The Ossetians

(Massagetae-Sarmatians-Alans-Ossetians)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossetians

“The Ossetians descend from the Alans–Sarmatians, a Scythian tribe. About A.D. 200, the Alans were the only branch of the Sarmatians to keep their culture in the face of a Gothic invasion, and the Alans remaining built up a great kingdom between the Don and the Volga, according to Coon, The Races of Europe. Between A.D. 350 and 374, the Huns destroyed the Alan kingdom, and a few survive to this day in the Caucasus as the Ossetes. They became Christians under Byzantine and Georgian influence. A small number adopted Islam, and most of these are Sunni Muslims.In the 8th century a consolidated Alan kingdom, referred to in sources of the period as Alania, emerged in the northern Caucasus Mountains, roughly in the location of the latter-day Circassia and the modern North Ossetia-Alania. At its height, Alania was a centralized monarchy with a strong military force and benefited from the Silk Road.Forced out of their medieval homeland (south of the River Don in present-day Russia) during Mongol rule, Alans migrated towards and over the Caucasus mountains, where they formed three ethnic groups”.

See also

The Koban culture (ca. 1100 to 400 BC) is a late Bronze Age and Iron Age culture of the northern and central Caucasus. Collection of the Koban artefacts in the Hermitage –
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_2_4.html

Ossetian customs and traditions. -
http://www.ossetians.com/eng/index.php?showcat=jump&f=29

References

Carlos Quiles, "A Grammar of Modern Indo-European", Published by Carlos Quiles Casas, 2007. pg 69: "Ossetian, together with Kurdish, Tati and Talyshi, is one of the main Iranian languages with sizeable community of speakers in the Caucasus. It is descended from Alanic, the language of Alans, medieval tribes emerging from the earlier Sarmatians.
James Minahan, "One Europe, Many Nations", Published by Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. pg 518: "The Ossetians, calling themselves Iristi and their homeland Iryston are the most northerly Iranian people. ... They are descended from a division of Sarmatians, the Alans who were pushed out of the Terek River lowlands and in the Caucasus foothills by invading Huns in the fourth century A.D.

Bibliography

• Abaev V.I., “Ocherk raskhozdenia ironskogo i digorskogo dialektov” (A sketch of the differences between the Iron and the Digor dialects) in Osetinskidze; yazyk i fol’klor (Ossetic language and folklore) I, Moscow and Leningrad, 1949, pp. 357-493. Idem, Istoriko-etimologicheskiy slovar’ osetinskogo yazyka (A historical-etymological dictionary of the Ossetic language), 4 vols., Moscow and Leningrad, 1958-89. Idem, “O dialektakh osetinskogo yazyka,” (On the dialects of the Ossetic language) in Indo-Iranica.
• Bailey H. Ossetic (Nart?) Traditions and Epic Poetry. London. 1945, 1946, 1947. Asica//TrPhS.

• Christola. Scythica. Revue des etudes georgiennes et caucasiennes, №3. 1987.
Harmatta J. Studies in the History and Language of the Sarmatians. Szeged. 1970.

•Gagloyti Yu.S., Alany i voprosy etnogeneza Osetin (The Allans and the problem of the origin of the Ossets), Tbilisi, 1966.
• Isaev M.I., Digorskiy dialekt ozetinskogo yazyka (The Digor dialect of the Ossetic language), Moscow, 1966.
•Istoriya Severo-osetinskoy ASSR (The history of the North Ossetic ASSR) I, Moscow, 1959.
•Klaproth J. Reise in den Kaukasus und nach Georgien unternommen
in den Jahren 1807 und 1808. Halle-Berlin. 1812-1814

•Kaloev B.A., Osetiny (The Ossetes), Moscow, 1967.
• Lommel H. Afsl. Ph. Vol. XL. Berlin. 1926.

• Miller V., Osetinskie etyudy (Ossetic studies) 3, Uchenyya zapiski imperatorskago Moskavskago universiteta, Otdel istoriko-filologicheskiy (The learned transactions of the Imperial University of Moscow, Historical-Philological section), vyp. 8, Moscow, 1887. Idem, “Die Sprache der Osseten,” in Grundriss I, Supplement, Strassburg, 1903.
•Mullenhof. Ueber die Heikunft und Sprache der pontischen Skyben und Sarmaten, KAW, B. 1869.
•Potozki J. Histoire primitive des peuples de la Russie. St-Pt. 1802; Voyage dans les steps a Astrakhan et du Caucase. Y. II. Paris. 1829.

• F. Thordarson, “Ossetic,” in R. Schmitt, ed., Compendium linguarum Iranicarum, Wiesbaden, 1989.
•Vasmer M. Die Iranier in Subrubland. Leipzig. 1923.
•Vernadsky G. Ancient Russia. New Haven. 1946.
N. G. Volkova, Etnonimy i plemennye nazvaniya severnogo Kavkaza (Ethnic and tribal names of the North Caucasus), Moscow, 1973.
Zgustal L. Die Personennamen griechischer Stadte der Nordlichen Schwarzmeerkuste. Praha. 1955.
Бзаров Р.С. История в осетинском предании. Владикавказ. Ир 1993.
Бзаров Р.С. Три осетинских общества в середине XIX века. Орджоникидзе. Ир 1988
Гутнов Ф.Х. Аристократия алан. Владикавказ. Ир 1995
Гутнов Ф.Х. Генеалогические предания осетин как исторический источник. Орджоникидзе. 1989.
Гутнов Ф.Х. Средневековая Осетия. Владикавказ. 1993.
Демюзиль Ж. Осетинский эпос и мифология (Серия «Исследования по фольклору и мифологии Востока»). — М.: Наука, 1976. — 276 с.[2][3]
Демюзиль Ж. Верховные боги индоевропейцев (Серия «Исследования по фольклору и мифологии Востока»). — М.: Наука, 1986. — 234 с.
Демюзиль Ж. Скифы и нарты / Сокр. пер. с фр. А. З. Алмазовой. — М.: Наука. 1990. — 231 с.
Дюмезиль Ж. Доклады Сочинского отдела географического общества СССР. Выпуск I. — Л., 1968; вып. II, Л., 1971.
Скитский Б. Очерки по истории осетинского народа с древнейших времен до 1867 года. Дзауджикау. 1947.

Home
The Koban culture
Welcome to Ossetia
Ossetians
Traditional Ossetian norms of behavior