- Aorsi
Aorsi (Ossetian Dig. uors — white) — one of the powerful Sarmatian tribes that lived in the North Caucasus near the mouth of the Tanais and on the lands of the eastern shore of Maeotis. Until the 2nd century BC, the Aorsi occupied territory south of the Aral and Caspian Seas. Advancing westward, at the beginning of the 2nd century BC they occupied the steppes between the southern shore of the Caspian Sea and the Don and reached the Caucasus. According to ancient authors, the Aorsi controlled the ancient routes from the Northern Black Sea region to the Caucasus, Central Asia, India and China; around the middle of the 1st century AD, part of the Aorsi migrated from the shores of the Tanais and Maeotis to the west, into the Bug-Dniester interfluve and the Lower Dnieper region, where their presence is recorded archaeologically. These Aorsi were on friendly terms with Rome. In the 2nd century AD, the Aorsi joined the tribal alliance led by the Alans.
Ancient authors associated the Aorsi with another Sarmatian tribe — the Siraces. For a long time, the Aorsi were the most influential tribe among the Eastern Sarmatians. Strabo testifies that the Aorsi and Siraces "extend south to the Caucasus Mountains; they are partly nomads, partly live in tents and engage in agriculture." Strabo further supplements this scant information: "These Aorsi and Siraces are apparently exiles from the tribes living above, and the Aorsi live north of the Siraces. Abeacus, king of the Siraces, fielded 20,000 horsemen, while Spadines, king of the Aorsi, fielded as many as 200,000; however, the Upper Aorsi fielded even more, since they occupy a more extensive region, possessing almost the greater part of the coast of the Caspian Sea. Therefore they carried on caravan trade on camels with Indian and Babylonian goods, receiving them in exchange from the Armenians and Indians; due to their prosperity, they wore gold ornaments. The Aorsi, however, live along the course of the Tanais, and the Siraces along the course of the Achardeus..."
According to Strabo, at the turn of the era the Aorsi were divided into Upper and Lower. The Upper Aorsi, who lived in the Volga-Don interfluve, the Northern Caspian region and the Southern Urals, and carried on caravan trade, were richer and more numerous. The Lower Aorsi, it should be assumed, were located south of the Upper ones and occupied most of the flat Ciscaucasia east of the Siraces, including the Stavropol Upland, the Northeastern Caucasus, and reached the foothills of the Caucasus Range. If the lands of the Upper Aorsi were largely dry arid steppes, then the lands of the Lower Aorsi were more favorable and provided abundant fodder for livestock.
Later, the dominant position in the lands of the Aorsi was occupied by another Sarmatian tribe, probably related to the Aorsi — the Alans, who, according to the 4th-century author Ammianus Marcellinus, "little by little with constant victories wore down neighboring peoples and extended their name to them."
By the middle of the 3rd century AD, the possessions of the Aorsi were designated in Roman and Chinese sources as "Alania."
VARIANT NAMES: Latin. Aorsi, Antsai, Greek. Αορσοι, Russian. Aorsy, Antsay, Antsay.
Sources:
Ethnogenesis of the Abkhazians. D.A. Arshba, 2015