Dear Alan 

About the origin of your name, and also some place/river names in Europe I suggest you to read Bernard Bachrach's "A History of the Alans in the West: From Their First Appearance in the Sources of Classical Antiquity through the Early Middle Ages".  

It contains lots of information on the movement of Alans in Europe, as they were separated from their kinsmen after the war with Huns. During this time Alans in Kuban region and Northern Caucasus were isolated and survived this incident (some historians say that they had an equal strength in the battle and participation was around 500.000 cavalry. That scene should have been an armageddon in 370 A.D.) Later these Alans remained in Caucasus became Ossetians, but that's another story. 

Both Bachrach and Malcor&Littleton (book: From Scythia to Camelot) suggest that Alans left traces in France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Spain which can still be visible with village, valley, river and people's names. It is not like a johnny-pony work, they present serious historical data and etymology for their theories. They also tell that Carolingian section of Franks were directly originated from Alans.  

As a short information; a very basic step on the way to top of the great pyramid: In English this Sarmatian tribe called "Alans" and a name "Alan" exists in Britain. In French they are "Alains" and there is a name "Alain" in France. Bachrach's book has very serious indications and he did not even need to use this small point.  

Actually we know that Sarmatians were sent to Britain by the Romans to defend Hadrian Wall (5.500 cavalry was not a small number in 175 A.D. You could invade a Roman imperial province with 10.000 cavalry at that time if you had good military skills) and they never came back.  

Malcor&Littleton's book is an extraordinary work for Sarmatian origin of King Arthur legend and their suggestions could not be ignored. (2004 King Arthur movie based on this story). If you read the book you will see that 1000 things came together for a single legend. It is interesting to see that existence of Vikings in North America was just based on couple of Norsemen nails and wood pieces. But objections to this theory tell that these indications are all coincidences and they are like waiting to see Arthur saying "yes, theories on the book is right".  

Can this explain the origin of some place names like "Croydon" in Britain? which means "mill water" in Ossetian. None knows at the moment. Because a deep analysis was not made for Britain like made for continental Europe in Bachrach's book, and these types of first step derivations could yield mistakes sometimes. 

Regards

First of all I would like to thank you Ruslan, for this great site and your continuous support for this project. You are doing a great job. Astaer Buzneag. 

I am an ethnic Ossetian in Turkey. For me, it seems that the situation over the region was not wholly reflected. It is true that Ossetians resisted less than the other people in Caucasus against the Russian invasion. (By the way it should be accepted that the Russian existence was an invasion, because none have invited Yermolov or Baryatinsky into the region, including Ossetians). 

Probably the most important factors behind this were the enormous pressure of the Russian imperial army through the Darial gates (it is extremely strategic on the region; and it was used to divide the resistance from both sides of Caucasus), situation of the mountains which prevented to get support from the surrounding areas and religious differences between the local tribes of Northern Caucasus (both gradual and sectional differences). 

And saying "Ossetia voluntarily joined Russian Empire in 1774" is not a completely right description for me. Otherwise, names like Koshty Bega, Khazby Allikkaty and Tomaity Makhamat should be deleted from the "folk heroes" section of the website, as they should have been malicious rebels who fought against the interests of their Ossetians fellows, if this expression fits. Moreover, they were not from the Digora region, whose residents were mostly Muslim, but further southern Ossetia.  

In addition, this expression rejects the existence of "Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus". Ossetia was among the founder members of this Confederation, its first capital was Vladikavkaz and only lasted for 3 years between 1917-1920. 

Anyway, history is history. I am not supporting any violence or any destructive politics. However, beyond all these concerns, there is a thick line between accepting the realistic politics and feeling the senses for the ancestors' souls. The latter contains other things than the first one. Because none could rise them from their graves and see their decisions at the moment. 

May be it is like a decision of Alan kings Goar and Respendial in Gaul at about the beginning of 5th century. Romans offered land and autonomy to Goar, and he resisted to move with his soldiers. However Respendial and his followers have chosen to join Vandals and Suevis. Fate of them? Both ways did not work. But who could say one king's path was wrong but the other's was right definitely. Everything should be explained within the specific time period passed. 

Culture is another thing and it still survives. Thanks to our brothers in Ossetia and Ossetians living in the other parts of the world. 

Regards

Ruslan, you asked a good question. And I am going to try to answer it honestly. 

Unlikely the other neighboring nations, Ossetia voluntarily joined Russian Empire in 1774 and since then never regretted about that.  

All small nations are under the influence of the big Empires any way. And instead of being "free" like Georgia, but on American payroll, we prefer to be part of Russia and consider it our country. Our parents and grand parents were many years fighting for this country and so do we. Your elders, by the way, too.  

Ossetians are free. More then those who think that they obtained independence and freedom in 1990-th. Because there is no absolute freedom. We all are small grits in this world. Nothing depends on us, and nobody asks us making important decisions. 

The nations of Africa were all colonized by big powers and the people were fighting for freedom and independence for hundreds of years. They finally got it and nowadays those nations are the poorest nations in the world. They have nothing to eat. So, do you think they are free today, fully depending on the international humanitarian aid? 

The real freedom is the freedom of our souls. If nothing and nobody controls your mind, you are free. Ossetians base their decisions on the Farn of our ancestors, the rules of honor and dignity. There are no political, religious or any other authorities who can control our mind. That's why we are free.  

Hello. I am from Azerbaijan. I have read about Ossetians some information. Also we know about Georgian-Ossetian conflict. I am not going to say who is right, who is wrong here. I am just interested in, do Ossetians in North also want to get free of russian empire. Lately, almost all Caucasians want to get rid of russians, just because russians inflicted too many troubles on caucasian people. What do Ossetians think about that?

One more comment. This evening I had a conversation with a Kurd who was originally from Iran. He told me there are a people in Iran today known as the Alani, or maybe it was a geographical region, I don't quite remember which.

svobodno11, 

I don't know if this will help, but the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah, USA teaches about 50 languages. I don't know if they teach Ossetian, and it is not a place where you would normally go to study a language as a student because their purpose is to train missionaries. However, if anyone is likely to know about the teaching of a less commonly studied language in the US it would likely be people at the MTC. 

Perhaps you could contact them and they might know if there is any place in the US where you could study the Ossetian language. 

Let us know if you have any luck with your quest.

My first name is Alan. I have been told that the name derives from the ancient Alans or Alani, some of whom settled in France during Roman times. 

Because of the name I have become interested in the Alans and Ossetian culture, though I have to admit that I know only a very small part of the history and culture. 

I live in the US, and to the best of my knowledge my ancestors came primarily from the British Isles, Germany, and France.

God bless those who created this wonderful web site

Thank you Jastan! by the way-in Ossetia we have popular mail name Astan! im sure its the same as yours! p.s. in ossetian Kuord means certain group of people...

i love ossetia,,, jastan from kurdistan

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%88%D0%B5%D0%B1%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F+%D1%81%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C&aq=f Ossetian puppet cartoon bazed on ossetian Nartian Legends

The History sect of this site is really informative. A lot more things make sense to me about the caucasus people now. I always thought that the people from the caucasus mountain region includng the Ossetians were made up of the tribes that took down the roman empire which lead to the dark ages. But this showed me otherwise. Still doing my research though

Hello,  

I heard about this site from a friend of mine (a girl who I think is Ossetian). I am a history student and loved reading over the website. It's fascinating to learn about your culture and to know that it is not yet lost.  

However i would love to see more photos on the site, perhaps modern day living. 

Thanks so much! 

keep up the great job

I found your recipes interesting and the lists of brothers killed in the Great Patriotic War very moving. 

thaks-you.

I am an iron and living in TURKEY.My grangfather imigrated from OSSETIA ( as I learned from ZAMARAG region) to TURKEY in about 1905. My grandfather's name is LADI KAYTMAZOV. 

My family (named as KAYTMAZATE in Turkey) originated from Osbagatır grand family. 

How can I learn some information about may family? 

Best regards 

Celal AYHAN 

ayhancelal@gmail.com 

name@url.de name@url.de

We're currently looking for an Ossetian translator to translate a small document... 

Please get in touch on translation@dalanguages.co.uk 

Thanks

I am living in Turkey and looking for my descendants ( family) living in Ossetia.Could you please write iron families living in Osetia .  

Dear Turkish Brother/Sister, 

There are thousands of clans (myggagta) with different family names live in Ossetia. To find your relatieves you need to know at least what is your Ossetian ancestral family name (last name). It would also help if you find out from which village in Ossetia your ancestors where originated. 

Admin  

ˮ񩧠ﳰ楠볨񯣠鸠 Ruslan Kuchity 1.7.2010 .

Hello. I just discovered your website. It is very interesting, there is a lot of information and it is well written. We have no info about your country in Europe and a lot of disinformation or misinformation ! Good luck.

The most influential people in the world. 

29.04.2010 

Acerbic talent show judge Simon Cowell, actress Sandra Bullock, singer Lady Gaga and the pop star now known as Prince are among the most influential artists of 2010, according to Time magazine. 

Comedian Conan O'Brien, Russian conductor Valery Gergiev and chef David Chang also made the annual list compiled by the magazine's senior editors. 

Bravo Maestro! 

Bravo Ossetian! 

Its so good to be here...Im sending my warm thoughts... More than 2 years ago I was working in Tskhinvali... as a civilian with engineers.Iwas working with Karl S. engineer from Germany. 

I met in South Ossetia a lot of fantastic people, Wioletta, Zera, Maka, Taimuraz, Wowa... I miss You all!  

If anyone of You is here... please contact me ... carolinascotties@yahoo.com 

My bigest dream is to come back there...

Здравствуйте! Hello! I am currently studying the Russian language and I love it. I cannot tell you precisely how I became interested in Ossetia and the Caucasus, but after I began conducting research on the region, I have found something I loved. I believe it is a very important part of the world that does not receive enough attention by most American universities. In fact, the Caucasus and Central Asian regions are the most understudied region in American universities. But that is where my focus is at in my studies. I really would like to learn the Ossetian language but I don't think there is anywhere in the United States that offers it. Perhaps some day, maybe in graduate school, I will come to North Ossetia specifically, and not just to Moscow or Saint Petersburg which I am planning to do my junior year. If anyone has any advice as to where I could turn it would be greatly appreciated.

Very interesting.  

Hello Eirik!And as a historian i see some ancient links beetween Scandinavia and Ossetia!The term scandinavia derivered from Scone/Scania which is the same thing as Ascania!Thats how Scythians called their Land...(compare biblical askenaz-for scythians) And its common knowledge that ossetian language is the only survived ancestor of scythian and sarmatian languege! I'm sure you have red Heierdal... But there was another norwegian scholar who studied ossetians for many years! His name Fridrik Thordorson and he was from Oslo Univercity.May be you can find his works there! His widow kirsten abrahamson is a friend of Society for Ossetian-norvegian friendship.Its chairman-Aza Kokoeva.she lives in Oslo too... as i said Alans was also known in ancient times as Asi.i'm sure that like all the nations from ancient times till our days they had both ethical and religious names!the evolution of spelling; Haryana-Halani-Alani-Allon-Iron(osset.) from Avestan Sacred mountain "Hara Berezaity"(Highest mountain or watchpoint) and Haraiva-Haryana (mountanies province of ancient Iran and India ).,and from Avestan Asa-Osa with meaning Sacred Truth! in ossetian As(as-agdzinad)means Truth too... Legendary Scandinavian Ases(As-gard) is a remenescanse of common indoeuropean heritage of europian and asian peoples and their migrations from Asia to Europe an vice versa! The very word Aryan(Haryian)-in its direct sence means highlender!The main belief of ancient indoeuropeans was The cult of Sacred Mountauns! In ossetian Allon or Uallyon (which derivered from Har-Hal-Al) means not only man from mountain,high place, but in social sence-Supreme,Upper-class man...Ual-dar(osset.-duke or possesor). In Germanian languages the same :Herr/Herrmann/German-it all means Supreme Man! compare whith iranian Haraman/Kerman or armenian Armen,and even greek Hellos,and even celtic Halls!Its all derivered from sacred indoeuropean Mountain -Hara or Uala(compare-Olympus in Hellada,Ual-halla in scandinavia!) All indoeuropeans had the same name! Their first motherland was in mountains-becouse mountains is the only place(lullaby) where young,yet not strong society can survive for great future! And their first religion was consentrated on the Highest Mountaon of their land,which was the Home of their Supreme God! And they call themself Highlanders(Har-yans/Aryans/Herrmans/Hellins/Galls/Halani-Alani/ in not only geograthical sence,but in sence of their Superiority! Todays name of Iran of course derivered from Haryana-Haraiva too! you may ask why the term Hara isnt survive in persian and german language in a direct sence mount,as it survive in russian -gora and in sanskrit-gara/hara?Farsi and german had synonymouses -Koh and Hoch/High... Answer is that Hara-Uala or greek Oro/Horo like some other sacred terms became a tabooed,religios word and lost its first material meaning! and may be pre-germans,pre-iranians and pre-celtic peoples were more highlenders than pre-slavik or pre-hindu?Perhaps theu lived higher than other indoeuropens? At the Very foot of Sacred mauntain? Pamir,Hindukush,Hymalaya or Caucas? P.S. In ossetian myths (Narts) theres a person named Vaddan! He is a member of a one of three nartian clans-Asata or Alagata! They were priests between narts! Clear parralel with Vodin? By the way do you agree with version that name of Oslo is derived from As and Lo-medow of Gods?

God bless all Ossetians and our motherland Ossetia! With love from Helsinki. 

PS Soon I'll be at home, but then I have to leave again.. Anyway love you Iron adaem!

what about sculptor Tavasiev ? he was the one who has made sculpure of Salovar Yulaev ? paintist Tavasiev Tauwas ?....

Hello. Kola! I have some things concerning the \"Asa\" and \"Uas\" terms in ossetian which you link to Avestan language that I\'d like to ask you about. Please contact me ine_eirik@hotmail.com Regards, Eirik. Norway

Dear visitor,  

If you come here often or time to time, there is a good way to navigate through the numerous articles.  

In order to see the list of the latest published articles and news without going through the chapters, you can always click on "NEW50" on top left side of the page.  

Thank you for visiting this project,  

Admin.

Night OSET MEETING (INVITATION)  

Alan Caucasian Platform by going to edit this year Oset third meeting on the night of every year as new and is full of surprises at the beginning of the end of the night, no bother, not until now made up the largest and most beautiful in the meeting tonight, not only all the young Oset relatives are invited .. 

Yes, one day a year we meet ..  

Our language,  

Our culture,  

Dance practices,  

Let us remember our own language to have fun obviously ..  

Friends, our relatives, we forget our relatives Oset Let us remember ..  

To return to the good old days on behalf of Ankara,  

No Oset in spite of Ankara,  

In Turkey there is aset, iron has got Digoron name,  

I guess we're more sensitive to He  

say the name  

we will do tonight is very important ..  

- Organization 3rd Haymana way km in the central area of the Pavilion restaurant service will be removed.  

- Fees TL 30 (family discount: 25 charged for 4 and more crowded families TL)  

Address: Kosk restaurant, 3rd Haymana way km Karşıyaka mah. 634. sok. No: 4 Gölbaşı / Ankara / TURKEY 

Date: October 10, 2009  

Time: 18:00  

Information: Bıjartı Kursat (e-mail: osetkursat@hotmail.com)  

Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=39.782388, +32.789791 & daddr = K% C3% B6% C5% + restaurant & 9Fk hl = en & geocode = & mra = ls & SLL = 39.781374,32.78934 & sspn = 0.004469 , 0.008229 & ie = UTF8 & ll = 

Organization: Alan Caucasian Platform 

arash. we celebrated new year in the springtime in the past.in ossetian its called nogaz -nog+new,az-day or year.nouruz and nogaz its the same.Today we celebrate nogaz in the winter like christians and europeans... but speaking about ancient Iran-the most important thing is that even the term ossetians is relared with Avesta ! Oss or Ass or Uas its the same term as avestan Asa -Sacred Truth...and Asavan -beliver. In ossetian As or Uas means Truth . Sarmatians and Alans were Assians by religion.The origin of term Alans-Alani:Haryan-Halani-Alani. Hal,Ual,Al means in ossetian "Upper,Supreme people" Traditional ossetian religin calls Assata or Asa Din ! the religion of Truth! The same in Avesta. We still pray in Ossetia for Aryan Farn! Kursatinan or Kurtatian! My grandmother was born in Dargaws! Your message touched me so much! You are from turkey? Visit alanvakfi.com ! or better visit Ossetia by yourself! its very easy! any tourist agency with russian tours will help you!

Amazing work!

Here are some stuff on Nowruz 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norouz 

http://www.chiff.com/home_life/holiday/nowruz.htm 

http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Nowruz/NowRuz.html

Sure, Nowruz is the Iranic New Year, celebrated since ancient times on the day of spring. It is celebrated by Iranian peoples, such as Persians, Kurds, pashtuns, pamirs, etc. and also by Turkic peoles such as Azeris, Turkmens, uzbeks, etc. "now, nou," or "nav" means "new" in the Farsi and "ruz" means day, so it literally means "new day" in farsi.

Hello to the dears of the ossetians.com. 

Thank you very much for the information you have stored in your web place. It is usefull and blissful. But... I wonder... Why dont you have a part in your site related with the great immigration of some ossetian (Iron & Digoron) families in the late 18th century? I think it is much more actual and tragic social event in the history of a society then the roots of that society in far shores of the history. I am, intersted in the people living today. Over 30 years I listened Iron songs of sorrow from the tonque of my grandmother. I still remember her face with sorrow and missing in her eyes of her beautiful Fiagdon and its scene that I couldn't find a place which She might put instead. I am not talking about the elder men of my family, they keep the pain of being apart as secret! Is there anybody remembering those days of immigration in Ossetia? Is there anybody knowing my family and my elders as their own people there in our mother land? If we don't have roots there in Ossetia so why so much effords to find ancestors of Ossetians in history. I want to wisit my grandmotherland & grandfatherland. I want to see Fiagdon, Dargaws instead of them to send a gift to their souls. I want to show my 6 yearold son "mae lebbu" his mhytical land. But, no light is seen that we are the parts of that Historical Body. I am not an Orthodox or Christian. But I am not a Muslim too. I fee I am an Iron Adam thrown from his reality. I teach Safa to my son. I teach Iron sounds beside Bethoowen. I teach how to sit and how to speak with his elders and friends. Now, he asks "father, who we are? Nobody behaves like us!"  

2300 or less in Turkey. Few of them living the beauty of Ossetian heritage. How can I transfer my heritage and teaching of my Iron elders to my son without a community?  

These are the projections & associations when I observed and deeply investigate your site. Again, Thank you that I remembered the memories related with my elders who passed away.

Thank you for the information Arash.  

Can you please explain us the meaning of Nowruz. What is this holiday about and how Iranians celebrate it? I am wondering if we have holiday with the same meaning.

Hello again, 

I found a article you might like, it is on a Iranian site about Ossetian dance: 

http://www.fravahr.org/spip.php?article448 

Also, Nowruz is not a Islamic holiday, it is a Iranian holiday celebrated by Iranic and Turkic peoples. It comes from a ancient Iranian holiday celebrating the first day of spring. Iranians mainly use a solar Iranian calendar, the islamic calendar is a lunar calendar.

I would like to address to our Turkish brothers and sisters.  

Dear Iron adam! We are looking for some help in creating a Turkish-Ossetian dictionary.  

I know some people in Turkey work on it too. Let's get together and make it in our ancestors' way - by Zhiu.  

By the way, Sergey Tabolty has already have a version of Ossetian-Turkish dictionary on  

http://slovar.iriston.com/index.php?q=а&showcat=jump&f=8 

It is easy to use it if you have Cyrillic Alphabet on your keyboard. If not, you can just copy the words from Ossetian texts in order to translate them. Just type Ossetian word in a box and press "Enter".

On viewing news reports on the BBC on the conflict I noticed many Georgians with blue eyes and some with blond hair, an indication of a connection with the Alans at some time in the past.

Thank you Morad I will add the information from your link to my collection.

This has a good history of the draco symbol 

http://www.fectio.org.uk/articles/draco.htm

I am almost certain that the European dragon was down to the Alans movements, when was the dragon symbol dropped, and do people think it had something to do with Christianity using it as a pagan symbol?

Until a few months ago I hadn’t even known of a people called the Alans. Now though I am trying to read what I can find on the subject.

Read about it here.. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowruz 

Nowruz is not islamic... there is revival of this throughout all former Greater Iran countries and others with Iranic people. 

"From the era of Keykhosrow till the days of Yazdegard, last of the pre-Islamic kings of Persia, the royal custom was thus: on the first day of the New Year, Now Ruz, the King's first visitor was the High Mobad of the Zoroastrians, who brought with him as gifts a golden goblet full of wine, a ring, some gold coins, a fistful of green sprigs of wheat, a sword, and a bow. In the language of Persia he would then glorify God and praise the monarch.. This was the address of the High Mobad to the king : "O Majesty, on this feast of the Equinox, first day of the first month of the year, seeing that thou hast freely chosen God and the Faith of the Ancient ones; may Surush, the Angel-messenger, grant thee wisdom and insight and sagacity in thy affairs. Live long in praise, be happy and fortunate upon thy golden throne, drink immortality from the Cup of Jamshid; and keep in solemn trust the customs of our ancestors, their noble aspirations, fair gestures and the exercise of justice and righteousness. May thy soul flourish; may thy youth be as the new-grown grain; may thy horse be puissant, victorious; thy sword bright and deadly against foes; thy hawk swift against its prey; thy every act straight as the arrow's shaft. Go forth from thy rich throne, conquer new lands. Honor the craftsman and the sage in equal degree; disdain the acquisition of wealth. May thy house prosper and thy life be long!"

Some celebrate, some not. Majority of Ossetians are not Moslems and they celebrate Christian and ancient Ossetian traditional holidays.

Do Ossetians celebrate Noruoz? I heard it was celebrated in the Caucuses, but do Ossetians celebrate it also, or a holiday similar to it?

HAPPY NOWRUZ the great celebration of iranians people

All former Soviet people know that Georgians always overrated themselves, comparing their nation with the superpowers only. So, there are no other neighbouring nations exist for them, along with their history and culture.  

"Who? Ossetians? We don't know them. After all, we are Georgians..!"  

That reminds me Madam "Very Important Duck" from the fairy tale. She told everybody about how important she is, but everybody was laughing at her.  

I can understand that after loosing the battle in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgians are jealous and angry. But were did you take the information about Georgians protecting Ossetia? The whole medival time history tells us, that Georgians always needed protection themselves because of the numerous Turkish and Persian invasions. Should I remind you who protected your ancestors? Russia and very powerful that time Alania-Ossetia (untill the 13-14-th centuries, when it was completely destroied by Tartars and Timur's hords).  

And then, for the next seven centuries, Georgian nobles tried hard to put their control on weakened remains of Ossetia. But they never conquered it. And never ever will do.  

How can you call the South Ossetian territory "Georgian land" if the is absolutely no indication that it was ever setteled by Georgians?  

Just relax Mr. Georgian. And then you will realize for sure, that your time of being a bully and bragging about your "greatness" is over. And when it happens, we will start talking as the good neighbours or may be even friends. 

Belive me, all your attempts to slear or put stains on Ossetians look rediculous. Just go over the chapters and articles of this web site, and you will get it.

As far as I know Georgians were always sheltering osetians and protecting from enemies. The price for that is that osetians claim they own Georgian historicl territories. No osetian cultural heritage exist on that land becuase its Georgian. Soviet osetians proove to be robers, thifs and betrayers, simple savage people without culture.

hi, research by ray banks has shown that the g2a3b1a group i belong to had a common ancestor about 2500 yrs ago with a mr nikitin from republic of georgia in caucasus mountains . cheers harry