ancient sources were a collective name for all hunting and nomadic peoples located north of the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea.
According to the most common opinion, only part of the Alans became the ancestors of the Ossetians, while other parts merged or dissolved into other ethnic groups. Among the latter are the Berbers, Franks and even the Celts. Thus, according to one version, the Celtic name Alan comes from the patronymic “Alans”, who settled at the beginning of the 5th century in the Loire, where they mixed with the Bretons.
The Alans played a certain role in the ethnogenesis and formation of the culture of other peoples of the North Caucasus.
Encyclopedic YouTube
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✪ Dmitry Korobov: "Alans in the early Middle Ages"
✪ Caucasian frontier. Alans
✪ Alans based on the book of Yakut al Hamawi “Mujam al Buldan”, 12th century
✪ Alans. Road to the West
Subtitles
Ethnonym
Another interesting piece of evidence from the Chinese annals dates back to a later time: “Government in the city of Alanmi. This country formerly belonged to the Kangyu appanage owner. There are forty large cities, up to a thousand small trenches. The courageous and strong are taken into zhege, which translated into the language of the Middle State means: combat warrior.”
The name “Alans” was used by the Romans, and after them by the Byzantines, until the 16th century (the last mention of the Alan diocese in the Byzantine chronicles).
The Arabs also called the Alans by the name Al-lan, derived from the Byzantine "alana". Ibn Rusta (c. 290/903) reported that the Alans were divided into four tribes. It is known that the westernmost of them was called “aces”. In the 13th century, Western scientists (Guillaume de Rubruk) testified that “Alans and Ases” are one and the same people.
Etymology
Currently, science recognizes the version substantiated by V.I. Abaev - the term “Alan” is derived from the common name of the ancient Aryans and Iranians “arya”. According to T.V. Gamkrelidze and Vyach. Sun. Ivanov, the original meaning of this word “master”, “guest”, “comrade” develops in certain historical traditions into “tribal comrade”, then into the self-name of the tribe ( arya) and countries.
Various opinions have been expressed about the origin of the word "Alans". Thus, G. F. Miller believed that “the name of the Alans was born among the Greeks, and it comes from the Greek verb meaning to wander or wander.” K.V. Mullengof derived the name Alans from the name of a mountain range in Altai, G.V. Vernadsky - from the ancient Iranian “elen” - deer, L.A. Matsulevich believed that the issue of the term “Alan” had not been resolved at all.
Names of Alans
In Russian chronicles, the Alans were called by the word “Yasy”. The Nikon Chronicle in 1029 reports a victorious campaign against Yasov by Prince Yaroslav.
In Armenian chronicles Alans more often called by their own name. In Chinese chronicles, the Alans are known as the Alan people. In medieval Moldova, Alans were called olanami. The Armenian medieval geographical atlas of Ashkharatsuyts describes several Alan tribes, including the “people of Alans ash-tigor” or simply “the people of Dikor”, which is seen as the self-name of modern Digorians. The Alans from the eastern region of Alania described by him - “Alans in the country of Ardoz” - are the ancestors of the Ironians.
In Georgian sources, Alans are referred to as Ovsi or Axis. This exononym is still used by Georgians in relation to modern Ossetians.
Modern form
The natural development of ancient Iranian * āruana in Ossetian, according to V.I. Abaev, is allon(from * āryana) And ællon(from * ăryana) Ethnonym in the form ællon preserved in Ossetian folklore, but is not used as a self-name.
She hid the young sledges in a secret room. And then Uaig just returned and immediately asked his wife:
- I smell the smell of allon-billon.
- Oh my husband! - his wife answered him. “Two young men visited our village, one played the pipe, and the other danced on his fingertips. People were amazed; we had never seen such a miracle. It was their smell that remained in this room.
Story
The first mentions of the Alans are found in the works of ancient authors from the middle of the 1st century AD. e. The appearance of Alans in Eastern Europe - in the lower reaches of the Danube, the Northern Black Sea region, Ciscaucasia - is considered a consequence of their strengthening within the North Caspian association of Sarmatian tribes, led by the Aors.
In the I-III centuries. n. e. The Alans occupied a dominant position among the Sarmatians of the Azov and Ciscaucasia regions, from where they launched raids on the Crimea, Transcaucasia, Asia Minor, and Media.
“Almost all Alans,” writes the 4th century Roman historian Ammianus and Marcellinus, “are tall and beautiful... They are terrifying with the restrained, menacing look of their eyes, and are very mobile due to the lightness of their weapons... Among them, the one who gives up the ghost in battle is considered lucky.”In the 4th century, the Alans were already ethnically heterogeneous. Large tribal associations of Alans were defeated by the Huns in the 4th century, and by the Avars in the 6th century. Some Alans took part in the Great Migration of Peoples and ended up in Western Europe (in Gaul) and even in North Africa, where, together with the Vandals, they formed a state that lasted until the middle of the 6th century. All these events were accompanied everywhere by the partial ethnocultural assimilation of the Alans. Alan culture of the 4th-5th centuries. represent the settlements and burial grounds of the foothill zone of the Northern and Western Caucasus and the richest Kerch crypts of the Crimea. From the 7th to the 10th centuries. a significant part of medieval Alania, stretching from Dagestan to the Kuban region, was part of the Khazar Kaganate. For a long time, the North Caucasian Alans waged a stubborn struggle against the Arab Caliphate, Byzantium and the Khazar Khaganate. An idea of the rich Alanian culture of the 8th-11th centuries. give the famous catacomb burial grounds and settlements on the Seversky Donets (Saltovo-Mayatskaya culture) and especially settlements and burial grounds in the North Caucasus (fortifications: Arkhyzskoe, Upper and Lower Dzhulat, etc., burial grounds: Arkhon, Balta, Chmi, Rutha, Galiat, Zmeisky, Gizhgid, Bylym, etc.). They testify to the wide international connections of the Alans with the peoples of Transcaucasia, Byzantium, Kievan Rus and even Syria.
Materials from the Zmeysky burial ground indicate a high level of development of the culture of the North Caucasian Alans in the 11th-12th centuries. and about the presence of trade ties of the local population with Iran, Transcaucasia, Russia and the countries of the Arab East, as well as genetic ties between the Sarmatians and Alans, Alans and modern Ossetians. Finds of weapons confirm information from written sources that the main force of the Alan army was cavalry. The decline of the late Alan culture was caused by the 13th century Tatar-Mongol invasion. As a result of the campaign of 1238-1239. a significant part of plain Alania was captured by the Tatar-Mongols, Alania itself as a political entity ceased to exist. Another factor that contributed to the fall of the Alan state was the intensification of avalanche activity in the 13th-14th centuries. G.K. Tushinsky, the founder of Russian avalanche science as a science, believed that as a result of the increasingly frequent severe and snowy winters in the Caucasus, many high-mountain Alan villages and roads were destroyed by avalanches. Since then, villages have been located much lower on the slopes.
In the 14th century, Alans, as part of Tokhtamysh’s army, took part in battles with Tamerlane. The general battle began on April 15, 1395. Tokhtamysh’s army suffered a complete defeat. This was one of the largest battles of that time, which decided the fate of not only Tokhtamysh, but also the Golden Horde, at least its great-power position.
If by the end of the XIV century. On the Cis-Caucasian plain there were still relict groups of the Alan population, but the invasion of Tamerlane dealt them the final blow. From now on, the entire foothill plain up to the river valley. Argun passed into the hands of Kabardian feudal lords during the 15th century. advanced far to the east and developed almost deserted fertile lands.
The once vast Alanya has become depopulated. The picture of the death of Alanya was outlined by a Polish author of the early 16th century. Matvey Mekhovsky, who used earlier information from Jacopo da Bergamo:
Alans are a people who lived in Alania, a region of European Sarmatia, near the Tanais (Don) River and in its vicinity. Their country is a plain without mountains, with small elevations and hills. There are no settlers or inhabitants in it, since they were expelled and scattered to foreign regions during the invasion of enemies, and there they died or were exterminated. The fields of Alanya lie wide open. This is a desert in which there are no owners - neither Alans nor strangers.
Mekhovsky talks about Alania in the lower reaches of the Don - that Alania that was formed in the Don region back in the first centuries AD. e. with its center on the Kobyakov settlement.
If in the foothills the remnants of the Alans ceased to exist, then in the mountain gorges they, despite the massacre, survived and continued the ethnic tradition of the Ossetian people. It was Mountain Ossetia after the invasions of 1239 and 1395. became the historical cradle of the Ossetians, where finally during the XIV-XV centuries. both ethnicity and traditional folk culture were formed. At the same time, the division of the Ossetian people into gorge societies probably took shape: Tagaurskoye, Kurtatinskoye, Alagirskoye, Tualgom, Digorskoye.
DNA archeology data
Analysis of the anthropological material of the catacomb burial rite of the forest-steppe zone of the Middle Don basin of the 2nd-9th centuries established the presence of Y-chromosomal haplogroups: G2a (P15+), R1a1a1b2a (Z94+, Z95+, Z2124), (M267+) and J2a (M410+). The female line is characterized by mitochondrial haplogroups: I4a, D4m2, H1c21, K1a3, W1c and X2i. In turn, the study of autosomal markers showed that, despite the presence of admixtures of different directions, in general we can say that these results revealed typical European genotypes (“Alan” archaeological culture: male A80305 from the 4th century burial ground LevP-k1- p1 has YDNA R1a1a1b2a2, mtDNA W1c; man A80307 from the 5th-6th century burial ground KlYar-k381 has YDNA G2a, mtDNA X2i.).
Representatives of the Saltovo-Mayak culture from the catacomb necropolises of Dmitrievsky and Verkhnesaltovsky-IV were found to have Y-chromosomal haplogroup G2 and mitochondrial haplogroup I, the subclade is unknown. From the point of view of the authors of this study, the catacomb nature of the burial, a number of craniological indicators and other data that coincide with previously studied samples in the Caucasus allow us to identify those buried as Alans. For example, according to anthropological indicators, individuals from pit burials were identified as carriers of an admixture of the eastern odontological type, while the samples studied by haplogroup were of Caucasoid origin. Hungarian scientists, when studying samples from the Verkhesaltovsky burial ground, identified mitochondrial haplogroups U*, U2, U5, , , .
Culture
Wedding rituals
Language
The Alans spoke a late version of the Scytho-Sarmatian language.
Religion
Christianity and Alans
Back in the 5th century. n. e. The Alans were not perceived as a Christian people, which can be seen from the statement of the Marseille presbyter Salvian:
“But are their vices subject to the same judgment as ours? Is the debauchery of the Huns as criminal as ours? Is the treachery of the Franks as reprehensible as ours? Is the drunkenness of an Alaman worthy of the same condemnation as the drunkenness of a Christian, or is the rapacity of an Alan worthy of the same condemnation as the rapacity of a Christian?”
“The Alamanni went to war against the Vandals and, since both sides agreed to resolve the matter through single combat, they fielded two warriors. However, exposed by the Vandals, he was defeated by the Alamann. And since Thrasamund and his Vandals were defeated, they, leaving Gaul, together with the Suevi and Alans, as agreed, attacked Spain, where they exterminated many Christians for their Catholic faith.
The first signs of Christianity among the Caucasian Alans date back to the 7th-8th centuries. The first written confirmation is associated with the name of the Monk Maximus the Confessor, who under Emperor Constant II was exiled to the “land of the Laz”. One of the companions of St. Maximus reports the coming to power in 662 of the “God-fearing and Christ-loving” ruler Alan Gregory, who displaced the pagan ruler. The mention of the monastery of John the Baptist on the territory of Alanya dates back to this time. .
Purposeful educational activities among the Alans began at the beginning of the 10th century, under Patriarch Nicholas the Mystic. The official adoption of Christianity by the Alans dates back to the period 912-916. At the same time, the Alan Archdiocese arose, which already at the end of the 10th century was already mentioned in notifications as a metropolis. However, the Christianity of the Alans was syncretic, mixed with paganism.
Impressions of the Franciscans after traveling through Comania in the 13th century. n. e.:
“the brothers who walked through Comania had on their right the land of the Saxons, whom we consider Goths, and who are Christians; further, the Alans, who are Christians; then the Gazars, who are Christians; in this country is Ornam, a rich city, which the Tatars captured by flooding it with water; then the Circasses, who are Christians; next, the Georgians, who are Christians.” Benedictus Polonus (ed. Wyngaert 1929: 137-38)
Guillaume de Rubruk - mid-13th century:
“asked us if we wanted to drink kumis (cosmos), that is, mare’s milk. For the Christians among them - Russians, Greeks and Alans, who want to keep their law firmly, do not drink it and do not even consider themselves Christians when they drink, and their priests reconcile them then [with Christ], as if they had renounced it , from the Christian faith."
“On the eve of Pentecost, certain Alans came to us, who are called there as aas, Christians according to the Greek rite, having Greek letters and Greek priests. However, they are not schismatics, like the Greeks, but honor every Christian without distinction of persons.”
Alan heritage
Caucasian Alans
The Alan origin of the Ossetian language was proven back in the 19th century. F. Miller and confirmed by numerous later works.
The language in which the well-known written evidence of the Alan language is written (Zelenchuk inscription, Alan phrases in the “Theogony” of John Tsets) is an archaic version of the Ossetian language.
There is also indirect evidence of Alan-Ossetian linguistic continuity.
Alan heritage controversy
The Alan heritage is the subject of controversy and numerous publications in the genre of folk history (not recognized by the academic scientific community). These disputes so define the modern context of the North Caucasus region that they have received the attention of researchers on their own. .
see also
Notes
- Ashkharatsuyts (text)
- Encyclopedia Iranica, "Alans", V. I. Abaev, H. W. Bailey
- Alans // BRE. T.1. M., 2005.
- Perevalov S. M. Alans // Russian historical encyclopedia. Ed. acad. A. O. Chubaryan. T. 1: Aalto - Aristocracy. M.: OLMA MEDIA GROUP, 2011. P. 220-221.
- Gerasimova M. M. 1994. Paleoanthropology of North Ossetia in connection with the problem of the origin of the Ossetians. Ethnographic Review (3), 51–62.
- Alans- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
- // Great Soviet encyclopedia: [in 66 volumes] / ch. ed. O. Yu. Schmidt. - 1st ed. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1926-1947.
- Agustí Alemany,Sources on the Alans: A Critical Compilation. Brill Academic Publishers, 2000. ISBN 90-04-11442-4
- Bichurin 1950, p. 229.
- Bichurin 1950, p. 311.
- Senecae, Thyestes, 627-631.
- History - Website of the Alan Diocese
- Abaev V. I. Ossetian language and folklore. M. - L., 1949. P. 156.
- Abaev V. I. Historical and etymological dictionary of the Ossetian language. T. 1. M.-L., 1958. P. 47-48.
- Zgusta L. Die Personennamen griechischer Stadte der nordlichen Schwarzmeerkuste. Praha, 1955.
- Grantovsky E. A., Raevsky D. S. About the Iranian-speaking and “Indo-Aryan” population of the Northern Black Sea region in ancient times // Ethnogenesis of the peoples of the Balkans and the Northern Black Sea region. Linguistics, history, archaeology. M.: Nauka, 1984.
- Gamkrelidze T.V., Ivanov Vyach. Sun. Indo-European language and Indo-Europeans. T. II. Tbilisi, 1984. P. 755.
This is what the Alans looked like
The Huns were not to blame for the collapse of the Roman Empire, as was believed. She owes her fall to the eastern people, who had an unusual elongated skull, called the Alans.
It was the Alans who brought the cult of war to Europe. And the foundations of medieval knighthood were laid by them.
The history of the Great City remembers many invasions of nomads, but its collapse began under the hooves of Sarmatian and Hunnish horses. Despite the fact that the ancient world was shaken long before the Alans appeared there, the latter became the cause of its collapse.
This “non-German” people differed from their predecessors in that they were able to establish extensive settlements in Western Europe.
The Alans existed for many years in the neighborhood of the empire, paying it “neighborly” visits from time to time. They were invincible warriors, as Roman commanders recalled more than once.
Where did the warlike people live?
They lived on both banks of the Don, because, as the great geographer of those years Claudius Ptolemy believed, the border ran along the river.
He called those who lived on the western bank Scythian Alans, and the lands they occupied - European Sarmatia. The inhabitants of the eastern shore were called, according to Ptolemy's sources, Scythians, or Alans (according to Suetonius' sources).
Joining the Roman Empire
Thanks to Constantine the Great, the Alans became part of the Roman Empire as federates. This happened in 337. Their place of settlement was Central Europe (formerly Pannonia). Thus, it was possible to turn a dangerous enemy into a defender of the imperial borders for a worthy reward.
This did not last long, however, because the warriors were dissatisfied with their lives.
Teaming up with the Vandals
Alan symbolism
A hundred years later, the Alans entered into an alliance with the German tribe of Vandals. These two peoples earned the title of cruel robbers of Rome, which they ravaged for two weeks.
The Eternal City was unable to recover from such an “invasion.” More than 20 years passed until the German leader Odoacer managed to formalize his fall. He also forced the last emperor of Rome to abdicate.
Therefore, even today the name “Vandal” remains a common noun.
In the fifth century AD, the Romans began to imitate the barbarians. Strange as it may seem, they dressed in wide trousers tailored in the Samara style, grew beards and mounted short, but extremely hardy and fast horses. Everything “Alan” was in fashion and simply overwhelmed the Eternal City.
But special honor was given to horses, which, as already mentioned, were not distinguished by height and beauty, but were famous for their almost supernatural endurance, and dogs.
The patricians of Rome, satiated with material goods, preferred everything primitive, natural and simple, which brought them closer to the people, as it seemed to them. Tired of the noisy ancient metropolis, they contrasted it with a quiet barbarian village. The barbarian tribes themselves were so idealized that legends and traditions were composed about courtly knights.
Reincarnation
Video: The history of the invincible Alans
In the books of that time, the Romans praised both moral and physical virtues. With the Alans, the opposite process took place. They freely used the achievements of the largest civilization, which were absent on the periphery, which gradually led to the romanticization of the Alans, in contrast to the Romans, who were “Alanized.”
However, the Romans did not like some Alan customs. They did not accept the fashion for an elongated skull and the artificial deformation common among the Alans. Although for modern historians it is precisely this feature that facilitates the work of determining the territories where the Alans lived.
- Scientists find burials with long skulls, which make it easier to assess the habitats of militant people.
- According to the head of the Pyatigorsk local history museum, in that ancient era, up to 70% of Alans had long skulls.
How was the unusual shape of the skull achieved?
To change the shape of the head, children immediately after birth, until the cranial bones were strengthened, had their heads bandaged very tightly, using a bandage made of leather and decorated with beads, multi-colored threads, and pendants.
They were removed only after the bones had strengthened.
Why was the elongated skull needed?
One version claims that the deformation of the skull affected the capabilities of the brain. Thanks to this, the priests quickly fell into a trance. This tradition was later adopted by the local aristocracy. It soon became fashionable.
According to Flavius Arrin, the mounted tribes of Sarmatians and Alans attacked the enemy with lightning speed, not allowing him to come to his senses. The most effective means used against Alan attacks were infantry flanks, which had metal shells.
But the “steppe people” often used the tactics of false retreat, which often caught the enemy, thus achieving victory. When the Alans fleeing from the advancing infantry lost their ranks and the victory of the attackers was so close, the Alans suddenly turned their horses 180 degrees, crushing the pursuing foot soldiers.
This tactic was later adopted by the Romans. This is understandable, since the Alans had great combat capabilities, which they could not ignore in the west. The Alans elevated the fighting spirit into a kind of cult.
Ancient writers explained that at that time it was an honor for the Alans to die in battle, even joyful, since they believed that those who died served God. Those Alans who lived to old age and died in their homes were despised and considered cowards who disgraced their families.
The importance of Alans in the development of European military art
The influence of the Alans on the development of military art in Europe was very strong, since they provided spiritual, ethnic and military-technical developments, which became the beginning of the knighthood of the Middle Ages. In addition, the culture of fighting influenced the creation of the legend of Arthur's exploits.
Witnesses to this are ancient authors who say that during the time of Howard Reid, more than eight thousand experienced Alan and Sarmatian horsemen were hired for military service. Most of the soldiers in Britain fought on Hadrian's Wall under banners resembling the famous dragon.
Legends of Arthur
It varies among different researchers. Researchers Malkon and Littleton see it in the sacred cup and Grail from the Ossetian epic (Nart) - Nartamonga.
The path to independence
Two warring tribes, the Alans and the Vandals, united and posed a great threat. The savagery of these peoples and great aggressiveness did not allow concluding an agreement with the empire. They live a quiet life in a certain territory, preferring to engage in robbery in new territories.
In the end, the Alans reached the borders of Eastern Spain by 425. Here they captured ships and set off on them to North Africa. The leader of the Alans was Geiserin. They landed in the Roman colonies, which at that time suffered from internal uprisings directed against the current government and from frequent raids by the Berbers, and were therefore weakened. The Alans captured significant territories in a matter of days.
- The lands, including Carthage, were a tasty morsel for the Alans.
- Having taken control of a strong fleet, Alan warriors often visited Sicily and the shores of southern Italy.
- Rome had no other choice, and it recognized the independence of the Alans in 442, and 30 years later, its defeat.
During the period of their existence over a vast territory, militant people left a fairly “long” trail - from the Caucasus Foothills to Africa through Europe. Today, the peoples living in these places are fighting for the right to be related to the famous tribe. But, according to scientists, their descendants are Ossetians. In modern Ossetia there is even a movement demanding the return of the country's historical name.
Ossetians have every reason for this:
linguistic community;
territorial;
folk epic.
This is opposed by the residents of Ingushetia, who also consider themselves descendants of a militant tribe.
Some ancient sources claim that the Alans are a collective image of nomads and hunters who lived north of the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea. Most likely, the Ossetians represent only a small proportion of the successors of the Alans.
And most of them merged with other ethnic groups, including:
Berbers and even Celts.
One version says that the common Celtic male name Alan originates from “Alans”. They lived in Luarez from the beginning of the fifth century, mixing with the British.
The history of ancient peoples is full of secrets and mysteries. Historical sources did not show a broad picture of the ancient world. There remains scant information about the life, religion and culture of nomadic peoples. The Alan tribes are especially interesting, since they lived not only on the territory of the southern Russian steppes and in the Caucasus mountains, but also on the territory of medieval Europe.
Alans are nomadic Iranian-speaking tribes of Scythian-Sarmatian origin, which have been mentioned in written sources since the 1st century AD. One part of the tribe participated in the Great Migration, while others remained in the territories in the foothills of the Caucasus. It was on them that the Alan tribes formed the state of Alania, which existed before the Mongol invasion in the 1230s.
In the epics of other peoples
Numerous studies devoted to peoples during the Great Migration era ignore or do not notice the role of the Scythian and Alan tribes in the conquest of Europe. But they had a great influence on the military art of European peoples. The history of Alans in Germany dates back to those times. The people had a huge influence on the Gothic tribes, since they did not own military equipment.
Alan military culture underlies medieval legends and the code of chivalry. The tales of King Arthur, the Round Table and Them are attributed to the Anglo-Saxon tribes, but some researchers argue that this is not true. These legends come from the Alan people. Emperor Marcus Aurelius recruited 8,000 Alan warriors at the end of the second century. The warriors worshiped the god of war - a sword stuck in the ground.
Historiography
Why were researchers interested in the kinship of the Alan and Ossetian tribes? It’s simple, the Ossetian language is very different from the languages of other peoples of the North Caucasus.
Gerhard Miller, in his work “On the peoples who have lived in Russia since ancient times,” made an assumption about the kinship of the Ossetians with the Alan tribes.
In the 19th century, the German orientalist Klaproth spoke in his works about the genetic kinship of the Ossetian tribes with the Alans. Further research confirmed this theory.
Klaproth's concept was also adhered to by the Swiss archaeologist Dubois de Montpere, who considered the Alan and Ossetian tribes as related tribes that settled at different times in the Caucasus. The German Haxthausen, who visited Russia in the 19th century, was a supporter of the German theory of the origin of the Ossetians. Ossetian tribes descended from Gothic tribes and, persecuted by the Huns, settled in the Caucasus mountains. The French scientist Saint Martin paid special attention to the Ossetian language, as it originated from the languages of Europe.
Russian researcher D.L. Lavrov in his work “Historical Information about Ossetia and Ossetians” provides many details about the relationship between the Alans and this nation.
The largest Russian researcher of the late 19th century, V. F. Miller, published the book “Ossetian Etudes”, in which he proves the genetic relationship between these two peoples. The proof was that the names of the Caucasian Alans extended to the ancestors of the Ossetians. He considered the ethnonyms Alans, Os and Yases as belonging to the same people. He came to the conclusion that the ancestors of the Ossetians were part of the nomadic Sarmatian and Scythian tribes, and in the Middle Ages - Alanian.
Today, scientists adhere to the concept of the genetic relationship of Ossetians with the Alan tribes.
Etymology of the word
The meaning of the term “alan” is “guest” or “host”. Modern science adheres to V.I. Abaev’s version: the concept of “Alan” comes from the names of the ancient Aryans and Iranian Agua tribes. Another scientist, Miller, suggested the origin of the name from the Greek verb “to wander” or “to wander.”
What did the neighboring peoples call the Alans?
In ancient Russian chronicles, Alans are jars. So, in 1029 it is reported that Yaroslav defeated the Yasov tribe. In the chronicles, the Armenians use the same term - “Alans”, and the Chinese chronicles call them Alans.
Historical information
The history of the ancient Alans can be traced back to the 2nd century BC. e. on the territory of Central Asia. They are later mentioned in ancient records from the middle of the first century. Their appearance in Eastern Europe is associated with the strengthening of the Sarmatian tribes.
After the defeat by the Huns, during the Great Migration, part of the tribe ended up in Gaul and North Africa, where, together with the Vandals, they formed a state that lasted until the 6th century. Another part of the Alans went to the foothills of the Caucasus. Gradually, partial assimilation of the Alan tribes took place. They became ethnically heterogeneous, as evidenced by archaeological finds.
The fall of the Khazar Kaganate is associated with the unification of the Alan tribes into the early feudal state of Alania. Since this period, their influence in Crimea has been increasing.
After the merger of the Alans with the Caucasian tribes, they switched to agriculture and a sedentary lifestyle. This was the main factor in the formation of the early feudal state of Alanya. In the upper reaches of the Kuban, under the influence of Byzantium, was the Western part of the country. Part of the “Great Silk Road” passed through its territory, which strengthened the Alans’ ties with the Eastern Roman Empire.
By the 10th century Alanya became a feudal state. Also at this time, this people plays an important role in foreign policy relations between Byzantium and Khazaria.
By the 13th century, Alania had become a powerful and prosperous state, but after the Tatar-Mongols captured the Ciscaucasia plain, it fell, and the population fled to the mountains of the Central Caucasus and Transcaucasia. The Alans began to assimilate with the local Caucasian population, but retained their historical identity.
Alans in Crimea: history of settlement
A few written sources talk about resettlement through the Kerch Strait to the territory of the Crimean Peninsula. The burial grounds found were of a design unknown to Crimea. Similar crypts were discovered in the Caucasus, where the Alans lived. The method of burial was also specific. There were 9 buried people in the crypt, and a sword was placed on the warrior’s head or shoulder. The tribes of the North Caucasus had the same custom. In addition to weapons, gold and silver jewelry were found in some burial grounds. These archaeological finds allow us to conclude that in the 3rd century AD. e. Part of the Alan tribes migrated to Crimea.
The Crimean Alans are practically not mentioned in written sources. Only by the 13th century different information about the Alans appeared. Researchers are of the opinion that such a long silence is not accidental. Most likely, in the 13th century, part of the Alans moved to Crimea. This may be due to the Tatar-Mongol invasion.
Archaeological data
The materials found in the Zmeysky burial ground confirm the data on the high culture of the Alans and developed trade relations between Iran, Russia and the countries of the East. Numerous finds of weapons confirm the information of medieval authors that the Alans had a developed army.
Also an important factor in the fall of the state were frequent avalanches in the 13th-14th centuries. Many settlements were destroyed, and the Alans settled down on the slopes. The final fall of Alanya was a consequence of Tamerlane's attack. Alans participated in Tokhtamysh's army. This was the largest battle in the history of the Golden Horde, which determined its position as a great power.
Religion
The Alan religion was based on the Scythian-Sarmatian religious tradition. Like other tribes, the Alans' beliefs centered on the veneration of the sun and the hearth. In religious life there were such phenomena as “farn” - grace, and “ard” - oath. With the formation of statehood, polytheism was replaced by a single God (Khuytsau), and the remaining deities turned into the creature “avdiu”. Their functions and features eventually passed on to the saints surrounding the one God. The Alans believed that the Universe consists of three worlds. Therefore, the ternary division was present in the life of society: in the religious, economic and military spheres.
After the final transition to an agricultural way of life and the formation of the Scythian-Sarmatian union, the structure of social life changed. The military nobility now ruled, not the shepherds. Hence the numerous tales about warrior knights. In such a society it was necessary to abandon the pagan pantheon and have one God. The royal power needed a heavenly patron - an unattainable ideal that would unite different people. Therefore, the Alan king chose Christianity as the state religion.
Spread of religion
According to church traditions, the Alans became acquainted with Christianity in the first century. The disciple of Christ, Apostle Andrew the First-Called, preached in the Alanian city of Fust. Also, written sources report that Christianity was adopted by the Alans who visited Byzantium and Armenia. After the Great Migration, many Alans converted to Christianity. Since the 7th century, it spread widely throughout Alanya and became the state religion. This fact strengthened foreign policy and cultural ties with Byzantium. But until the 12th century, the eastern Alans remained pagans. They partially accepted Christianity, but were faithful to their gods.
After the establishment of Golden Horde rule in the Caucasus, the construction of Muslim mosques began on the site of Christian churches. Islam began to supplant the Christian religion.
Life
Alanya was located on part of the Great Silk Road, so trade and exchange were developed in it. Traders mainly traveled to Byzantium and Arab countries, but archaeological finds indicate that they also traded with the countries of Eastern Europe, Central and Central Asia.
The history of the Alans interests modern scientists. The people had a great influence on the states of Eastern Europe and Ossetians. And yet the information is not enough. The few essays on the history of the Alans do not allow us to draw conclusions about the origin of the people.
The dwellings of the Alans varied depending on the social system. The settlements of the early Alans were practically no different from the settlements of the nomads of Eurasia. Gradually they moved from a semi-nomadic to a sedentary agricultural way of life.
Culture
The development of material culture is evidenced by the presence of burial grounds and settlements found in the Northern Donets and Northern Caucasus. Above-ground tombs and crypts, dolmens, and catacombs indicate the high development of Alan culture.
The settlements were fenced with slabs on which geometric patterns or images of animals were applied.
Alans were masters of jewelry art. This is confirmed by pendants made of gold and silver with semi-precious stones, figurines of warriors, and various brooches that decorated the clothes of the Alans.
Numerous amulets, toiletries, sabers, and clothes found in the Zmeysky burial ground indicate the heyday of the Alanian state.
In the 10th century, Alanya developed its own written language and heroic epic.
Tales
The Nart epic is the pinnacle of Alan medieval art. It reflected a long period of life of this people - from the early communal system to the fall of Alanya in the 14th century. Narts are a pseudonym for the creators of the epic, who preserved the religious beliefs, life and social relations of the people in their legends. The Nart or Nart epic was formed among the Alans, and over time developed among the Georgian peoples. It is based on the adventures of warrior heroes. The tales intertwine reality and fiction. There is no chronological framework or description of events, but reality is reflected in the names of the areas where warriors’ battles take place. The motifs of the Nart epic reflect the life and beliefs of the Alans and Scythian-Sarmatians. For example, one of the legends describes how they tried to kill the old man Uryzmag - it was customary among the Alans and Scythians to kill old people for religious purposes.
Based on legends, the Narts divided society into three clans, which were endowed with special features: Borata - wealth, Alagata - wisdom, Akhsartaggata - courage. This corresponds to the social division of the Alans: economic (Borata owned the riches of the land), priestly (Alagata) and military (Akhsartaggata).
The plots of the Nart tales are based on the exploits of the main characters during a hike or hunt, matchmaking and revenge for the murder of their father. The legends also describe a dispute about the superiority of the Narts over each other.
Conclusion
Alans, Scythians, Sarmatians... The history of these peoples has a great influence on the Ossetians. We can say with confidence that the Alans influenced the formation of the Ossetian people. This is why the Ossetian language is different from other Caucasian languages. And yet, the few essays on the history of the Alans do not allow us to draw conclusions about the origin of the people.