The Sarmatians were an Iranian-speaking group of nomadic tribes that invaded the Roman Empire beginning in the 2nd century AD. Between the 2nd and 5th centuries BC, Sarmatians spread out from Southern Russia and Ukraine throughout Roman Empire. Tribes such as the Roxalani served in the Roman army as auxiliaries in distant outposts such as the British Isles. Another group, the Alans, settled in Gaul (modern France), and even invaded Iberia and North Africa. Most of these Iranian horsemen eventually assimilated into local populations, leaving reminders of their presence in place names and possibly in the local DNA. However, two modern ethnic groups trace their ancestry back to these horsemen and one has even preserved their language. Today, we shall discuss the better known of the two, the Ossetians of the Caucasus Mountains.
The Kingdom of Alania
Map by Ruslan Bzarov
When the Huns invaded the Caspian steppe in the 4th century AD, some Alans escaped south towards the Caucasus instead of west. 6th-century Byzantine chroniclers record their presence north of the Caucasus, and in the 7th century, as tributaries of the Khazar Khaganate. The Alans were most likely pagan. However, the Schechter Letter, written by an Iberian Rabbi to the Khazar Khagan Joseph II, indicates that some Alans may have been Jewish. This alliance held for two centuries, and together, Khazaria and the Alans formed a buffer that stopped the expansion of the Abbasid Caliphate into Transcaucasia. However, Khazar power began to wane against the aggressive expansion of Kievan Rus’ in the 10th century. Therefore, the Alans turned south for a new ally.
During the 10th century, the Alans allied with Byzantium and converted to Orthodoxy, establishing a kingdom called Alania. The kingdom with its capital at Magas (Possibly modern Arkhyz in the Karachay-Cherkessia Republic) served as a buffer state between Byzantium and the Eurasian steppe and provided the Alans with an ally against Muslim expansion. This Christian kingdom left some of the oldest churches in the Caucasus known collectively as the Zelenchuksky churches. Unfortunately, the prosperity did not last. The kingdom succumbed to a Mongol invasion in 1235, forcing the Alans to flee the steppe, this time forever. The survivors retreated to the kingdom’s mountain strongholds in the Caucasus. However, unlike their cousins who had assimilated into the lands they conquered, they would keep their unique language and culture alive in their new homes.
The Modern Ossetians
The Alans’ modern descendants are known as Ossetians. They form the last linguistic link to the ancient Sarmatians that once terrorized the Roman Empire. The Ossetian language is the only surviving member of the Sarmatian languages, and continues to be spoken in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, a federal subject of Russia, and to a lesser degree in South Ossetia, Georgia. Since the Mongol invasions, the Ossetians have weathered invasions, wars between Russia and the Ottomans, the spillover of an Islamic insurgency from neighboring Chechnya and Ingushetia, and a brutal ethnic conflict with Georgia in South Ossetia. Their survival in the face of adversity as a mainly Christian, Iranian island in a North Caucasian sea of Islam is a testament to their resilience, which they have shown for centuries since the appearance of the Huns.
Sources and Further Reading
Most mentions of the Alans come from Greek and Roman sources. For a comprehensive list, I recommend Sources on the Alans: A Critical Study by Agustí Alemany, which the author has kindly uploaded here. Most ancient sources are available through Perseus via the link to the left, while medieval sources are scattered throughout the web. For those interested in the Ossetian language, there is an excellent YouTube channel called Ossetian for Everyone that teaches some of the basics.