The Caucasus or Caucasia, is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically been considered as a natural barrier between Eastern Europe and Western Asia.
North Ossetia, officially the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. Its population according to the 2021 Census was 687,357. The republic's capital city is the city of Vladikavkaz, located on the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains.
Ossetia is an ethnolinguistic region located on both sides of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, largely inhabited by the Ossetians. The Ossetian language is part of the Eastern Iranian branch of the family of Indo-European languages. Most countries recognize the Ossetian-speaking area south of the main Caucasus ridge as lying within the borders of Georgia, but it has come under the control of the de facto government of the Russian-backed Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania. The northern portion of the region consists of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania within the Russian Federation.
The Ossetians 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.
The Nart sagas are a series of tales originating from the North Caucasus. They form much of the basic mythology of the ethnic groups in the area, including Abazin, Abkhaz, Circassian, Ossetian, Karachay-Balkar, and to some extent Chechen-Ingush folklore.
The history of Chechnya may refer to the history of the Chechens, of their land Chechnya, or of the land of Ichkeria.
The Republic of North Ossetia – Alania is a federal subject of Russia, located in the Caucasus region.
Nykhas Uastyrdzhi is the name of Saint George in Ossetian folklore. Uastyrdzhi is the patron of the male sex and travellers as well as being a guarantor of oaths, like his Iranian counterpart Mithra with whom he shares a common origin. It is forbidden for women to pronounce his name; instead, they must refer to him as лӕгты дзуар laegty dzuar.
Georgians in Turkey refers to citizens and denizens of Turkey who are, or descend from, ethnic Georgians.
The peoples of the Caucasus, or Caucasians, are a diverse group comprising more than 50 ethnic groups throughout the Caucasus.
The Dvals were a ethnographic group of Georgians, their lands lying on both sides of the central Greater Caucasus mountains, somewhere between the Darial and Mamison gorges. This historic territory mostly covers the north of Kartli, parts of the Racha and Khevi regions in Georgia and south of Ossetia in Russia.
The Jász are a Hungarian subgroup of Eastern Iranic descent who have lived in Hungary since the 13th century. They live mostly in a region known as Jászság, which comprises the north-western part of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county. They are sometimes known in English by the exonym Jassic and are also known by the endonyms Iasi and Jassy. They originated as a nomadic Alanic people from the Pontic steppe.
Azerbaijanis in Turkey are Turkish citizens and permanent residents of ethnic Azerbaijani background. It is difficult to determine the exact number of ethnic Azerbaijanis currently residing in Turkey since ethnicity is a rather fluid concept in Turkish culture. According to some estimates, there are currently around 800,000 Twelver Shias in Turkey, however this figure may differ substantially from the real one. Beside the Turkish-Azerbaijanis, there are up to 300,000 of Azerbaijani citizens who reside in Turkey. They are currently the largest ethnic group in the city of Iğdır and second largest ethnic group in Kars, where they constitute majority in the district of Akyaka.
Vaso (Vasily) Ivanovich Abaev was an ethnically Ossetian Soviet linguist specializing in Iranian, particularly Ossetian linguistics.
Alania was a medieval kingdom of the Iranian Alans (proto-Ossetians) that flourished in the Northern Caucasus, roughly in the location of latter-day Circassia, Chechnya, Ingushetia, and modern North Ossetia–Alania, from its independence from the Khazars in the late 9th century until its destruction by the Mongol invasion in 1238–39. Its capital was Maghas, and it controlled a vital trade route through the Darial Pass. The kingdom reached its peak in the 11th century, under the rule of king Durgulel.
Ossetian mythology is the collective term for the beliefs and practices of the Ossetian people of the Caucasus region, which contains several gods and supernatural beings. The religion itself is believed to be of Scythian origin, but contains many later elements from Christianity, like the Ossetian gods often being identified with Christian saints. The gods play a role in the famous stories about a race of semi-divine heroes called the Narts.
The Digor are a subgroup of the Ossetians. They speak the Digor dialect of the Eastern Iranian Ossetian language, which in USSR was considered a separate language until 1937. Starting from 1932 it is considered just a dialect of Ossetian language. The speakers of the other dialect - Iron - do not understand Digor, although the Digor usually understand Iron, as it was the official language of the Ossetian people and officially taught in schools. In the 2002 Russian Census 607 Digors were registered, but in the 2010 Russian Census their number was only 223. It was estimated that there are 100,000 speakers of the dialect, most of whom declared themselves Ossetians. The Digor mainly live in Digorsky, Irafsky, Mozdoksky districts and Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia–Alania, also in Kabardino-Balkaria, Turkey and Syria.
Circassian nationalism is the desire among Circassians worldwide to preserve their culture, save their language from extinction, raise awareness about the Circassian genocide, return to Circassia and establish a completely autonomous or independent Circassian state in its pre-Russian invasion borders.
Circassians in Iraq refers to people born in or residing in Iraq who are of Circassian origin. Like all Iraqis, Circassians in Iraq faced various hardships in the modern era, as Iraq suffered wars, sanctions, oppressive regimes, and civil strife.
Assianism is a modern Pagan religion derived from the traditional mythology of the Ossetians, modern descendants of the Scythians of the Alan tribes, believed to be a continuation of the ancient Scythian religion. The religion is known as "Assianism" among its Russian-speaking adherents, and as Watsdin (Уацдин), Ætsæg Din, Æss Din, or simply Iron Din by Ossetians in their own language. It started to be revived in a conscious and organised way in the 1980s, as an ethnic religion among the Ossetians.
