Timeline ImageSize = width:780 height:200 PlotArea = left:72 right:8 bottom:20 top:2 AlignBars = justify Define $wide = width:35 Colors = id:sovereign value:rgb(1,0,0) legend:Sovereign id:subject value:rgb(1,0.5,0.5) legend:Subject id:semi value:rgb(1,0.25,0.25) legend:Semi-independent id:grid value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.8) id:smallgrid value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:20 till:2020 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:100 start:100 gridcolor:grid ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:20 start:20 gridcolor:smallgrid Bardata = bar:Africa text:"
Africa" bar:Gaul text:
Gaul bar:Danube text:
Danube bar:Ciscaucasus text:
Ciscaucasus bar:Caucasus text:
Caucasus Plotdata = bar:Ciscaucasus from:start till:375 color:sovereign $wide bar:Ciscaucasus at:20 text:"Ancient Alan kingdoms" bar:Ciscaucasus at:375 text:
Huns bar:Ciscaucasus from:375 till:455 color:subject $wide bar:Danube from:start till:175 color:sovereign $wide bar:Danube at:30 text:"
Roxolani &
Iazyges" bar:Danube from:380 till:480 color:subject $wide bar:Danube at:385 text:"Alans settled in Pannonia" bar:Gaul from:406 till:499 color:semi $wide bar:Gaul at:406 text:"Alan kingdoms at~Orléans and Valence" bar:Africa from:429 till:534 color:sovereign $wide bar:Africa at:430 text:"Kingdom of the~
Vandals and Alans" bar:Ciscaucasus from:455 till:1239 color:sovereign $wide bar:Ciscaucasus from:721 till:965 color:semi $wide bar:Ciscaucasus at:750 text:"
Khazars" Bar:Ciscaucasus at:1000 text:"Medieval Alania" bar:Ciscaucasus from:1239 till:1440 color:subject $wide bar:Ciscaucasus at:1245 text:
Mongols bar:Ciscaucasus from:1440 till:1774 color:semi $wide bar:Ciscaucasus from:1774 till:end color:subject $wide bar:Ciscaucasus at: 1810 text:"
North Ossetia~
/Alania" bar:Danube from:1318 till:end color:subject $wide bar:Danube at:1500 text:"
Jassic (Jazones) in Hungary" bar:Caucasus from:1239 till:1440 color:subject $wide bar:Caucasus from:1440 till:1804 color:semi $wide bar:Caucasus at:1500 text: bar:Ciscaucasus at:1500 text:"
Iron~
Digor" bar:Caucasus from:1804 till:1991 color:subject $wide bar:Caucasus at:1922 text:"
South Ossetia" bar:Caucasus from:1991 till:end color:subject $wide
Origin The Alans were formed out of the merger of the
Massagetae, a Central Asian Iranian nomadic people, with some old tribal groups. Related to the
Asii who previously invaded
Bactria in the 2nd century BC, the Alans were pushed west by the
Kangju people (known to Graeco-Roman authors as the in Greek, and the in Latin), the latter of whom were living in the
Syr Darya basin, from where they expanded their rule from Fergana to the Aral Sea region.
Early Alans (centre right). The first mentions of names that historians link with the
Alani appear at almost the same time in texts from the Mediterranean, Middle East and China. In the 1st century, the Alans migrated westwards from
Central Asia, achieving a dominant position among the Sarmatians living between the
Don River and the
Caspian Sea. The 1st century Jewish historian
Josephus supplements this inscription. Josephus reports in the
Jewish Wars (book7, ch.7.4) how Alans (whom he calls a "
Scythian" tribe) living near the
Sea of Azov crossed the
Iron Gates for plunder (72CE) and defeated the armies of
Pacorus, king of
Media, and
Tiridates, King of
Armenia, two brothers of
Vologeses I (for whom the above-mentioned inscription was made): The fact that the Alans invaded
Parthia through
Hyrcania shows that at the time many Alans were still based north-east of the Caspian Sea. The 4th century Roman historian
Ammianus Marcellinus noted that the Alans were "formerly called
Massagetae," while
Dio Cassius wrote that "they are Massagetae." The Yancai of Chinese records has again been equated with the
Aorsi, a powerful Sarmatian tribe living between the
Don River and the
Aral Sea, mentioned in
Roman records, in particular
Strabo. identified with the
Aorsi (
Ancient Greek Αορσιοι)) had become a vassal state of the
Kangju and was now known as
Alan (< LHC: *
ʔɑ-lɑn 阿蘭) Y. A. Zadneprovskiy suggests that the Kangju subjugation of Yancai occurred in the 1st century BC, and that this subjugation caused various Sarmatian tribes, including the Aorsi, to migrate westwards, which played a major role in starting the
Migration Period. The 3rd century
Weilüe also notes that Yancai was then known to be Alans, although they were no longer vassals of the Kangju. Dutch Sinologist
A. F. P. Hulsewé noted that:
Migration to Gaul Around 370, according to Ammianus, the peaceful relations between the Alans and Huns were broken, after the Huns attacked the Don Alans, killing many of them and establishing an alliance with the survivors. These Alans successfully invaded the Goths in 375 together with the Huns. In 442, after it became clear to
Aetius that he could no longer rely upon the
Huns for support, he turned to
Goar and persuaded him to move some of his people to settlements in the
Orleanais in order to control the
bacaudae of
Armorica and to keep the
Visigoths from expanding their territories northward across the
Loire.
Goar settled a substantial number of his followers in the
Orleanais and the area to the north and personally moved his own capital to the city of
Orleans. Under Goar, they allied with the
Burgundians led by
Gundaharius, with whom they installed the Emperor
Jovinus as usurper. Under Goar's successor
Sangiban, the Alans of
Orléans played a critical role in repelling the invasion of
Attila the Hun at the
Battle of Châlons. In 463 the Alans defeated the
Goths at the
battle of Orléans, and they later defeated the
Franks led by
Childeric in 466. Around 502–503
Clovis attacked
Armorica but was defeated by the Alans. However, the Alans, who were
Chalcedonian Christians like Clovis, desired cordial relations with him to counterbalance the hostile
Arian Visigoths who coveted the land north of the
Loire. Therefore, an accord was arranged by which Clovis came to rule the various peoples of Armorica and the military strength of the area was integrated into the Merovingian military.
Hispania and Africa Following the fortunes of the
Vandals and
Suebi into the
Iberian Peninsula (
Hispania, comprising modern Portugal and Spain) in 409, the Alans led by Respendial settled in the provinces of
Lusitania and
Carthaginensis. The Kingdom of the Alans was among the first
Barbarian kingdoms to be founded. The
Siling Vandals settled in
Baetica, the Suebi in coastal
Gallaecia, and the
Asding Vandals in the rest of Gallaecia. Although the newcomers controlled Hispania they were still a tiny minority among a larger Hispano-Roman population, approximately 200,000 out of 6,000,000.), the Alan king,
Attaces, was killed in battle against the Visigoths, and this branch of the Alans subsequently appealed to the Asding Vandal king
Gunderic to accept the Alan crown. The separate ethnic identity of Respendial's Alans dissolved. Although some of these Alans are thought to have remained in
Iberia, most went to North Africa with the
Vandals in 429. Later the rulers of the
Vandal Kingdom in North Africa styled themselves
Rex Wandalorum et Alanorum ("King of the Vandals and Alans"). There are some vestiges of the Alans in Portugal, namely in
Alenquer (whose name may be Germanic for the
Temple of the Alans, from "Alan Kerk", and whose castle may have been established by them; the
Alaunt is still represented in that city's coat of arms), in the construction of the castles of
Torres Vedras and
Almourol, and in the city walls of
Lisbon, where vestiges of their presence may be found under the foundations of the
Church of Santa Luzia. In the Iberian peninsula the Alans settled in
Lusitania (
Alentejo) and the Cartaginense provinces. They became known in retrospect for their massive hunting and fighting running
mastiff-type dogs, the
Alaunt, which they apparently introduced to Europe. The breed is extinct, but its name is carried by a Spanish breed of dog still called
Alano, traditionally used in
boar hunting and
cattle herding. The Alano name, however, has historically been used for a number of dog breeds in a few European countries thought to descend from the original dog of the Alans, such as the German mastiff (
Great Dane) and the French
Dogue de Bordeaux, among others. Y-DNA consistent with the Alans can still be found in these regions, mainly around the
District of Portalegre.
Medieval Alania The Alans who remained in their original area of settlement north of the Caucasus (and for a time east of the
Caspian Sea as well), came into contact and conflict with the
Bulgars, the
Gökturks, and the
Khazars, who drove most of them from the plains and into the mountains. The Alans converted to
Byzantine Orthodoxy in the first quarter of the 10th century, during the patriarchate of
Nicholas I Mystikos.
Al-Mas‘udi reports that they apostasized in 932, but this seems to have been short-lived. The Alans are collectively mentioned as Byzantine-rite Christians in the 13th century. in c. 650 Some of the other Alans remained under the rule of the Huns. Those of the eastern division, though dispersed about the steppes until late
medieval times, were forced by the
Mongols into the Caucasus, where they remain as the Ossetians. Between the 9th and 12th centuries, they formed a network of tribal alliances that gradually evolved into the Christian kingdom of
Alania. Most Alans submitted to the
Mongol Empire in 1239–1277. They participated in
Mongol invasions of Europe and
the Song dynasty in Southern China, and the
Battle of Kulikovo under
Mamai of the
Golden Horde. In 1253, the Franciscan friar
William of Rubruck reported numerous
Europeans in Central Asia. It is also known that 30,000 Alans formed the royal guard (
Asud) of the
Yuan court in
Dadu (Beijing).
Marco Polo later reported their role in the Yuan dynasty in his book
Il Milione. It is said that those Alans contributed to a modern Mongol clan,
Asud.
John of Montecorvino, archbishop of Dadu (Khanbaliq), reportedly
converted many Alans to Roman Catholic Christianity in addition to
Armenians in China. In Poland and Lithuania, Alans were also part of the powerful
Clan of Ostoja. According to the missionary
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, a part of the Alans had successfully resisted a Mongol siege on a mountain for 12 years: This twelve-year-long siege is not found in any other report, however the Russian historian A. I. Krasnov connected this battle with two
Chechen folktales he recorded in 1967 that spoke of an old hunter named Idig who with his companions defended the
Dakuoh mountain for 12 years against Tatar-Mongols. He also reported to have found several arrowheads and spears from the 13th century near the very mountain the battle took place at: Against the Alans and the Cumans (Kipchaks), the Mongols used divide-and-conquer tactics by first telling the Cumans to stop allying with the Alans and, after the Cumans followed their suggestion, the Mongols then attacked the Cumans after defeating the Alans. Alans were recruited into the Mongol forces with one unit called "Right Alan Guard" which was combined with "recently surrendered" soldiers, Mongols, and Chinese soldiers stationed in the area of the former
Kingdom of Qocho and in Besh Balikh the Mongols established a Chinese military colony led by Chinese general Qi Kongzhi (Ch'i Kung-chih). Alan and Kipchak guards were used by Kublai Khan. In 1368 at the end of the Yuan dynasty in China Toghan Temür was accompanied by his faithful Alan guards. Mangu enlisted in his bodyguard half the troops of the Alan prince, Arslan, whose younger son Nicholas took a part in the expedition of the Mongols against Karajang (Yunnan). This Alan imperial guard was still in existence in 1272, 1286 and 1309, and it was divided into two corps with headquarters in the Ling pei province (Karakorúm). The French-Flemish friar and traveler William of Rubruck mentions Alans numerous times in the account of his 1253–1255 journey through
Eurasia to the
Great Khan, e.g. Alans living as Mongol subjects in
Crimea,
Old Astrakhan, the Khan's capital
Karakorum, and also still as freemen in their Caucasian homeland ("the Alans or Aas, who are Christians and still fight the Tartars"). The reason why the earlier Persian word tersa was gradually abandoned by the Mongols in favour of the Syro-Greek word arkon, when speaking of Christians, manifestly is that no specifically Greek Church was ever heard of in China until the Russians had been conquered; besides, there were large bodies of Russian and Alan guards at Peking throughout the last half of the thirteenth and first half of the 14th century, and the Catholics there would not be likely to encourage the use of a Persian word which was most probably applicable in the first instance to the Nestorians they found so degenerated. The Alan guards converted to Catholicism as reported by Odorico. They were a "Russian guard". , inhabited by the
Jassic people, in the 18th century within the
Kingdom of Hungary. In 1277
Mengu-Timur sent an expedition against the rebellious Alans in the city of Dedyakov. As a result of the campaign, the city was burned. According to many researchers, Dedyakov was located on the territory of the capital of North Ossetia -
Vladikavkaz. It is believed that some Alans resettled to the North (
Barsils), merging with
Volga Bulgars and
Burtas, eventually transforming to
Volga Tatars. It is supposed that the Iasians, a group of Alans founded a market in the northeast of Romania (about 1200–1300), near the Prut river, later called
Iași town. The latter became the capital of
Moldavia in the Middle Ages. Classical Alania finally ceased to exist at the end of the 14th century, when Tamerlane invaded. After defeating the Golden Horde in the
Battle of the Terek River in 1395, he subsequently attacked several Alanians leaders, leading to months of slaughter and enslavement, which are still remembered in a popular Ossetian folk song called "mother of Zadaleska". Tamerlane's invasion led to the Alans fleeing into the depths of the Caucasus Mountains and the end of the Alans' presence in the steppes north of the Caucasus, which is preserved in the Digorian legends. Alan mercenaries were involved in the affair with the
Catalan Company. ==Genetics==