WRITTEN HERITAGE OF THE MEDIEVAL ALANS
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Abstract
In the Middle Ages, many peoples of Eurasia began to join the monotheistic religions, that coincided with the process of the formation of new states, where Christianity, Islam and Judaism became the dominant religions. In the new states, official languages became those that already had a written tradition. It reflected the new non-religious needs of society. In this regard, the question remains about the existence of writing among the medieval Alans. During the Middle Ages, the Alans periodically became part of the empires of Eurasia. However in the North Caucasus they founded the political union of Alania, which existed from the middle of the 10th century AD to the end of the 12th century AD. This event coincided with the spread of Byzantine Christianity among the Alans. Some researchers tend to believe that the early medieval Alans created their runic writing. But their arguments are unconvincing.
The appearance of writing among the Alans should be attributed to a later period. In the first half of the 10th century AD, the Alan Metropolis was founded in the North Caucasus. It was subordinate to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In the middle of the 10th century AD, an independent state of Alania was created in the Central Caucasus. New realities required not only the use of the Greek language, but also the development of the local Alanian one, but already using the Greek alphabet. This fact is confirmed by some written sources of the 13th century AD. A proof of the existence of writing among the Alans is the find of the Zelenchuk inscription in Greek graphics on a tombstone. The Greek alphabet was also used to record the Alanian marginals in the pages of the Byzantine liturgical manuscript of 1275. The third monument is a Latin-script record of Jassian (Alanian) words in the Glossary compiled by a local Jass in Hungary in 1422.
However, the Greek and Latin alphabets could not fully reflect the features of the medieval Alanian language. In these texts we cannot see the additional designations for specific sounds. Therefore, we can only talk about the initial stages of the distribution of own writing among the Alans.
Thus, the example of medieval Alans can testify that in the Middle Ages the formation of a new state, the adoption of a monotheistic religion and the creation of a new written language are interconnected.
How to Cite
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Alanian marginals, Alans, Jassian glossary, religion, state, writing, Zelenchuk inscription
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