THE ALANS AND MASKUTS ON THE WESTERN CASPIAN COAST: PROBLEM OF ETHNIC IDENTITY
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Abstract
The Maskuts were an Iranophone group who were the neighbors of the Khazars. They lived during the Latest Antiquity and Early Medieval times in the South Daghestan and the Northern Azerbaijan. They were the descendants of the Ancient Massagets from the Central Asia who migrated into the Alans horde to the West in the 1st century AD. Therefore many Historians called them as the Alans in spite of the traditional Armenian name – the Maskuts. Some time the Derbent passage were known as “Alan passage” because the Alans-Maskuts lived here. In the Southern Daghestan the Maskuts were included into the Daghestani Huns tribal confederation before the 8th century AD. During the 9th – 10th centuries AD the Maskuts were assimilated by the neighbor peoples.
Quite common is the opinion that in the Middle Ages the Alans lived in the Caucasus only in its central part. However, the involvement of Muslim sources allows to change the established stereotypes to a certain degree. Among them, the information of the Arabic-language work “Tarikh al-Bab wa-Sharwan” should be highlighted. This work was published and translated into English and Russian by V. F. Minorsky. It contains several references to the Alans, that need an explanation.
For example, the information on Alans is contained in the fragment that is dated between the years 851 and 856. It is a question of the campaign of the Muslim commander Bugha against the Alans and Khazars, whom he defeated and taxed the jizya. As it is known, jizya is a tax that the Muslims imposed on the ahl al-dhimma (in particular, monotheists). However, it is well known that the Alans of the Central Ciscaucasia became Christians only at the beginning of the 10th century, and before that they were pagans. All this makes us think that in this case we are talking about the temporary capture by Muslims of Southern Dagestan, where Monophysite Christianity took root already in the 7th century. As for the name ‘Alans’, it is quite possible that these are the local Maskuts, sometimes called Alans.
How to Cite
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Alans, Darband, Maskuts, Massagets, Monophysite Christianity, Sharwan, Tarіkh al-Bab wa-Sharwan
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