In many respects this is based upon the successive real world invasions of Europe by mobile eastern groups from the steppe land, such as the Huns and Alans.
This event featured "Alan" State Dance Troupe from Ossetia Alania, Russia as well as artists from thirteen other countries.
Alans |
Shapur I's inscription at Naqsh-e-Rostam describes the satrapy as "extending to the Caucasus mountains and the Gate of Albania (also known as Gate of the Alans)", but for the most part it was located south of the lower course of the rivers Kura and the Aras (Araxes), bordered on the south by Atropatene, and had the Caspian Sea on its east.
The Alans were a numerous clan and six of his cousins settled in Ireland including his namesake John Alan, who was Lord Chancellor in his turn.
While little can be seen today in Marvão of this period, tradition states that the large herding dogs of Iberia were introduced by the Alans: (Portuguese mastiffs can be seen guarding livestock in fields around Marvão, while the bulky Alano Espãnol was used in Spanish bullfights).
At the close of the 4th century CE, Claudian (the court poet of Emperor Honorius and Stilicho) wrote of Alans and Massagetae in the same breath: "the Massagetes who cruelly wound their horses that they may drink their blood, the Alans who break the ice and drink the waters of Maeotis' lake" (In Rufinem).
Saint Gregory's writes about a group of Trojans that escaped to the Maeotian marshes, then into Pannonia, becoming the Sicambri (a subdivision of the Franks), who inhabited the region along with the Alans.
The whole country between the Alps and the Pyrenees, between the Rhine and the Ocean, has been laid waste by hordes of Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Alans, Gepids, Herules, Saxons, Burgundians, Allemanni, and—alas! for the commonweal!
Following their conquering of the lands of Georgia, the Alans moved further southwards, crossing the Kur River and, effectively, into Armenia.
According to Tadeusz Sulimirski, this form of worship continued among the descendants of the Scythians, the Alans, through to the 4th century CE.
The descendants of Sarmatian Alans in the early Middle Ages moved to a sedentary lifestyle and mastered the skills of urban culture (Mayatsky mound), joining the complex symbiosis in nomads (Bulgars, Khazars).