The Alans were an ancient and medieval Iranic nomadic pastoral people who migrated to what is today the North Caucasus; some continued on to Europe and later North Africa. They are generally regarded
The migrations of the Alans during the 4th–5th centuries, from their homeland in the North Caucasus
Orthodox church in North Ossetia-Alania
The Sarmatians were a large confederation of ancient Iranian equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic steppe from around the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD.
Alans
…people who migrated to what is today the North Caucasus; some continued on to Europe and later North Africa. They are generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae. Modern historians have connected the Alans with the Central Asian Yancai of Chinese sources and with the Aorsi…
Sarmatian cataphracts depicted on Trajan's Column, 2nd century CE.
Reconstruction of early Sarmatian chieftain. Araltobe kurgan, Kazakhstan, III-II c. BC. Excavation of Z. Samashev.
Gold mirror, Mayerovsky III Kurgan 4 (Nikolaevsky District, Volgograd region), 2nd-1st centuries BC.
Sarmatian bottle and lid (1st century AD, reproduction)