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Alans

The Alans were an ancient Iranian-speaking pastoralist people of the Sarmatian group who inhabited the Pontic–Caspian steppe from the 1st millennium BCE onward. The ethnonym Alān is of Iranian origin, and the Alans spoke an Eastern Iranian language related to other Sarmatian tongues. Their speech is considered a predecessor of the Ossetian language, spoken today in the North Caucasus. As part of the broader Sarmatian cultural sphere, the Alans shared a horse-based, mobile pastoral economy.

In classical and late antique sources, the Alans appear as allies, mercenaries, and adversaries in the frontiers

Legacy and names: The Ossetians are generally regarded as descendants of the Alans. In ancient and medieval

of
the
Roman
and
Byzantine
worlds.
From
the
1st
through
the
4th
centuries
CE
they
interacted
with
Roman
authorities
in
the
frontier
regions
of
Dacia,
the
Pontic
steppe,
and
the
Caucasus.
Following
the
collapse
of
Roman
power
in
the
West,
groups
identifying
as
Alans
participated
in
large-scale
migrations
that
reshaped
late
antique
Europe;
some
moved
into
what
is
now
France
and
Iberia,
while
others
remained
in
the
Caucasus
and
surrounding
areas.
A
branch
settled
in
the
North
Caucasus
during
the
medieval
period,
giving
rise
to
the
kingdom
of
Alania
and,
over
time,
to
the
Ossetian
people.
sources,
the
name
appears
in
several
forms
such
as
Alān
or
Alan,
and
is
sometimes
confused
with
the
unrelated
Germanic
Alamanni.
The
Alan
legacy
persisted
in
the
Caucasus
and
in
the
ethnogenesis
of
the
Ossetian
language
and
people.