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Short description

Highly mobile Alan horse archers - deadly with a bow

Description

Alans were a subtribe of the Sarmatians. In fact, the name Roxolani that the Romans spoke of seems to originate from Rauksa Alana, meaning "Royal Alans" or the best Alans, or a sub-tribe or clan that the Alan kings came from. These are the regular Horse Archers of the Alan sub-tribe of the Sarmatians. Today they are known as Ossetians or Alans. They took part in all the battles among the royalty of the Bosporan Kingdom, sometimes fighting for the pretender to the throne, and sometimes for the lawful heir...only problem was that winning often determined who was who. They were among the Sarmatians and other Caucasian Iberian tribes who invaded Northern and Central Anatolia during the second century AD and were successfully fought off by Arrian, the best writer of Alexandros' memoirs who, by his own admission, used some of Megas Alexandros tactics to fight them off.

Strabo remarks about them that they were largely nomads, furthermore, when characterising the nomad ways of life he even reported the observation made by his source, namely that they "follow the pastures, always seeking the places which yield grass". There are many sub-tribes described, but the most majestic of those are the Royal Alans or Rauksa Alana, or Roxolani as we know them. Others are described as "milk eaters" or "those who live on wagons ("hamaxoikoi"). It is very likely that as Iazyges were the easternmost of the Sarmatae, Alans were those who dwelled in the southernmost part of Sauromatae domain. It is they who survive to this day, in the region that is known as Alania. Their dances, in which men dance on their toes, were probably used as both a demonstration of dancing prowess and also training for acquiring the "dancer" posture that the Sauromatae and Sakae used to mount their horses, as depicted in Pazyryk paintings. The attire of the women also bears remarkable resemblance to the modern Alan dress, even if the colours might have changed with time. Alan horse archers represent the southernmost Sauromatai or Sarmatians as we know them, and they would probably be used in a 9 to 1 ratio with more heavily armed lancers in a full mounted army.