Ossetians#cite note-joshua-3

The name Ossetians and Ossetia comes from the Russians, who borrowed the Georgian term {{Lang|ka-Latn|Oseti}} (ოსეთი – note the personal pronoun), which means 'the land of the Osi'. In Georgian, {{Lang|ka-Latn|Osi}} (ოსი, {{Abbr|pl.|plural}} {{Lang|ka-Latn|Osebi}}, ოსები) has been used since the Middle Ages to refer to the only Iranian-speaking group in the Central Caucasus. The word likely derives from the old Sarmatian self-designation As (pronounced "Az") or Iasi (pronounced "Yazi"), which is cognate to the Hungarian {{Lang|hu|Jasz}}. Both forms trace back to the Latin {{Lang|la|Iazyges}}, itself a Latinization of the Sarmatian tribal name *Yazig used by the Alans. This name comes from the Proto-Iranian root *{{Lang|ira-Latn|Yaz}}, meaning “'those who sacrifice', possibly indicating a tribe associated with ritual sacrifice. Meanwhile, the broader Sarmatians apparently referred to themselves as "Ariitai" or "Aryan", a term preserved in modern Ossetic as {{Lang|os-Latn|Irættæ}}.Lebedynsky, Iaroslav (2014). Les Sarmates amazones et lanciers cuirassés entre Oural et Danube (VIIe siècle av. J.-C. – VIe siècle apr. J.-C.). Éd. Errance.{{cite book|last=Alemany|first=Agustí|year=2000|title=Sources on the Alans: A Critical Compilation|publisher=Brill|isbn=9004114424}}{{Page needed|date=June 2024}}{{Cite journal |last=Crismaru |first=Valentin |date=December 2019 |title=Aspecte privind impactul natural și antropic asupra solurilor și productivității culturilor din regiunea de dezvoltare centru |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.53380/9789975315593.30 |journal=Starea actuală a componentelor de mediu |publisher=Institute of Ecology and Geography, Republic of Moldova |pages=264–267 |doi=10.53380/9789975315593.30 |isbn=9789975315593 |s2cid=242518750|url-access=subscription }}

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.{{cite journal| last1 = Shnirelman | first1 = Victor | year = 2006 | title = The Politics of a Name: Between Consolidation and Separation in the Northern Caucasus | url = http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/publictn/acta/23/02_shnirelman.pdf | journal = Acta Slavica Iaponica | volume = 23 |pages = 37–49}}

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).{{Cite book|last=Alemany|first=Agustí|title=Sources on the Alans: A Critical Compilation|date=2000|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-11442-5|pages=5–7}}

File:Ossetian tribes.png

• 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 of South Ossetia}}

{{See also|Ossetian culture}}

{{Main|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.{{cite book |last=Foltz|first=Richard|title=The Ossetes: Modern-Day Scythians of the Caucasus. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YZswEAAAQBAJ |year=2022 |location=London |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=9780755618453|author-link=Richard Foltz |pages = 107–108 }} The Narts, the Daredzant, and the Tsartsiat, serve as the basic literature of folk mythology in the region.Lora Arys-Djanaïéva "Parlons ossète" (Harmattan, 2004)

{{Main|Ossetian music}}

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

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

Charnel vaults at a [[necropolis near the village of Dargavs, North Ossetia|thumb|left|200 px]]

{{Main|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.{{cite encyclopedia|title=Ossetians|encyclopedia=Encarta|publisher=Microsoft Corporation|year=2008}} 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 in the Battle of the Tanais River 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.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}

{{Main|Alania}}

File:Дом-музей Задалески Нана 07.jpg's invasion in the late 14th century]]

In the 7th century, in the well-known chronicle, Ashkharhatsuyts, the Alans were mentioned under the ethnonym Alanac, As-Digor{{Cite book |last=Hewsen |first=Robert H. |url=https://archive.org/details/TheGeographyOfAnaniasOfSirak/page/n81/mode/1up?view=theater |title=The Geography of Ananias of Širak: Ašxarhacʻoycʻ, the Long and the Short Recensions |language=English}}

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.

File:Possible Alan king, Senty.jpg, in the Senty church{{sfn|Beletsky|Vinogradov|2011|pp=51–52}}]]

Alania reached its peak in the 11th century under the Alanian ruler Durgulel, who established relations with the Byzantine Empire.{{Cite web |title=Тайны Аланского царства |url=https://etokavkaz.ru/istoriya/tainy-alanskogo-tcarstva |access-date=2025-01-28 |website=etokavkaz.ru |language=ru}}

The Mongols, led by the generals Jebe and Subutai, met the Alans for the first time in 1222 after passing through Shirvan and Dagestan. They were confronted by a Kipchak-Alan alliance, which they defeated by scheming with the Kipchaks.

As a result of the second campaign of 1238-1239, a significant part of the Alania plain was captured by the Mongol Empire, and Alania itself ceased to exist as a political entity.{{Cite web |title=ГИБЕЛЬ АЛАНИИ |url=https://iriston.com/nogbon/print.php?newsid=17 |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=iriston.com}}

File:Caucasus 1245 AD map de.png

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.

In 1292, the Alanian king Os-Bagatar attacked the territory of Georgia and captured the territory of Gori, and a significant part of Shida Kartli. He tried to restore the statehood of Alania.{{Cite web |title=Город Гори |url=https://travelgeorgia.ru/171/ |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=travelgeorgia.ru}} But in 1306, Os-Bagatar died, and in 1326, George V of Georgia, after several attempts, was able to take Gori and drive the Alans out of the South Caucasus and Dvaletia.{{Cite web |date=2006-03-01 |title=Ф.Х. ГУТНОВ. Северная Осетия в XIV-XV вв - Дарьял |url=https://www.darial-online.ru/material/2006_2-gutnov/ |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=Дарьял - Литературно-художественный и общественно-политический журнал |language=ru}}{{Cite web |title=ЧУДИНОВ В. ОКОНЧАТЕЛЬНОЕ ПОКОРЕНИЕ ОСЕТИН. Часть 1. DrevLit.Ru - библиотека древних рукописей |url=https://drevlit.ru/docs/kavkaz/XIX/1820-1840/Cudinov_V/text1.php |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=drevlit.ru}}

File:Khetagurov Kosta.jpg]]

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.{{cite web|url=http://pdc.ceu.hu/archive/00002841/01/sokirianskaia06.pdf|title=Getting Back Home? Towards Sustainable Return of Ingush Forced Migrants and Lasting Peace in Prigorodny District of North Ossetia|website=Pdc.ceu.hu|access-date=21 August 2017}}
• 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.ca-c.org/online/2003/journal_eng/cac-05/06.prieng.shtml|title=Ca-c.org|website=Ca-c.org|access-date=21 August 2017|archive-date=25 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825022620/http://www.ca-c.org/online/2003/journal_eng/cac-05/06.prieng.shtml|url-status=dead}}
• in 1830, the Russian general Paul Andreas von Rennenkampff organized South Ossetian Expedition of 1830. 1,500 Russian troops besieged Ossetian towers in the village of Koshelta, where 30 Ossetian rebels were located.{{Cite web |title=Завоевание Южной Осетии |url=https://travelgeorgia.ru/919/ |access-date=2024-10-12 |website=travelgeorgia.ru}}
• 1922 — Creation of the South Ossetian autonomous oblast.{{Cite news|date=21 April 2016|title=South Ossetia profile|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18269210|access-date=25 September 2020}} 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.[http://www.gcsp.ch/e/publications/Issues_Institutions/Int_Organisations/Academic_Articles/Ghebali-Helsinki-3-04.pdf] {{dead link|date=August 2017}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20220926005213/http://www.obiv.org.tr/2005/avrasya/ehatipoglu.pdf]

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

{{Main|Ossetian language}}

File:OSABC2highlited.jpg]]

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.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

{{Bar box

|title=Religion in North Ossetia-Alania as of 2012 (Sreda Arena Atlas)[http://sreda.org/en/arena "Arena: Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia"]. Sreda, 2012.[http://c2.kommersant.ru/ISSUES.PHOTO/OGONIOK/2012/034/ogcyhjk2.jpg 2012 Arena Atlas Religion Maps]. "Ogonek", № 34 (5243), 27 August 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2017. [https://web.archive.org/web/20170421154615/http://c2.kommersant.ru/ISSUES.PHOTO/OGONIOK/2012/034/ogcyhjk2.jpg Archived].

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{{Bar percent|Russian Orthodoxy|DarkOrchid|49.2}}

{{Bar percent|Assianism and other native faiths|Red|29.4}}

{{Bar percent|Islam|Green|15}}

{{Bar percent|Other Christians|DeepSkyBlue|9.8}}

{{Bar percent|Atheism and irreligion|Black|3}}

{{Bar percent|Other Orthodox|MediumOrchid|2.4}}

{{Bar percent|Protestantism|Navy|0.8}}

{{Bar percent|Spiritual but not religious|DarkSlateGray|0.8}}

{{Bar percent|Other and undeclared|Gray|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.{{cite web|url=http://iratta.com/2007/05/30/06_alanija_i_vizantija.html|title=Alania and Byzantine|last=Kuznetsov|first=Vladimir Alexandrovitch|work=The History of Alania}} By the 13th century, most of the urban population of Ossetia gradually became Eastern Orthodox Christian as a result of Georgian missionary work.James Stuart Olson, Nicholas Charles Pappas. An Ethnohistorical dictionary of the Russian and Soviet empires. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994. p 522.Ronald Wixman. The peoples of the USSR: an ethnographic handbook. M.E. Sharpe, 1984. p 151

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.{{Cite book|title=Muslims of the Soviet Union|last1=Benningsen|first1=Alexandre|last2=Wimbush|first2=S. Enders|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=1986|isbn=0-253-33958-8|location=Bloomington|pages=206}}

{{multiple image

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

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| image2 = Georg Nioradze — Rekom 1923.png

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According to a 2013 estimate, up to 15% of North Ossetia’s population practice Islam.{{cite web|title=Ossetians in Georgia, with their backs to the mountains|url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/ossetians-in-georgia-with-their-backs-to-mountains}}

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.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18269214 |title=South Ossetia profile |work=BBC |date=30 May 2012 |access-date=18 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219042854/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18269214 |archive-date=19 February 2014 |url-status=live}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.keston.org.uk/_russianreview/edition57/01-roschtin-about-south-alania.htm|title=Михаил Рощин : Религиозная жизнь Южной Осетии: в поисках национально-культурной идентификации.|website=Keston.org.uk|access-date=21 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233218/http://www.keston.org.uk/_russianreview/edition57/01-roschtin-about-south-alania.htm|archive-date=3 March 2016|url-status=dead}} 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.[http://sreda.org/arena Arena – Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia]. Sreda.org Assianism has been steadily rising in popularity since the 1980s.{{cite web|url=http://osetins.com/print:page,1,1450-mestnaja-religioznaja-organizacija-tradicionnykh.html|title=DataLife Engine > Версия для печати > Местная религиозная организация традиционных верований осетин "Ǽцǽг Дин" г. Владикавказ|website=Osetins.com|access-date=21 August 2017|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055944/http://osetins.com/print:page,1,1450-mestnaja-religioznaja-organizacija-tradicionnykh.html|url-status=dead}}

• side¹

The first data on the number of Ossetians dates back to 1742. According to the Georgian Archbishop Joseph, the number of Ossetians was approximately 200 thousand{{Cite web |title=Neue Seite 5 |url=https://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Kavkaz/XVIII/1740-1760/Russ_oset_otn_1/1-20/1.htm |access-date=2025-01-27 |website=www.vostlit.info}}

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.{{sfn|Hamed-Troyansky|2024|p=49}} In Turkey, Ossetians settled in central Anatolia and set up clusters of villages around Sarıkamış and near Lake Van in eastern Anatolia.{{sfn|Hamed-Troyansky|2024|p=74}} 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.

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

• {{flagicon|North Ossetia-Alania}} North Ossetia–Alania — 445,300
• {{flagicon|Moscow}} Moscow — 10,500
• {{flagicon|Kabardino-Balkaria}} Kabardino-Balkaria — 9,800
• File:Flag of Stavropol Krai.svg Stavropol Krai — 7,700
• File:Flag of Krasnodar kray (1995).png Krasnodar Krai — 4,100
• {{flagicon|Karachay-Cherkessia}} Karachay–Cherkessia — 3,200
• File:Flag of Saint Petersburg Russia.svg Saint Petersburg — 2,800
• File:Flag of Rostov Oblast.svg Rostov Oblast — 2,600
• File:Flag of Moscow oblast.svg Moscow Oblast — 2,400

{{Unreferenced section|date=May 2024}}

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.{{Cite web |title= Происхождение гаплогруппы G2a1a у осетин Russian Journal of Genetic Genealogy. (Русская версия) 2011. Том 3. №1. С.61-69.|url=https://www.academia.edu/13607514 |website=Academia |last1=Sabitov |first1=Zhaxylyk M. }}{{Cite journal |title=Parallel evolution of genes and languages in the Caucasus region |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution|date=2011 |pmid=21571925 |last1=Balanovsky |first1=O. |last2=Dibirova |first2=K. |last3=Dybo |first3=A. |last4=Mudrak |first4=O. |last5=Frolova |first5=S. |last6=Pocheshkhova |first6=E. |last7=Haber |first7=M. |last8=Platt |first8=D. |last9=Schurr |first9=T. |last10=Haak |first10=W. |last11=Kuznetsova |first11=M. |last12=Radzhabov |first12=M. |last13=Balaganskaya |first13=O. |last14=Romanov |first14=A. |last15=Zakharova |first15=T. |last16=Soria Hernanz |first16=D. F. |last17=Zalloua |first17=P. |last18=Koshel |first18=S. |last19=Ruhlen |first19=M. |last20=Renfrew |first20=C. |last21=Wells |first21=R. S. |last22=Tyler-Smith |first22=C. |last23=Balanovska |first23=E. |last24=Genographic |first24=Consortium |volume=28 |issue=10 |pages=2905–2920 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msr126 |pmc=3355373 }}

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.{{cite web |title=Burial locations,дДНК Сарматы, Аланы |url=https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1EIwWuQWdzHgNC6zsaLSaw8Ky-Ns&ll=49.45384252221049%2C40.653410509765635&z=7 |website=Google maps |access-date=April 14, 2016}}{{cite web |last1=Gennady |first1=Afanasiev |title=Anthropological and genetic specificity of the Don Alans // E.I. Krupnov and the development of archeology of the North Caucasus. M. 2014. pp. 312-315. |url=https://www.academia.edu/7061155 |website=Academia |publisher=Irina Reshetova, Gennady Afanasiev}} 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.{{cite web |title=гаплогруппы G2a1a у осетин Russian Journal of Genetic Genealogy. (Русская версия) 2011. Том 3. №1. С.61-69. |url=https://www.academia.edu/13607514 |last1=Sabitov |first1=Zhaxylyk M. }}

File:Osetino komXXjc.jpg|Ossetian woman in traditional clothes, early years of the 20th century

File:Osetia woman working.jpg|Ossetian women working (19th century)

File:Ramonov vano ossetin northern caucasia dress 18 century.jpg|Ossetian traditional dress of the 18th century, Ramonov Vano (19th century)

File:Three ossetian teachers.jpg|Three Ossetian teachers (19th century)

File:Ossetian girl 1883.jpg|Ossetian girl in 1883

File:Gazdanov-192?.jpg|Gaito Gazdanov, writer

File:Barry (capitaine). F. 17. Ossèthe (Ossète), Koban. Mission scientifique de Mr Ernest Chantre. 1881.jpg|Ossetian man in 1881

{{Portal|Russia}}

• 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

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last1=Beletsky |first1=D. |last2=Vinogradov |first2=A. |title=Nizhniy Arkhyz i Senty - drevneyshiye khramy Rossii. Problemy khristianskogo iskusstva Alanii i Severo-Zapadnogo Kavkaza |year=2011 |publisher=Mockba |language=Russian}}
• {{cite book |last=Foltz|first=Richard|title=The Ossetes: Modern-Day Scythians of the Caucasus. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YZswEAAAQBAJ |year=2022 |location=London |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=9780755618453|author-link=Richard Foltz }}
• {{Cite book |last=Hamed-Troyansky |first=Vladimir |title=Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2024 |location=Stanford, CA |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c0vpEAAAQBAJ |isbn=978-1-5036-3696-5}}
• {{cite journal|author=Nasidze |display-authors=etal |date=May 2004 |title=Mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosome Variation in the Caucasus |journal=Annals of Human Genetics |volume=68 |issue= 3|pages=205–21 |doi=10.1046/j.1529-8817.2004.00092.x|pmid=15180701 |s2cid=27204150|doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal|author=Nasidze |display-authors=etal |date=2004 |title=Genetic Evidence Concerning the Origins of South and North Ossetians|journal=Annals of Human Genetics |volume=68 |issue=Pt 6 |pages=588–99 |doi=10.1046/j.1529-8817.2004.00131.x |pmid=15598217 |s2cid=1717933 |url=http://www.eva.mpg.de/genetics/pdf/Nasidze.AnHG.2004.pdf |access-date=1 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112052627/http://www.eva.mpg.de/genetics/pdf/Nasidze.AnHG.2004.pdf |archive-date=12 January 2012 |url-status=dead}}

{{refend}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Chaudhri |first=Anna |chapter=The Ossetic Oral Narrative Tradition: Fairy Tales in the Context of other Forms of Oral Literature |title=A Companion to the Fairy Tale |editor1-first=Hilda Ellis |editor1-last=Davidson |editor2-first=Anna |editor2-last=Chaudhri |location=Rochester, New York |publisher=D. S. Brewer |date=2003 |pages=202–216}}

;Folktale collections:

• {{cite book |title=Textes ossètes, recueillis par Arthur Christensen |last=Christensen |first=Arthur |date=1921 |location=København |publisher=A.F. Høst & søn |language=French, Ossetian |url=https://archive.org/details/textesossetesrec00chri/mode/1up}}
• {{cite book |last=Munkácsi |first=Bernhard |title=Blüten der ossetischen Volksdichtung |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz |date=1932 |language=German}}
• Осетинские народные сказки [Ossetian Folk Tales]. Запись текстов, перевод, предисловие и примечания Г. А. Дзагурова [ {{ill|Grigory A. Dzagurov|ru|Дзагуров, Григорий Алексеевич}} ]. Moskva: Главная редакция восточной литературы издательства «Наука», 1973. (in Russian)
• {{cite book |editor=Ulrich Benzel |title=Kaukasische Märchen aufgezeichnet von Ulrich Benzel bei dem ossetischen Hirten Mussar Omar |trans-title=Caucasian Fairy Tales collected by Ulrich Benzel from Ossetian shepherd Mussar Omar |location=Wiesbaden |publisher=Verlag F. Englisch |date=1976 |language=German}}
• {{cite book |title=Осетинские народные сказки |trans-title=Ossetian Folk Tales |first=A. |last=Byazyrov |location=Tskhinvali |publisher=Ирыстон |date=1978 |orig-year=1960 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z3ylgtL_STQC&q=%22%D0%A1%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%BA%D0%B0+%D0%BE+%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B6%D0%B4%D1%91%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B9%22}}
• Arys-Djanaïéva, Lora; Lebedynsky, Iaroslav. Contes Populaires Ossètes (Caucase Central). Paris: L'Harmattan, 2010. {{ISBN|978-2-296-13332-7}} (In French)

{{refend}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://ossetians.com/eng/ Ossetians.com – a site about famous Ossetians]

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