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DOI: 10.46698/VNC.2023.86.47.007

ON THE HISTORY OF ZOOMORPHIC IMAGES OF "ALANIAN HERALDRY"

Tuallagov, Alan A.
Izvestia SOIGSI. 2023. IIS 47 (86).
Abstract:
The article is devoted to the analysis of information from Western European written sources
about the zoomorphic symbolism of the Alans. The relevance of the affected problem is determined
by the absence in scientific publications of its holistic consideration, taking into account all known
variants of such information. The novelty of the study is dictated by the direct appeal to a wide fund
of written medieval evidence in the format of ethnological positions that are presented in them. Thus,
the purpose of the study is to identify and analyze zoomorphic images as symbols of the Alans. The
study is based on the methods of textual research in compliance with the principles of concreteness,
historicism, comprehensiveness, historiographical tradition and systematic presentation. The most
frequently cited symbol of the Alans in medieval authors is a cat. However, they all turn out to depend
on a single source, whose specific fixation and authorship remain unclear. This symbol is represented
as a unifying one for the Alans and the Germanic peoples, among whom the Alans themselves were
included on pseudo-historical grounds. Known facts suggest that this symbol was attributed to the
Alans precisely due to this provision, in particular, presented in the theory of Nordism. Some biblical
allusions could also have their influence. Due to the false etymological interpretation of the animal’s
name, the marten is declared the symbol of Alan once. Another example of a false etymological
interpretation is a rare reference to the symbol of the Alans in the image of a dog. In general, the
assertions presented by medieval Western European authors about the zoomorphic symbols of the
Alans do not inspire due confidence. They do not have their own independent confirmation and
appear centuries after the Alans, who once came in the context of the events of the Great Migration
of Peoples to Western Europe, have long since left the historical arena.
Keywords: heraldry, zoomorphic images, Alans, Germans, Western Europe.
Download the full text  
For citation:: Tuallagov, A.A. On the history of zoomorphic images of "Alanian heraldry" //
Izvestiya SOIGSI. 2023. Iss. 47(86). Pp. 18-33 (in Russian). DOI 10.46698/VNC.2023.86.47.007
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