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Alans / Massagetae

Alans — nomadic Iranian-speaking tribes that emerged from the Sarmatian union of the Aorsi in the Northern Caspian region. Ancient authors (Ammianus Marcellinus, Jerome) consistently identified the Alans with the Massagetae — an ancient people already known to Herodotus. In the 1st–3rd centuries AD, the Alan-Massagetae dominated the Azov region and the Ciscaucasus, launching campaigns into Crimea, Transcaucasia, and Asia Minor. In the 4th century, the Alans, already ethnically heterogeneous, were defeated by the Huns, and in the 6th century by the Avars. Part of the Alans participated in the Great Migration of Peoples, reaching Gaul and North Africa, where together with the Vandals they established a kingdom that lasted until the mid-6th century. These migrations were accompanied by widespread ethnocultural assimilation.

The culture of the Alan-Massagetae of the 4th–5th centuries is represented by fortified settlements in the Caucasian foothills and the famous Kerch crypts in Crimea. From the 7th to the 10th centuries, a significant part of Alania (from Dagestan to the Kuban region) was part of the Khazar Khaganate. The North Caucasian Alan-Massagetae waged a persistent struggle against the Arab Caliphate, Byzantium, and Khazaria. The richness of their culture in the 8th–11th centuries is evidenced by catacomb burial grounds on the Seversky Donets (Saltovo-Mayaki culture), as well as settlements such as Arkhyz, Upper and Lower Dzhulat, and burial grounds including Arkhon, Balta, Chmi, Rutkha, Galiat, Zmeyka, Gizhgit, and Bylym. These findings confirm the extensive international connections of the Alan-Massagetae with Transcaucasia, Byzantium, Kievan Rus, and even Syria. Particularly notable is the Zmeyka burial ground (11th–12th centuries), indicating ties with Iran, Rus, and the Arab East, as well as genetic continuity between the Sarmatians, Alan-Massagetae, and modern Ossetians. Weaponry finds confirm that cavalry was the main force of the Alan army.

The decline of Alania came as a result of the Mongol invasion in the 13th century. After the campaign of 1238–1239, the lowland part of the country was captured, and Alania ceased to exist as a political entity. In the 14th century, the Alan-Massagetae participated in Tokhtamysh's troops against Tamerlane. The decisive battle on April 15, 1395, ended in the complete defeat of Tokhtamysh's army, dealing the final blow to the relict groups of the Alan population on the Ciscaucasian plain. After this, the foothill lands up to the Argun River valley passed to the Kabardian feudal lords.

In Hungary, in the region of the town of Jászberény, lives the people of the Jász, related to the Ossetians and, accordingly, to the ancient Massagetae. By the mid-19th century, they had fully switched to the Hungarian language, but the surviving list of Jász words demonstrates almost complete lexical correspondence with Ossetian, which is why in English-language scholarship the Jász language is considered a dialect of Ossetian.

Alans and Massagetae: Ancient Evidence

Ammianus Marcellinus (330 – after 395 AD) places the Alans near the Tanais (Don), directly calling them "the ancient Massagetae" (Latin: Halanos veteres Massagetas). However, as N. Pigulevskaya notes, this position is borrowed from earlier maps and does not deserve full trust. Jerome in 397 AD reports that the Huns moved from the Tanais, where the "terrible Massagetae" lived. Theophanes the Byzantine (8th–9th centuries) asserted that the peoples living east of the Tanais were called Massagetae in antiquity.

Ammianus quotes a speech of Julian the Apostate (361–363 AD), who mentions the Massagetae (Alans) in the Caspian territories of Transcaucasia as early as the 1st century BC, while Marcellinus himself sees no difference between Alans and Massagetae. Procopius of Caesarea (6th century), on the contrary, derives the Huns from the Massagetae, citing the example of commander Egan — "from the people of the Massagetae, now called Huns." Thus, for the ancient tradition, Alans and Massagetae are one and the same people, or at least direct heirs.


Chinese Chronicles and Eastern Connections

Ancient Chinese sources from the beginning of our era record the westward movement of the Da Yuezhi tribes, who, after mixing with the Aorsi in the region of Yancai, came to be called Alan-na (or Alan-liao). The character for "na" differs from "liao" by a single stroke, which gave rise to the variant spelling. The form Alan-na goes back to Aran-na (Arianna), which became the basis for the name "Allon." In this region, towers reminiscent of Ossetian ones are found, called "galon" (literally "stone house"). The local epic about Geser, son of Hormusd, reflects Eastern Iranian influence (Ahura-Mazda in the Bactrian version), and the religious hymns called "Shan Huar" are performed during spring fieldwork. The first Chinese dynasty (Shang) had Caucasoid representatives with haplogroup G2a, who buried their dead in dugout boats (like the Ossetians as late as the 18th century), and several headdresses are found at the heads of men. Academician Tolstov derived the Khuarasmi (Massagetae, Da Yuezhi) from Asia Minor.

The name Masguts (Massagetae) in medieval sources was parallel to Abkhaz. The same name was borne by a city and an ethnic group in the region. It is assumed that the movement of the Massagetae from Central Asia to the Eastern Caucasus was led by the Apasiaks — a tribe of Massagetae origin. The early kings of the Masguts belonged to the Arsacid dynasty; Strabo reported that Arsaces found refuge in the land of the Apasiaks. The Masgut union also included a certain part of Hunnic tribes (Khalilov, 2009).

The Chinese "Da Yuezhi" sounded as Da-get-shi ("tribe of the great Getae"), which in Eastern Iranian corresponded to "Mazageta/Massageta" — with the same meaning. They were also called Tocharians, and by the Chinese — Dakha/Dukho/Dukhulu. Considering the transition "g"→"r," Dukhulu goes back to Dugoru/Dugaru. The Greeks described them in Bactria as Tugar/Tagur. The Turks called them Düger (as the Balkars call the Ossetian Digorians), and the Iron part of the Ossetians — Digur. The Turkmens still preserve the Düger tribe, part of which went with the Seljuk Turks to Asia Minor.

The region of Yancai, according to Chinese data, had customs and language similar to those of the Da Yuezhi and Kangju (Kang — the state of the Central Asian Saka). The sinologist Paleiblanc restored the ancient Chinese pronunciation of Yancai as Apsa (through the forms Yamtsai/Amtsai). In Georgian and Mingrelian, Ovsi and Opsi appear, in Abkhaz — Au-Aps. The same tribes are mentioned in alliance with the Siraces as Aphsi. Thus, the Massagetae act as one of the key links connecting the Alans, Saka, and later Caucasian peoples.


Ossetians as Descendants of the Alan-Massagetae: Researchers' Views

According to Berger's brief overview, most writers consider the Ossetians descendants of the Alans, whom ancient authors identified with the Massagetae. Dionysius of Charax (1st century AD) mentions the Alans as a powerful people, rich in horses, living between the Don and Dnieper. Movses Khorenatsi places the Alans near the Caucasus, Procopius includes them among the Goths, and Al-Masudi (10th century) calls them the most powerful nation of the North Caucasus.

Ammianus Marcellinus derives the name "Alan" from the names of mountains, which is confirmed by Eustathius and Deghin, placing the Alans in the Ural Mountains. Eustathius (c. 1160 AD) traces the word "Alan" to the Sarmatian "ala" — mountain, and notes that the Alans call themselves Ir or Iron — a name identical to Iran. Klaproth in his research concluded that the Ossetians are: a) Medes (Iranians), known to Herodotus as Arianoi; b) Median Sarmatians; c) medieval Alans; d) Jász or As. He considered the Ossetian language a branch of the Indo-Germanic languages. Dubois believed the Ossetians were the Maeotians (As, Jász, Alans, Comons), and found similarities between their language and Estonian.

However, the question of Ossetian origins remains debatable. If they had descended from an Iranian tribe, Al-Masudi would likely have mentioned this; he only calls the Alans powerful. Eustathius is the only one who directly connects them to Iran. The name As (Ossetians) is interpreted by Georgians as "warlike people," and by Armenians as "people who marvel at everything." Nevertheless, the identification of Alans with Massagetae by ancient authors is a persistent trope, which allows us to consider Ossetians as direct heirs of the Massagetae tradition.

The Russian chronicler Nestor mentions the people Jász in connection with the campaigns of Svyatoslav Igorevich (who defeated the Yases and Kasogs). Karamzin identifies the Jász with the Ossetians who lived in Dagestan and near the mouth of the Volga; part of the Caucasus Mountains was called Yassky in the 13th–14th centuries, and the Yassky city of Dedyakov (or Tetyakov) was in Dagestan. Armenians still call the Dagestan Mountains Alan.

In the 11th century, the Jász raided the Khazars; in 1126, Yaropolk Vladimirovich captured many Jász on the Don and married a captive girl. The Mongols conquered the Jász around 1223. Rubrukvis mentions the city of Sumerkent on the Akhtuba, where the Jász and Saracens lived; the Tatars besieged it for 8 years. In 1277, Russian princes with the Tatars conquered and burned Dedyakov. Under Khan Uzbek, Pope Benedict XII spread the Latin faith in the land of the Jász. In 1395, Tamerlane conquered this country. Many Russian princes married Yassin women.


Hattian Trace and Genetic Parallels

A number of researchers connect the Indo-European peoples of Eastern Europe, Siberia, and Central Asia (Scythians, Tocharians, Massagetae, Alans, Aorsi) with the Indo-Europeanized descendants of the Hattians (Hittite-Nesites), who migrated from Asia Minor to China and back. In Ossetian, the word "khat" means wandering, vagrancy, and "khatan" means a military campaign or plunder. The Nart epic mentions "khatiag avzag" (the Khatian language), which the Narts once knew and which was considered sacred, similar to the Hattian language in Hittite cult practice.

Genetic studies confirm the kinship of Ossetians with Adyghe-Abkhaz peoples. The self-name of the Alans — "As" — has been preserved among the Abkhaz in the name of the northern Abazins Ashua (Asua), i.e., "the people of Ash" or "As." The same name is associated with the Massagetae component, which makes the genetic line from the Massagetae through the Alans to the Ossetians and Abkhazians practically continuous.


Evidence from Sources (List)

1) Valerius Flaccus (1st century AD) — mentions the Alans in connection with the Albanian tyrant.
2) "Caucasian Legend of Epiphanius, Presbyter of Constantinople" (4th century) — apostles Simon and Andrew went to Alania, the city of Fusta.
3) Procopius of Caesarea (6th century) — Alans and Abasgi live in the basin of the Boas River (Kvirila), they are Christians and friends of the Romans.
4) Agathias (6th century) — mentions the Alan fortress of Buchloon on the border of the Lazica.
5) Anastasius Apocrisiarius (7th century) — Maximus the Confessor was exiled to the fortress of Schimari in Alania.
6) Armenian Geography (7th century) — the Dragon River flows out of Alania, separating Abasgia from Eger.
7) Abu al-Qasim (10th century) — the king of the Abkhazians is a vassal of the king of the Alans.
8) Al-Masudi (mid-10th century) — the Alan king dominates over the Abkhazians.
9) John Tzetzes (12th century) — Iberians, Abasgi, and Alans are one tribe.
10) History of Georgia (c. 1222) — King George IV hunted throughout the Alan land, i.e., in Abkhazia.
11) Macarius (13th century) — Metropolis of Alania and Bitzina (Pitsunda) in church registers.
12) Josaphat Barbaro (1487) — lists Circassian tribes, including As or Alani.
13) Louis Grange (1615) — Mingrelians are a former colony of Laz or Alans.
14) Arcangelo Lamberti (1635) — Alans live near Mingrelia, among the peoples of the Caucasus.
15) Pavel of Aleppo (1667) — Alans, Avasgi, Zikhs, Circassians — enemies of Mingrelia.
16) Mari Dszambi (1670s) — Alans, Circassians, Djiks, Abkhazians ravage Mingrelia.
17) M. Tamarashvili (1685) — the Alan ruling prince Buslak received the envoy Rasponi.
18) Jean Chardin (1697) — Allanians are neighbors of the Abkhazians, do not dare to plunder the church of St. George.
19) Engelbert Kämpfer (1723) — Alans are counted among the Circassians.
20) Vakhushti Bagrationi (1745) — describes Alania in detail between Svaneti, Mingrelia, and Abkhazia.
21) Jacob Reineggs (1744-1793) — Tatars call the Alans "Edeki-Alan."
22) Johann Güldenstädt (1771) — Alaleti is Alania.
23) Inscription on a cannon (1780) — King Solomon I fought with Abkhazians, Djiks, and Alans.
24) Jan Potocki (1797) — Alans exist in a valley of the Caucasus, close to the Svans.
25) Heinrich Klaproth (1823) — the Azge tribe at the sources of the Ubukh is also called Alans.
26) Register of 1833 — Alanets or Medovey (8,000 people).
27) F.F. Tornau (1835) — Alanet in Mingrelian means "highlander."
28) L.Ya. Lyulie (1857) — among the Ubikhs, one tribe bears the name Alan.
29) Iv. Shopen (1866) — Apg-As (Abasy) — the basin of the rivers of the As.


In Sasanian sources, Georgia is first mentioned as the "country of Gurzan" ^[1], however, its inhabitants were inexplicably considered by the Sasanians to be Alans, while the Georgian ethnos itself is not mentioned ^[2]. This indirectly indicates that in the perception of their neighbors, the Alan-Massagetae were seen as the dominant force in the region.


Sources:
Origin of haplogroup G2a1a in Ossetians. Sabitov 2011
Iranian component in the ethnogenesis and glottogenesis of the peoples of the South Caucasus. E.B. Sattsev 2011

^[1] - p. 393, Melikishvili G.A. "On the History of Ancient Georgia." – Tbilisi, 1959.
^[2] - pp. 137–141, Melikishvili G.A. "On the History of Ancient Georgia." – Tbilisi, 1959.