Iazyges
Encyclopedia
The Iazyges were an ancient nomadic tribe. Known also as Jaxamatae, Ixibatai, Iazygite, Jászok, Ászi, they were a branch of the Sarmatian people who, c. 200 BC, swept westward from central Asia
onto the steppes of what is now Ukraine
. Little is known about their language, but it was one of the Iranian languages
.
, known to the Ancient Greeks and Romans as the Maeotis. They are referred to by the geographer Ptolemy
as the Iazyges Metanastae (wandering or migrant Iazyges). From there, the Iazyges moved west along the shores of the Black Sea
to what is now Moldova
and the southwestern Ukraine.
They served as allies of Mithradates VI Eupator, king of Pontus
(in what is now North-Western Turkey
), in his wars against the Romans
(c. 88-84 BC). In 78-76 BC, the Romans sent a punitive expedition
over the Danube
in an attempt to overawe the Iazyges.
The prime enemy of Rome along the lower Danube at this time were the Dacians
. In 7 BC when the Dacian kingdom built up by Burebista
began to collapse, the Romans took advantage and encouraged the Iazyges to settle in the Pannonian plain, between the Danube and the Tisza
(Tisa) Rivers.
AD, but were repressed with foreign assistance.
The Romans wanted to finish off Dacia, but the Iazyges refused to cooperate. The Iazyges remained nomads, herding their cattle across what is now southern Romania every summer to water them along the Black Sea; a Roman conquest of Dacia would cut that route. The Roman emperor Domitian
became so concerned with the Iazyges that he interrupted a campaign against Dacia to harass them and the Suebi
, a Germanic tribe also dwelling along the Danube.
In early 92
, the Iazyges, in alliance with the Sarmatians proper and the Germanic Quadi
, crossed the Danube into the Roman province of Pannonia
(mod. Croatia
, northern Serbia
, and western Hungary
). In May, the Iazyges shattered the Roman Legio XXI Rapax
, soon afterwards disbanded in disgrace. The fighting continued until Domitian’s death in 96
.
In 101-105, the warlike Emperor Trajan
finally conquered the Dacians, reducing their lands to a Roman province. In 107
, Trajan sent his general, Hadrian
, to force the Iazyges to submit. In 117
, Trajan died, and was succeeded as emperor by Hadrian, who moved to consolidate and protect his predecessor's gains. While the Romans kept Dacia, the Iazyges stayed independent, accepting a client relationship with Rome.
As long as Rome remained powerful, the situation could be maintained, but in the late second century, the Empire was becoming increasingly overstretched. In the summer of 166
, while the Romans were tied down in a war with Parthia
, the peoples north of the Danube, the Marcomanni
, the Naristi, the Vandals
, the Hermanduri, the Lombards
and the Quadi
, all swept south over the Danube to invade and plunder the exposed Roman provinces. The Iazyges joined in this general onslaught in which they killed Calpurnius Proculus, the Roman governor of Dacia. The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius spent the rest of his life trying to restore the situation (see the Marcomannic Wars
). In 170
, the Iazyges defeated and killed Claudius Fronto, Roman governor of Lower Moesia
. Operating from Sirmium
(today Sremska Mitrovica
, Vojvodina
, Serbia
) on the Sava river, Marcus Aurelius moved against the Iazyges personally. After hard fighting, the Iazyges were pressed to their limits.
But in 175
, Avidius Cassius
led a revolt in the East, interrupting the campaign. At this point, the leading king among the Iazyges, Zanticus, made peace with Marcus Aurelius, yielding up, it is said, 100,000 Roman captives. The Iazyges were also forced to provide the Romans with 8,000 cavalry to serve in the Roman army as auxiliaries. Some 5,500 of these were shipped off to serve in the Roman army in Britain
; it is theorized they may have played a part in the development of the Arthurian legend. Marcus' victory was decisive in that the Iazyges did not again appear as a major threat to Rome.
Around 230, the Asding Vandals pushed in to the north of the Iazyges. The Vandals, and new Germanic tribal coalitions like the Alamanni
and the Franks
now became the Roman’s primary security concerns. But as late as 371
, the Romans saw fit to build a fortified trading center, Commercium, to control the trade with the Iazyges.
, records become much more diffuse, and the Iazyges generally cease to be mentioned as a tribe.
who probably came to the medieval Kingdom of Hungary together with the Cumans
in the 13th century after they were defeated by the Mongols
. Béla IV, king of Hungary granted them asylum and they became a privileged community with the right of self-government.
Shortly after their entry, the relationship worsened dramatically between the Hungarian nobility and the Cumanian-Jassic tribes and they left the country. After the end of the Mongol-Tatar invasion they returned and were settled in the central part of the Pannonian Plain mostly and less in the East Transdanubian Pilis
mountains Pilisjaszfalu
from where the only Latin-Jassic "vocabulary" (20-30 words on the backside of a diploma discovered in the 1950's described also by Györffy György) survives.
Initially, their main occupation was animal husbandry. During the next two centuries they were fully assimilated to the Hungarian population, their language disappeared, but they preserved their Jassic identity and their regional autonomy until 1876. Over a dozen settlements in Central Hungary (e.g. Jászberény
, Jászárokszállás
, Jászfényszaru
) still bear their name.
They remained a distinct ethnographical group until today under the Hungarian
name jászok (or jász in singular).
The only literary record of the Jassic language was found in the 1950s in the Hungarian National Széchényi Library
on the backside of a diploma from 1443. It contains a short Jász-Latin vocabulary for monks in the newly founded monastery in Pilis mountains (N-W from Budapest), since the Jász people were settled in the area (e.g. the village Pilisjászfalu of today - a different area from the autonomous Jász territory around Jászberény).
The name of the Romanian city Iaşi
likely comes from the name of the Iazyges or the Jász (Iazones), who traveled through the region from the Ukrainian plains to the
Pannonian Basin (Pannonian plain).
The connection between the Jazones (Yazones) and the Iazyges is disputed. Most Hungarian scholars claim that they were two different Sarmatian groups, and that the Jazones are relatives of the Alans
and the Ossetians
. Others think that the Iazyges either migrated back east onto the steppes in the confusion of the Hun and Avar
invasions of the 5th-7th centuries, or the Iazones were a fresh branch of the Iazyges that had never moved west before and remained throughout this period in what is now southern Russia
. But based on the above diploma their languages should be very close.
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
onto the steppes of what is now Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. Little is known about their language, but it was one of the Iranian languages
Iranian languages
The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....
.
Origins
The Iazyges first make their appearance along the Sea of AzovSea of Azov
The Sea of Azov , known in Classical Antiquity as Lake Maeotis, is a sea on the south of Eastern Europe. It is linked by the narrow Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea to the south and is bounded on the north by Ukraine mainland, on the east by Russia, and on the west by the Ukraine's Crimean...
, known to the Ancient Greeks and Romans as the Maeotis. They are referred to by the geographer Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
as the Iazyges Metanastae (wandering or migrant Iazyges). From there, the Iazyges moved west along the shores of the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
to what is now Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
and the southwestern Ukraine.
They served as allies of Mithradates VI Eupator, king of Pontus
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...
(in what is now North-Western Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
), in his wars against the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
(c. 88-84 BC). In 78-76 BC, the Romans sent a punitive expedition
Punitive expedition
A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, but may be also be a covered revenge...
over the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
in an attempt to overawe the Iazyges.
The prime enemy of Rome along the lower Danube at this time were the Dacians
Dacians
The Dacians were an Indo-European people, very close or part of the Thracians. Dacians were the ancient inhabitants of Dacia...
. In 7 BC when the Dacian kingdom built up by Burebista
Burebista
Burebista was a king of the Getae and Dacians, who unified for the first time their tribes and ruled them between 82 BC and 44 BC. He led plunder and conquest raids across Central and Southeastern Europe, subjugating most of the neighbouring tribes...
began to collapse, the Romans took advantage and encouraged the Iazyges to settle in the Pannonian plain, between the Danube and the Tisza
Tisza
The Tisza or Tisa is one of the main rivers of Central Europe. It rises in Ukraine, and is formed near Rakhiv by the junction of headwaters White Tisa, whose source is in the Chornohora mountains and Black Tisa, which springs in the Gorgany range...
(Tisa) Rivers.
Roman times
They were divided into freemen and serfs (Sarmatae Limigantes). These serfs had a different manner of life and were probably an older settled population, enslaved by nomadic masters. They rose against them in 3434
Year 34 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Persicus and Vitellius...
AD, but were repressed with foreign assistance.
The Romans wanted to finish off Dacia, but the Iazyges refused to cooperate. The Iazyges remained nomads, herding their cattle across what is now southern Romania every summer to water them along the Black Sea; a Roman conquest of Dacia would cut that route. The Roman emperor Domitian
Domitian
Domitian was Roman Emperor from 81 to 96. Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty.Domitian's youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the First Jewish-Roman War...
became so concerned with the Iazyges that he interrupted a campaign against Dacia to harass them and the Suebi
Suebi
The Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c...
, a Germanic tribe also dwelling along the Danube.
In early 92
92
Year 92 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Saturninus...
, the Iazyges, in alliance with the Sarmatians proper and the Germanic Quadi
Quadi
The Quadi were a smaller Germanic tribe, about which little is definitively known. We only know the Germanic tribe the Romans called the 'Quadi' through reports of the Romans themselves...
, crossed the Danube into the Roman province of Pannonia
Pannonia
Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
(mod. Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, northern Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, and western Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
). In May, the Iazyges shattered the Roman Legio XXI Rapax
Legio XXI Rapax
Legio vigesima prima rapax was a Roman legion levied in 31 BC by Augustus, probably from men previously enlisted in other legions. The XXI Rapax was destroyed in 92 by the Dacians and Sarmatians...
, soon afterwards disbanded in disgrace. The fighting continued until Domitian’s death in 96
96
Year 96 was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valens and Vetus...
.
In 101-105, the warlike Emperor Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
finally conquered the Dacians, reducing their lands to a Roman province. In 107
107
Year 107 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sura and Senico...
, Trajan sent his general, Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
, to force the Iazyges to submit. In 117
117
Year 117 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Niger and Apronianus...
, Trajan died, and was succeeded as emperor by Hadrian, who moved to consolidate and protect his predecessor's gains. While the Romans kept Dacia, the Iazyges stayed independent, accepting a client relationship with Rome.
As long as Rome remained powerful, the situation could be maintained, but in the late second century, the Empire was becoming increasingly overstretched. In the summer of 166
166
Year 166 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pudens and Pollio...
, while the Romans were tied down in a war with Parthia
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
, the peoples north of the Danube, the Marcomanni
Marcomanni
The Marcomanni were a Germanic tribe, probably related to the Buri, Suebi or Suevi.-Origin:Scholars believe their name derives possibly from Proto-Germanic forms of "march" and "men"....
, the Naristi, the Vandals
Vandals
The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
, the Hermanduri, the Lombards
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
and the Quadi
Quadi
The Quadi were a smaller Germanic tribe, about which little is definitively known. We only know the Germanic tribe the Romans called the 'Quadi' through reports of the Romans themselves...
, all swept south over the Danube to invade and plunder the exposed Roman provinces. The Iazyges joined in this general onslaught in which they killed Calpurnius Proculus, the Roman governor of Dacia. The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius spent the rest of his life trying to restore the situation (see the Marcomannic Wars
Marcomannic Wars
The Marcomannic Wars were a series of wars lasting over a dozen years from about AD 166 until 180. These wars pitted the Roman Empire against the Marcomanni, Quadi and other Germanic peoples, along both sides of the upper and middle Danube...
). In 170
170
Year 170 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Clarus and Cornelius...
, the Iazyges defeated and killed Claudius Fronto, Roman governor of Lower Moesia
Moesia
Moesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River. It included territories of modern-day Southern Serbia , Northern Republic of Macedonia, Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobrudja, Southern Moldova, and Budjak .-History:In ancient...
. Operating from Sirmium
Sirmium
Sirmium was a city in ancient Roman Pannonia. Firstly mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by the Illyrians and Celts, it was conquered by the Romans in the 1st century BC and subsequently became the capital of the Roman province of Lower Pannonia. In 294 AD, Sirmium was...
(today Sremska Mitrovica
Sremska Mitrovica
Sremska Mitrovica is a city and municipality located in the Vojvodina province of Serbia, on the left bank of the Sava river. As of 2002 the town had a total population of 39,041, while Sremska Mitrovica municipality had a population of 85,605...
, Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
) on the Sava river, Marcus Aurelius moved against the Iazyges personally. After hard fighting, the Iazyges were pressed to their limits.
But in 175
175
Year 175 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Piso and Iulianus...
, Avidius Cassius
Avidius Cassius
Gaius Avidius Cassius was a Roman general and usurper who briefly ruled Egypt and Syria in 175.-Origins:He was the son of Gaius Avidius Heliodorus, a noted orator who was Prefect of Egypt from 137 to 142 under Hadrian, and wife Junia Cassia Alexandra...
led a revolt in the East, interrupting the campaign. At this point, the leading king among the Iazyges, Zanticus, made peace with Marcus Aurelius, yielding up, it is said, 100,000 Roman captives. The Iazyges were also forced to provide the Romans with 8,000 cavalry to serve in the Roman army as auxiliaries. Some 5,500 of these were shipped off to serve in the Roman army in Britain
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
; it is theorized they may have played a part in the development of the Arthurian legend. Marcus' victory was decisive in that the Iazyges did not again appear as a major threat to Rome.
Around 230, the Asding Vandals pushed in to the north of the Iazyges. The Vandals, and new Germanic tribal coalitions like the Alamanni
Alamanni
The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Rhine river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Roman Emperor Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211 to 217 and claimed thereby to be...
and the Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
now became the Roman’s primary security concerns. But as late as 371
371
Year 371 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Petronius...
, the Romans saw fit to build a fortified trading center, Commercium, to control the trade with the Iazyges.
Late Antiquity
In Late AntiquityLate Antiquity
Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...
, records become much more diffuse, and the Iazyges generally cease to be mentioned as a tribe.
Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages another Iranian people appeared in Eastern-Europe, the JazonesJassic people
The Jassic people or Jász are an ethnic group of Hungarians who mostly live in the Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county of the Republic of Hungary. They are of Ossetic origin and originally spoke the Jassic dialect of the Ossetic language...
who probably came to the medieval Kingdom of Hungary together with the Cumans
Cumans
The Cumans were Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman-Kipchak confederation. After Mongol invasion , they decided to seek asylum in Hungary, and subsequently to Bulgaria...
in the 13th century after they were defeated by the Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
. Béla IV, king of Hungary granted them asylum and they became a privileged community with the right of self-government.
Shortly after their entry, the relationship worsened dramatically between the Hungarian nobility and the Cumanian-Jassic tribes and they left the country. After the end of the Mongol-Tatar invasion they returned and were settled in the central part of the Pannonian Plain mostly and less in the East Transdanubian Pilis
Pilis
-History:It was inhabited in the prehistoric times, but later it was abandoned at the end of the Roman rule. The town was then first mentioned in 1326. It was destroyed during the ottoman rule in the 16th century, and was reestablished only in 1711, by János Beleznay, the local landlord. He brought...
mountains Pilisjaszfalu
Pilisjászfalu
Pilisjászfalu is a village in Pest county, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It has a population of 1,396 .-References:...
from where the only Latin-Jassic "vocabulary" (20-30 words on the backside of a diploma discovered in the 1950's described also by Györffy György) survives.
Initially, their main occupation was animal husbandry. During the next two centuries they were fully assimilated to the Hungarian population, their language disappeared, but they preserved their Jassic identity and their regional autonomy until 1876. Over a dozen settlements in Central Hungary (e.g. Jászberény
Jászberény
Jászberény is a city and market centre in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county in Hungary.- Location :Jászberény is located in central Hungary, on the Zagyva River, a tributary of the Tisza River...
, Jászárokszállás
Jászárokszállás
Jászárokszállás is a town in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, in the Northern Great Plain region of central Hungary.-Geography:It covers an area of and has a population of 8267 people .-People:Famous actors from here are:* Jenő Balassa ,...
, Jászfényszaru
Jászfényszaru
Jászfényszaru is a town in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, in the Northern Great Plain region of central Hungary.-Geography:It covers an area of and has a population of 5887 people ....
) still bear their name.
They remained a distinct ethnographical group until today under the Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
name jászok (or jász in singular).
The only literary record of the Jassic language was found in the 1950s in the Hungarian National Széchényi Library
National Széchényi Library
The National Széchényi Library is a library in Budapest, Hungary. It is one of the two Hungarian national libraries, the other being the University of Debrecen Library.-History:...
on the backside of a diploma from 1443. It contains a short Jász-Latin vocabulary for monks in the newly founded monastery in Pilis mountains (N-W from Budapest), since the Jász people were settled in the area (e.g. the village Pilisjászfalu of today - a different area from the autonomous Jász territory around Jászberény).
The name of the Romanian city Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
likely comes from the name of the Iazyges or the Jász (Iazones), who traveled through the region from the Ukrainian plains to the
Pannonian Basin (Pannonian plain).
The connection between the Jazones (Yazones) and the Iazyges is disputed. Most Hungarian scholars claim that they were two different Sarmatian groups, and that the Jazones are relatives of the Alans
Alans
The Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
and the Ossetians
Ossetians
The Ossetians are an Iranic ethnic group of the Caucasus Mountains, eponymous of the region known as Ossetia.They speak Ossetic, an Iranian language of the Eastern branch, with most also fluent in Russian as a second language....
. Others think that the Iazyges either migrated back east onto the steppes in the confusion of the Hun and Avar
Eurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...
invasions of the 5th-7th centuries, or the Iazones were a fresh branch of the Iazyges that had never moved west before and remained throughout this period in what is now southern Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. But based on the above diploma their languages should be very close.
Rulers
There are several known rulers of the Iazyges:- Bakadaspes, ruler of Iazyges (before 180).
- Zanticus, king of Iazyges (2nd century).
- Beuca or Beukan, king of Iazyges (470/472).
- Babay or Babai, king of Iazyges (470/472).
Sources
- Bennett, Julian: Trajan: Optimus Princeps (1997) Indianapolis University Press, Bloomington
- Birley, Anthony: Marcus Aurelius: A Biography (1987) Yale University Press, New Haven.
- Bunson, Matthew: Encyclopedia of the Roman EmpireEncyclopedia of the Roman EmpireThe Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire, written by Matthew Bunson in 1994 and published by Facts on File, is a detailed depiction of the history of the Roman Empire...
(1994) Facts on File Inc., NY - Christian, David. A History of Russia, Mongolia and Central Asia. Vol. 1. Blackwell: 1999.
- Kerr, William George: A Chronological Study of the Marcomannic Wars of Marcus Aurelius (1995) Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995, 295 p.
- Macartney, C.A.: Hungary: A Short History (1962) Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
- Maenchen-Helfen, J. Otto: The World of the Huns (1973) University of California Press, Berkeley.
- Strayer, Joseph R., Editor in Chief: A Dictionary of the Middle Ages (1987), Charles Scribner’s Sons, NY
- Gyarfas Istvan: A jaszkunok törtenete (in Hungarian)