ALANS IN THE ARMENIAN WRITTEN SOURCES OF THE 12th –18th CENTURIES

Authors

  • Ajk Erdzanikovic Akopan Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts (Matenadaran); Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia.
  • Sahban Magomedovic Hapizov Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography Dagestan Federal Research Center of the RAS 0000-0002-1958-9498 (unauthenticated)
  • Ovanes Gracovic Bejleran Institute of Ancient Manuscripts named after Mesrop Mashtots (Matendaran), Yerevan, Armenia.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32653/CH174768-777

Keywords:

Alans, Ossetians, Caucasian Albania, Albanians, Orthodox Christianity

Abstract

The paper presents the translations, introduction and interpretation of information about Alans, obtained from the Armenian written sources of the 12th – 18th centuries. The subject of research is information from the following sources: Armenian historical works published in Russian or the original language, as well as historical or grammatical works, aide-memoirs and colophons of manuscripts that have not yet been in the focus of researchers’ attention or are introduced into the scientific use for the first time. Most of the sources published here have been identified in the collection of the M. Mashtots Research Institute of Ancient Manuscripts (Matenadaran). The information of the Armenian written sources dates the 12th – 18th centuries. This allows us to clarify the ethno-confessional map of the Caucasus in the 12th – 14th centuries and its transformation in the later period. Some of them, in particular, suggest the idea about the identity of ethnonyms “Alans” and “Osi/Oseti”. The sources also provide information about the written languages of the peoples of the Caucasus that were used in worship service. The paper pays great attention to the study of the issues of the “Alans”, “Alan Region” and “Alan Gates” mentioned in Armenian sources of the 16th – 18th centuries. The study uses the analysis of the available information on this oeconym, since in late Armenian sources the Alan Gates are localized in Derbent, and the terms “Alans” and the “Alan Region” are used in relation to the population and territory of the former Caucasian Albania.

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Author Biographies

  • Ajk Erdzanikovic Akopan, Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts (Matenadaran); Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia.
    Senior Researcher
  • Sahban Magomedovic Hapizov, Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography Dagestan Federal Research Center of the RAS
    Researcher
  • Ovanes Gracovic Bejleran, Institute of Ancient Manuscripts named after Mesrop Mashtots (Matendaran), Yerevan, Armenia.
    Senior Researcher

References

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Armenian sources about the Alans (Documentary materials and comments) [Armyanskie istochniki ob alanax (Dokumental`ny`e materialy` i kommentarii)]. Issue III. R. A. Gabrielyan (comp., comm.). Yerevan: Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR, 1985.

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Published

2021-12-29

Issue

Section

History

How to Cite

1.
Akopan AE, Hapizov SM, Bejleran OG. ALANS IN THE ARMENIAN WRITTEN SOURCES OF THE 12th –18th CENTURIES. ИАЭК. 2021;17(4):768-777. doi:10.32653/CH174768-777