Open AccessALANS IN THE ARMENIAN WRITTEN SOURCES OF THE 12th –18th CENTURIES
Author(s) -
Հայկ Հակոբյան,
Shakhban M. Khapizov,
Hovhannes Beylerian
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
istoriâ, arheologiâ i ètnografiâ kavkaza
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2618-849X
pISSN - 2618-6772
DOI - 10.32653/ch174768-777
Subject(s) - armenian , history , subject (documents) , population , relation (database) , classics , interpretation (philosophy) , period (music) , ancient history , geography , linguistics , art , sociology , library science , philosophy , computer science , demography , database , aesthetics
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.