Ossetians

The Ossetians (/ɒˈsiːʃənz/ oss-EE-shənz or /ɒˈsɛtiənz/ oss-ET-ee-ənz; Ossetic: ир, ирæттæ / дигорӕ, дигорӕнттӕ, romanized: ir, irættæ / digoræ, digorænttæ), also known as Ossetes (/ˈɒsiːts/ OSS-eets), Ossets (/ˈɒsɪts/ OSS-its), and Alans (/ˈælənz/ AL-ənz), are an Iranian ethnic group who are indigenous to Ossetia, a region situated across the northern and southern sides of the Caucasus Mountains. They natively speak Ossetic, an Eastern Iranian language of the Indo-European language family, with most also being fluent in Russian as a second language.

Ossetians

Ирæттæ, Дигорæнттæ / Irættæ, Digorænttæ
Flag of Ossetia
Ossetian folk dancer in North Ossetia (Russia), 2010
Total population
c. 700,000
Regions with significant populations
Russia	558,515
(North Ossetia–Alania)	480,310
South Ossetia	51,000
Georgia (excluding South Ossetia P.A.)	14,385
Syria	58,700
Turkey	20,000–50,000
Tajikistan	7,861
Uzbekistan	5,823
Ukraine	4,830
Kazakhstan	4,308
Turkmenistan	2,066
Azerbaijan	1,170
Kyrgyzstan	758
Belarus	554
Moldova	403
Armenia	331
Latvia	285
Lithuania	119
Estonia	116
Languages
Ossetian
Religion
Majority: Eastern Orthodoxy (70–85%) Minority: Islam (15–30%) Uatsdin
Related ethnic groups
other Iranian peoples
a. ^ The total figure is merely an estimation; sum of all the referenced populations.

Currently, the Ossetian homeland of Ossetia is politically divided between North Ossetia–Alania in Russia, and the de facto country of South Ossetia (recognized by the United Nations as Russian-occupied territory that is de jure part of Georgia). Their closest historical and linguistic relatives, the Jász people, live in the Jászság region within the northwestern part of the Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County of Hungary. A third group descended from the medieval Alans are the Asud of Mongolia. Both the Jász and the Asud have long been assimilated; only the Ossetians have preserved a form of the Alanic language and Alanian identity.

The majority of Ossetians are Eastern Orthodox Christians, with sizable minorities professing the Ossetian ethnic religion of Uatsdin as well as Islam.

Etymology

The Ossetians and Ossetia received their name from the Russians, who adopted the Georgian designation Oseti (ოსეთი – note the personal pronoun), which means 'the land of the Osi'. Osi (ოსი, pl. Osebi, ოსები) has been used in Georgian since the Middle Ages to refer to the sole Iranian-speaking population of the Central Caucasus and is probably based on the old Sarmatian self-designation As (pronounced Az) or Iasi (pronounced Yazi), cognate with Hungarian Jasz, both derived from the Latin Iazyges, which is a latinization of a Sarmatian tribal name of the Alans called *Yazig, from Proto-Iranian *Yaz, meaning 'those who sacrifice', perhaps referring to a tribe associated with ritual sacrifice, although the broader Sarmatians apparently called themselves "Ariitai" or "Aryan", preserved in modern Ossetic Irættæ.

Since Ossetian speakers lacked any single inclusive name for themselves in their native language beyond the traditional Iron–Digoron subdivision, these terms came to be accepted by the Ossetians as an endonym even before their integration into the Russian Empire.

This practice was put into question by the new Ossetian nationalism in the early 1990s, when the dispute between the Ossetian subgroups of Digoron and Iron over the status of the Digor dialect made Ossetian intellectuals search for a new inclusive ethnic name. This, combined with the effects of the Georgian–Ossetian conflict, led to the popularization of Alania, the name of the medieval Sarmatian confederation, to which the Ossetians traced their origin and to the inclusion of this name into the official republican title of North Ossetia in 1994.

The root os/as- probably stems from an earlier *ows/aws-. This is suggested by the archaic Georgian root ovs- (cf. Ovsi, Ovseti), documented in the Georgian Chronicles; the long length of the initial vowel or the gemination of the consonant s in some forms (NPers. Ās, Āṣ; Lat. Aas, Assi); and by the Armenian ethnic name *Awsowrk' (Ōsur-), probably derived from a cognate preserved in the Jassic term *Jaszok, referring to the branch of the Iazyges Alanic tribe dwelling near modern Georgia by the time of Anania Shirakatsi (7th century AD).

Subgroups

Ossetian tribes (according to B. A. Kaloev).

• Iron in the east and south form a larger group of Ossetians. They speak Iron dialect. Which in turn is divided into several subgroups: Alagirs, Kurtats, Tagaurs, Kudar, Tual, Urstual and Chsan.
  • Kudar are the southern group of Ossetians.
  • Tual are in the central part of Ossetia.
  • Ksan are in the east of South Ossetia.
• Digor people in the west. Digors live in Digora district, Iraf district and some settlements in Kabardino-Balkaria and Mozdok district. They speak Digor dialect.
• Iasi, who settled in the Jászság region in Hungary during the 13th century. They spoke the extinct Jassic dialect.
• Asud, a nomadic clan from Mongolia of Alanic-Ossetian origin. They, like the Iasi, thoroughly assimilated, and it is unclear what type of Ossetic dialect they used to speak before adopting the Mongolian language.

Culture

See also: Ossetian culture

Mythology

Main article: Ossetian mythology

The native beliefs of the Ossetian people are rooted in their Sarmatian origin, which have been syncretized with a local variant of Folk Orthodoxy, in which some pagan gods have been converted into Christian saints. The Narts, the Daredzant, and the Tsartsiat, serve as the basic literature of folk mythology in the region.

Music

Main article: Ossetian music

Genres

Ossetian folk songs are divided into 10 unique genres:

• Historic songs
• War songs
• Heroic songs
• Work songs
• Wedding songs
• Drinking songs
• Humorous songs
• Dance songs
• Romantic songs
• Lyrical songs

Instruments

Ossetians use the following Instruments in their music:

• String Instruments:
  • Plucked strings:
    • Dyuuadæstænon – a twelve-stringed Harp
    • Fændyr – a Harp with two or three plucked strings
  • Bowed strings
    • Hysyn – two or three string Fiddle
    • Hyyrnæg – is a double-bridged instrument, a kind of Cello
• Wind instruments
  • Uadyndz – Flute
  • Khyozyn – Reed Flute
  • Lalym – Bagpipes
  • Udaevdz – Double-reeds
  • Fidiuæg – some kind of instrument made from a bull's horn
• Percussion instruments
  • Kartsgænæg – Rattles
  • Gymsæg – Drum
  • Dala – Tambourine

History

Charnel vaults at a necropolis near the village of Dargavs, North Ossetia

Pre-history (Early Alans)

Main article: Alans

The Ossetians descend from the Iazyges tribe of the Sarmatians, an Alanic sub-tribe, which in turn split off from the broader Scythians itself. The Sarmatians were the only branch of the Alans to keep their culture in the face of a Gothic invasion (c. 200 AD) and those who remained built a great kingdom between the Don and Volga Rivers, according to Coon, The Races of Europe. Between 350 and 374 AD, the Huns destroyed the Alan kingdom and the Alan people were split in half. A few fled to the west, where they participated in the Barbarian Invasions of Rome, established short-lived kingdoms in Spain and North Africa and settled in many other places such as Orléans, France, Iași, Romania, Alenquer, Portugal and Jászberény, Hungary. The other Alans fled to the south and settled in the Caucasus, where they established their medieval kingdom of Alania.

Middle Ages

Main article: Alania

Figurine of "Zadaleski Nana" ("the mother of Zadalesk"), also known as "mother of the Ossetes", who is said to have hid orphaned children in a cave during Tamerlane's invasion in the late 14th century

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 had a strong economy that benefited from the Silk Road.

After the Mongol invasions of the 1200s, the Alans migrated further into Caucasus Mountains, where they would form three ethnographical groups; the Iron, the Digoron and the Kudar. The Jassic people are believed to be a potentially fourth group that migrated in the 13th century to Hungary.

Modern history

Kosta Khetagurov

In more-recent history, the Ossetians were involved in the Ossetian–Ingush conflict (1991–1992) and Georgian–Ossetian conflicts (1918–1920, early 1990s) and in the 2008 South Ossetia war between Georgia and Russia.

Key events:

• 1774 — Expansion of the Russian Empire on Ossetian territory.
• 1801 — After Russian annexation of the east Georgian kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, the modern-day territory of South Ossetia becomes part of the Russian Empire.
• in 1830, the Russian general Paul Andreas von Rennenkampff organized a punitive expedition to the Java region. 1,500 Russian troops besieged Ossetian towers in the village of Koshelta, where 30 Ossetian rebels were located.
• 1922 — Creation of the South Ossetian autonomous oblast. North Ossetia remains a part of the Russian SFSR, while South Ossetia remains a part of the Georgian SSR.
• 20 September 1990 – The independent Republic of South Ossetia is formed. Though it remained unrecognized, it detached itself from Georgia de facto. In the last years of the Soviet Union, ethnic tensions between Ossetians and Georgians in Georgia's former Autonomous Oblast of South Ossetia (abolished in 1990) and between Ossetians and Ingush in North Ossetia evolved into violent clashes that left several hundred dead and wounded and created a large tide of refugees on both sides of the border.

Ever since de facto independence, there have been proposals in South Ossetia of joining Russia and uniting with North Ossetia.

Language

Main article: Ossetian language

The Ossetic language written in its traditional Khutsuri

The Ossetian language belongs to the Eastern Iranian (Alanic) branch of the Indo-European language family.

Ossetian is divided into two main dialect groups: Ironian (os. – Ирон) in North and South Ossetia and Digorian (os. – Дыгурон) in Western North Ossetia. In these two groups are some subdialects, such as Tualian, Alagirian and Ksanian. The Ironian dialect is the most widely spoken.

Ossetian is among the remnants of the Scytho-Sarmatian dialect group, which was once spoken across the Pontic–Caspian Steppe. The Ossetian language is not mutually intelligible with any other Iranian language.

Religion

Religion in North Ossetia-Alania as of 2012 (Sreda Arena Atlas)
Russian Orthodoxy			49.2%
Assianism and other native faiths			29.4%
Islam			15%
Other Christians			9.8%
Atheism and irreligion			3%
Other Orthodox			2.4%
Protestantism			0.8%
Spiritual but not religious			0.8%
Other and undeclared			0.6%

Prior to the 10th century, Ossetians were strictly pagan, though they were partially Christianized by Byzantine missionaries in the beginning of the 10th century. By the 13th century, most of the urban population of Ossetia gradually became Eastern Orthodox Christian as a result of Georgian missionary work.

Islam was introduced shortly after, during the 1500s and 1600s, when the members of the Digor first encountered Circassians of the Kabarday tribe in Western Ossetia, who themselves had been introduced to the religion by Tatars during the 1400s.

Left: The pagan Rekom shrine, said to be established in the late 14th century Right: Gift offerings from the Rekom shrine

According to a 2013 estimate, up to 15% of North Ossetia’s population practice Islam.

In 1774, Ossetia became part of the Russian Empire, which only went on to strengthen Orthodox Christianity considerably, by having sent Russian Orthodox missionaries there. However, most of the missionaries chosen were churchmen from Eastern Orthodox communities living in Georgia, including Armenians and Greeks, as well as ethnic Georgians. Russian missionaries themselves were not sent, as this would have been regarded by the Ossetians as too intrusive.

Today, the majority of Ossetians from both North and South Ossetia follow Eastern Orthodoxy.

Assianism (Uatsdin or Aesdin in Ossetian), the Ossetian folk religion, is also widespread among Ossetians, with ritual traditions like animal sacrifices, holy shrines, annual festivities, etc. There are temples, known as kuvandon, in most villages. According to the research service Sreda, North Ossetia is the primary center of Ossetian Folk religion and 29% of the population reported practicing the Folk religion in a 2012 survey. Assianism has been steadily rising in popularity since the 1980s.

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Demographics

Outside of South Ossetia, there are also a significant number of Ossetians living in Trialeti, in North-Central Georgia. A large Ossetian diaspora lives in Turkey and Syria. About 5,000–10,000 Ossetians emigrated to the Ottoman Empire, with their migration reaching peaks in 1860–61 and 1865. In Turkey, Ossetians settled in central Anatolia and set up clusters of villages around Sarıkamış and near Lake Van in eastern Anatolia. Ossetians have also settled in Belgium, France, Sweden, the United States (primarily New York City, Florida and California), Canada (Toronto), Australia (Sydney) and other countries all around the world.

Russian Census of 2002

The vast majority of Ossetians live in Russia (according to the Russian Census (2002)):

• North Ossetia–Alania — 445,300
• Moscow — 10,500
• Kabardino-Balkaria — 9,800
• Stavropol Krai — 7,700
• Krasnodar Krai — 4,100
• Karachay–Cherkessia — 3,200
• Saint Petersburg — 2,800
• Rostov Oblast — 2,600
• Moscow Oblast — 2,400

Genetics

The Ossetians are a unique ethnic group of the Caucasus, speaking an Indo-Iranian language surrounded mostly by Vainakh-Dagestani and Abkhazo-Circassian ethnolinguistic groups, as well as Turkic tribes such as the Karachays and the Balkars.

Like many other ethnolinguistic groups in the Caucasus, the genetic heritage of the Ossetians is both diverse yet distinctive. While Ossetians share genetic traits with neighboring populations, they have retained a distinct identity. With 70% of Ossetian males belonging to the Y-chromosomal haplogroup G2, specifically the G2a1a1a1a1a1b-FGC719 subclade. Among Iron people, this percentage rises to 72.6%, compared to 55.9% among Digor people.

This haplogroup has been identified in Alan burials associated with the Saltovo-Mayaki culture. In a 2014 study by V. V. Ilyinsky on bone fragments from ten Alanic burials along the Don River, DNA analysis was successfully performed on seven samples. Four of these belonged to Y-DNA Haplogroup G2, while six exhibited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup I. The shared Y-DNA and mtDNA among these individuals suggest they may have belonged to the same tribe or were close relatives. These findings strongly support the hypothesis of direct Alan ancestry for Ossetians. This evidence challenges alternative theories, such as Ossetians being Caucasian speakers assimilated by the Alans, reinforcing that Haplogroup G2 is central to their genetic lineage.

Gallery

• 
  Ossetian woman in traditional clothes, early years of the 20th century
• 
  Ossetian women working (19th century)
• 
  Ossetian Northern Caucasia dress of the 18th century, Ramonov Vano (19th century)
• 
  Three Ossetian teachers (19th century)
• 
  Ossetian girl in 1883
• 
  Gaito Gazdanov, writer
• 
  Sergei Guriev, economist
• 
  Nikolay Bagrayev, politician
• 
  South Ossetian performers
• 
  Ossetian man in 1881
• 
  Soslan Ramonov, wrestler
• 
  Shota Bibilov, professional footballer
• 
  Ruslan Karaev, professional kickboxer
• 
  Vladimir Gabulov, Ossetian goalkeeper
• 
  Valery Gergiev, conductor

See also

• Alans
• Asud
• Digor (people)
• Iazyges
• Iron (people)
• Jassic people
• Alexander Kubalov
• Ossetians in Trialeti
• Ossetians in Turkey
• Peoples of the Caucasus
• List of Ossetians
• Sarmatians
• Scythians
• Terek Cossacks

Bibliography

• Foltz, Richard (2022). The Ossetes: Modern-Day Scythians of the Caucasus. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9780755618453.
• Hamed-Troyansky, Vladimir (2024). Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-1-5036-3696-5.
• Nasidze; et al. (May 2004). "Mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosome Variation in the Caucasus". Annals of Human Genetics. 68 (3): 205–21. doi:10.1046/j.1529-8817.2004.00092.x. PMID 15180701. S2CID 27204150.
• Nasidze; et al. (2004). "Genetic Evidence Concerning the Origins of South and North Ossetians" (PDF). Annals of Human Genetics. 68 (Pt 6): 588–99. doi:10.1046/j.1529-8817.2004.00131.x. PMID 15598217. S2CID 1717933. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 January 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2006.

Further reading

• Chaudhri, Anna (2003). "The Ossetic Oral Narrative Tradition: Fairy Tales in the Context of other Forms of Oral Literature". In Davidson, Hilda Ellis; Chaudhri, Anna (eds.). A Companion to the Fairy Tale. Rochester, New York: D. S. Brewer. pp. 202–216.

Folktale collections

• Munkácsi, Bernhard. Blüten der ossetischen Volksdichtung. Otto Harrassowitz, 1932. (in German)
• Осетинские народные сказки [Ossetian Folk Tales]. Запись текстов, перевод, предисловие и примечания Г. А. Дзагурова [ Grigory A. Dzagurov ]. Мoskva: Главная редакция восточной литературы издательства «Наука», 1973. (in Russian)
• Byazyrov, A. (1978) [1960]. Осетинские народные сказки [Ossetian Folk Tales]. Tskhinvali: Ирыстон.
• Arys-Djanaïéva, Lora; Lebedynsky, Iaroslav. Contes Populaires Ossètes (Caucase Central). Paris: L'Harmattan, 2010. ISBN 978-2-296-13332-7 (In French)

External links

• Ossetians.com – a site about famous Ossetians