The barbarian tribe of Alans

My parents, shown on their wedding day, could not have known, when they named me Alan, that it would lead to a lifelong fascination with a tribe of barbarians. The name "Alan", "Alain" in French, is one of only about half dozen words that we know of the Alanic language

In 1994, the name "Alania" was officially added to the title of North Ossetia, making it the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania. In doing so, the Ossetians were restoring links with the medieval kingdom of the Alans, from whom they were descended. You may be forgiven for not knowing this fact, or indeed of never having heard of Ossetia, North or South. North Ossetia is a postage stamp sized Russian republic - some 8000 square kilometres - located in the northern Caucasus. Of its 687,000 people, some 68% are Ossetians, 23% are Russian and the rest are sprinklings of Ingush, Armenians, Ukrainians, Kumyks, Georgians, Chechens and others.

South Ossetia is a Georgian state that is even smaller than its northern cousin, about a third of a postage stamp. The population is around 56,500, with some 66% Ossetians, 29% Georgians and a few Russians and Armenians.

We know so little about the Alans, yet their name was known across the ancient world

Names for Alans

Latin -- Alãnî, Greek -- A?avoi or A?avvoi, Chinese -- Alan, Persian -- Alãnãn [Plural], Arabic -- Alãn, Syriac -- Alanãye.

Click on the pages on the left to find out more about these little known nomadic warriers, who I was named after.