Author |
Share Topic Topic Search Topic Options
|
Achilles
Pretorian
Joined: 26-Jan-2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 198
|
Quote Reply
Topic: The Alani. Posted: 27-Aug-2006 at 21:39 |
Quick question about the Alani (Alans). Were they Germanic, or some other Ethnicity?
|
Der Erste hat den Tod,
Der Zweite hat die Not,
Der Dritte erst hat Brot.
Fur immer frei und ungeteilt
-always free and undivided-
|
|
Sharrukin
Chieftain
Joined: 04-Aug-2004
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1314
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 27-Aug-2006 at 22:26 |
They were Iranic, more specifically, Sarmatian or Sarmatian-related. As near as we can detect, they originated in central Asia, where the Chinese knew them as the Antsiai. Later, they were located about the Don River. When the Huns made contact with the Alans (about AD 370), they in turn pushed on the Ostrogoths which had inhabited the region north of the Black Sea since about AD 200. Two successive kings of the Ostrogoths were killed and then the Ostrogoths were forced to go west pushing on their kinsmen, the Visigoths.
Most of the Alans became Hun vassals. Those that remained became the Ossetes of the Caucasus region, retaining their Iranic language. Others became, by Hunnic command, overlords of Slavic tribes. Some of these Slavic tribes adopted Iranic names such as the Serbs and Croats. These particular Alans became assimilated by the Slavs. Others not submitting to Hunnic rule joined the Germanic tribes, but retaining their identity at least for a century and a half, until they themselves, in western Europe were assimilated by local peoples. It would not be surprising to find a Spaniard or a Frenchman with an Alan ancestor.
|
|
Cent
Chieftain
Joined: 20-Jun-2005
Location: Sweden
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1013
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 28-Aug-2006 at 08:29 |
There is an area located in Kurdistan named alan or something. Did Alans settle in Kurdistan? Do you know any connection between Kurds and Alans?
|
They don't speak enough about the Kurds, because we have never taken hostages, never hijacked a plane. But I am proud of this.
Abdul Rahman Qassemlou
|
|
DayI
Sultan
Joined: 30-May-2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2408
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 28-Aug-2006 at 20:35 |
alans lived or came to europe from central asia, during that time kurds lived mainly on zagros mountans (northwest Iran), so i cant think of any connections between them.
|
|
|
Sharrukin
Chieftain
Joined: 04-Aug-2004
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1314
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 28-Aug-2006 at 23:39 |
I cannot think of any instance when Alans settled Kurdistan. However, we do know that the Alans made an inroad into Armenia and Azerbaijan from the Caucasus in the late 1st century AD.
|
|
Cent
Chieftain
Joined: 20-Jun-2005
Location: Sweden
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1013
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 29-Aug-2006 at 03:52 |
|
They don't speak enough about the Kurds, because we have never taken hostages, never hijacked a plane. But I am proud of this.
Abdul Rahman Qassemlou
|
|
Komnenos
Tsar
Retired AE Administrator
Joined: 20-Dec-2004
Location: Neutral Zone
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 4361
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 29-Aug-2006 at 04:04 |
Originally posted by Sharrukin
Others not submitting to Hunnic rule joined the Germanic tribes, but retaining their identity at least for a century and a half, until they themselves, in western Europe were assimilated by local peoples. It would not be surprising to find a Spaniard or a Frenchman with an Alan ancestor. |
The Western Alans formed a symbiotic relationship with the Vandals and accompanied them into South-Western Europe, into the Iberian peninsula, where they settled mainly in what today is Portugal. After the last Alan King Attakes was killed in battle by the Visigoths in 418. the Alans offered the kingship to the Vandal King Gunderic.
The majority of the Alans then followed the Vandals into North-Africa in 429, where both tribes perished a hundred years later after Belisarius' reconquest.
A smaller contigent of the Western Alans remained in Spain and France where they got eventually absorbed into the emerging Visigoth respectively Frankish Empires.
Edited by Komnenos - 29-Aug-2006 at 16:24
|
[IMG]http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i137/komnenos/crosses1.jpg">
|
|
Zagros
Emperor
Suspended
Joined: 11-Aug-2004
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 8792
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 29-Aug-2006 at 13:17 |
They certainly did settle in Kurdistan, though apparently much later during the 13th century, the Ard-Alan family are descended from them.
|
|