Alans

The Alans were an ancient Iranian-speaking nomadic people who migrated across Eurasia and established kingdoms in Europe and North Africa.

Sarmatians: An Iranian-speaking confederation of steppe peoples who lived north of the Black Sea and across Eurasia. The Alans emerged from the Sarmatian world before their westward migrations.
Alans in Gaul: Alan groups who settled in parts of Roman Gaul during the fifth century. Their settlement in Gaul reveals how Alan forces entered Roman political and military life.
Nomadic pastoralism: A livelihood based on moving livestock between seasonal pastures. Mobile herding supported the Alans' ability to travel across the steppe.
Western Roman Empire: The western administrative half of the Roman Empire, which ended as an imperial government in 476. Alan settlements and military service intersected with the empire's political fragmentation.
Aorsi: An ancient Sarmatian people known from Greek and Roman accounts of the Black Sea region. Their relationship to the Alans remains part of debates about Alan ethnogenesis.
Scythians: An ancient Iranian-speaking people known for mobile pastoralism and communities across the Eurasian steppe. Earlier steppe societies provide a comparison for Alan culture and mobility.
Alans in Hispania: Alan groups who established a kingdom in parts of the Iberian Peninsula in the early fifth century. Their brief Iberian kingdom was later defeated by the Visigoths.
Steppe warfare: Military practices developed by mobile peoples of the Eurasian grasslands. Mounted combat and mobility helped Alan groups project power over long distances.
Visigoths: A Gothic people who established kingdoms in parts of the Roman Empire, including Hispania. Visigothic expansion displaced Alan rule in Hispania.
Asi (people): A people named in ancient sources, sometimes connected by scholars with the Alans or Ossetians. The identification of the Asi with Alan groups is debated.

Linked from 2 pages

GaisericRelated: Alan forces joined the Vandals, and Gaiseric ruled both peoples.