Alani also called Alans ..
Alani also called Alans ..
Alani also called
Alans, were an ancient nomadic pastoral people that occupied the
steppe region Northeast of the Black Sea. The Alans were the most
easterly of the Sarmation nations and the most durable, differing
from the other Sarmations in being blonde instead of dark. They
inhabited this area from 50 AD to 1500 AD and were still charging
desperately against the Catalan company in the 14th century.
The Alani were first mentioned in Roman literature in the 1st
century AD and were described later as a warlike people that
specialised in horse breeding. They frequently raided the
Parthian Empire and the Caucasian provinces of the Roman Empire.
About AD 370, however, the Huns overwhelmed them and many fled
westward, crossing into Gaul with the Vandals and Suevi.
Although some of the Alani settled near Orléans and Valence,
most went to North Africa with the Vandals, causing the official
title of the Vandal kings in Africa to be "kings of the
Vandals and the Alani." The Khazars and Mongols later
subjugated those that remained under the rule of the Huns.
Although not themselves especially aggressive as a nation, they
frequently sent contingents to help others that were, leading to
various short lived settlements of conquerors or foederati
scattered over the later Roman west and in due course absorbed by
neighboring cultures. They are typified by Claudian as the
"restless Alans".
These were originally an Iranian steppe people who settled in
Scythia in the fourth century BC, displacing the Scythians, a
similar Iranian Steppe culture. Scythia consisted of the plains
which stretch from the north of the Black Sea over to the Caspian
Sea. The Alani are first mentioned by the Roman historian,
Josephus, in the first century AD. He calls them a Scythian tribe
living near the Don (Tanais) and the Sea of Azov. They seem to be
indivisible from the Samartians and the Geloni of the same
region. Herodotus mentions the Geloni (Gilans), so they were
either closely related, or more likely the same peoples.
Conquered by the Huns, they became allies, and most travelled
west with the Huns. Split by the Hunnic attacks, some Alani
tribes remained behind, dispersed across the steppes. They were
forced by further waves of invaders to migrate into the Caucuses.
They eventually founded the regionally powerful kingdom of
Alania, but were defeated by the Mongols in the eleventh century.
They re-emerged as the Ossetians, based in Georgia and southern
Russia.
The territory of North Ossetia has been inhabited for thousands
of years by Vainakh tribes, being both a very fertile
agricultural region and a key trade route through the Caucasus
Mountains. The ancestors of the present inhabitants were a people
called the Alans, a warlike nomadic people who spoke an Iranian
language. Part of the Alan people eventually settled in the
Caucasus around the 7th century AD. By about the 9th century, the
kingdom of Alania had arisen and had been converted to
Christianity by Byzantine missionaries. An archbishopric was
established in western Alania under the authority of the
Patriarchate of Constantinople, and many large churches were
constructed. Alania became a powerful state in the Caucasus,
profiting greatly from the legendary Silk Road to China, which
passed through its territory.
From the Middle Ages onwards, Alania was beset by external
enemies and suffered repeated invasions. The invasions of the
Mongols and Tatars in the 13th century decimated the population,
who were now known as Ossetians. Islam was introduced in the 17th
century through the Kabardians, a Muslim Caucasian people.
Incursions by the Khanate of Crimea and the Ottoman Empire
eventually pushed Alania/Ossetia into an alliance with Russia in
the 18th century. North Ossetia was among the first areas of the
northern Caucasus to come under Russian domination, starting in
1774, and the capital, Vladikavkaz, was the first Russian
military outpost in the region. By 1806, Ossetia was completely
under Russian control.
Dedyakov
The
Alans in the Caucasus.
The Alans took active part in the Caucasus's political life. One
of the most active directions of the Alans' international
relations was the southern one. There occured frequent clashes
between the Roman Empire and the Parthenian Kingdom at this time
in Transcaucasia. The Alans often came to Iberia's aid in it's
struggle against Parthia and Rome.
In 72 A.D. the Alans, in alliance with other mountaineers,
invaded Armenia and Midia. The raid ended in the Armenian Tzar
Artashes's (according to some other sources - Trdat III's)
marriage to the Alanian Princess Satinik.In 135 A.D. the Alans
invaded Transcaucasia again. They inflicted great damage on
Albania and Midia, but then retreated, having contented
themselves to the Parthian Tzar's gifts.
In the ancient and medieval time the Ossetian (Alanian)
population of Transcaucasia was numerous and active. The Alans
maintained trade and economic, cultural relations with the
Transcaucasian peoples.The Alanian nobility had dynastic ties
with the rulers of Armenia, Iberia.
Already in the first centuries A.D. individual groups of Alans
settled down in different regions of Transcaucasia : Caucasian
Albania, Iberia, Armenia, Abkhasia. The Alans maintained brisk
relations with the Greek colonies in the Northern Black Sea
region. Among the Bospor Tzars there were tzars of the
Sarmatian-Alanian descent, and at court a special team of Alanian
interpreters and translators existed.
The
Great Migration .
In the last quarter of the 4-th century A.D. in the history of
the peoples of Europe important events began, which got the name
of "the Great Migration of Peoples". Under the pressure
of Asian nomads - the Hunns, invaded Eastern Europe, there began
a movement of many European peoples to the West. The Alans found
themselves involved in this process too.
The
Alans in the West.
In 372 A.D. the Hunns crossed the River Volga. The first to
obstruct their way were the Alans, lived in the steppes between
the Volga and the Don. The nomads ran across stubborn resistance
by Alans, but the Hunns, according to the 4-th century historian
Ammian Marcellin, "caused terrible devastation and
extermination, and with those who survived entered into an
alliance, and compelled them to join themselves". Having
taken with them the conquered Alans, the Hunns moved on to the
West.
In 375 A.D. they defeated the German tribes of the Ostgoths. The
latter crossed the Danube and entered into the territory of the
Roman Empire. Together with the Ostgoths departed also a part of
the Alans, which woudn't fall into dependence on the Hunns.
In the end of the 4-th and the beginning of the 5-th centuries
A.D. the Alans penetrated into a number of regions of Western
Europe. In 406 A.D. they crossed the Rhine and intruded into
Gallia (modern France). Here the Alans divided into two parts -
one, headed by Goar, decided to go over to the Roman Empire's
service, and stay in Gallia.
The Alanian States in Western Europe and Northern Africa.In 409
A.D. the other part of the Alans, with Respendial at the helm,
intruded into the Pyrenean peninsula, where they formed an
Alanian state. The captured lands were shared between the Alans
and the German tribes of the Vandals and the Svevs, taken part in
the invasion.
In 416 they were followed into Spain by the numerous tribes of
the Westgoths. Two years later they defeated the Alans. The
Alanian Chief Addak perished in combat. With his doom the Alanian
state on the Pirenean peninsula ceased to exist.
In 429 A.D., being supplanted by the Westgoths, the Alans,
Vandals, and Svevs had to transplant to the North of Africa. The
Alan-Vandal Kingdom existed for a little more than 100 years and
was smashed by the Bizantine Empire.
The Alans remaining in Gallia sometimes were in alliance with the
Goths, and sometimes went over to the Roman Empire's citizenship.
In 439 in the region of the modern city of Orleans there appeared
a new Alanian state.
In 451, the Alans established it, headed by Sangiban, took part
in the famous Catalaunian battle on the side of the Rome against
the tribe of the Hunns.
The Alans who found themselves among other Western European
peoples got assimilated and disappeared as a nation.
The Fortune of the Alans who remained in the Caucasus.
The Alans, not involved in the movement to the West, were
retreating from the steppes along the Don and the Northern part
of the Pre-Caspian region to the Caucasus range. As a result, the
Alanian population of the Northern Caucasus increased
considerably. The Alans advanced deeper into the Caucasian
mountains, accelerating their drawing together with the local
tribes.
The Hunn invasion and the migration of peoples, followed it, had
a dramatic impact on the social and economic development of the
Alans. The formed social and economic relations fell into decay.
Thereon a new stage in the Alans' history starts.
In the 10-12-th centuries Alania was a major state formation,
connected with such countries, as the Bizantine Empire, Rus',
Georgia, Khazaria. Alania's high military and political potential
during that period was a result of it's internal social and
political development.
From the 9-10-th centuries Alania was in it's heyday
economically. The main branches of the economy were, as
previously, tilling, cattle-raising and workmanship. In the
10-12-th centuries A.D. handicraft production got considerably
developed with the Alans. Great mastery was achieved by Alanian
blacksmiths and, especially, armourers, who attained perfection
in the steel manufacture. The upsurge in the economy,
crafts'development and trade promoted the emergence and growth of
city population. Around feudal castles there sprang up major
suburbs,which gradually turned into the centres of the political,
economic and cultural life. Such major Alanian cities were Magas,
Upper Dzhulat (Dedyakov), Lower Dzhulat, Lower Arkhyz...
In the 10-12-th centuries Alania adopted the features of a state
social system with a relatively strong central power. Alania was
reckoned with by the neighbouring states as an independent and
strong power. The Alanian Tzars had great power and international
authority.
At the head of the Alanian State was the Tzar - the supreme
ruler. Dependent on him were major princes and feudal lords,
through whom the Tzar exercised his power over Alania. The widest
scope was reached by the Alanian State in the 11-th century under
Tzar Durgulel, who was called "the Great" by the
foreign chronicles of the time. Durgulel the Great had close
dynastic ties with the rulers of Georgia and the Byzanitine
Empire. His sister Borena was the Georgian Tzar Bagrat IV's wife,
and their daughter Maria became the Empress of the Byzantime
Empire. Durgulel's daughter, Irina, was married to a major
Byzantine military leader. Alania was within the poitical orbit
of the biggest Christian states, which was expressesed, in
particular, in a number of joint military raids.