 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Iron people" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(March 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Ир, Ирæттæ / Ir, Irættæ | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Total population | |
| est. 200,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Russia | est. 100,000 |
 Turkey | unknown |
 Syria | unknown |
| Languages | |
| Iron (East Ossetian),Russian,Turkish | |
| Religion | |
| Majority: Orthodox Christianity Minority: Uatsdin Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Digor people | |
TheIrons (East Ossetian: ИронIron, pl.: ИрIr, ИрӕттӕIrættæ;West Ossetian: ИронIron, pl.: ИрӕIrӕ, ИрӕнттӕIrænttæ) are a subgroup of theOssetians. They speak theIron dialect of theEastern IranianOssetian language. The majority of Irons professRussian Orthodoxy and a small minority professSunni Islam mainly in the lowland villages of North Ossetia, while theUatsdin faith has also been preserved by a minority of Irons.
The ethnonym Iron has the same root,arya, as Iran and many Iranian-speaking peoples, including the precursors of the Iron, theAlana (Alans).
Following theMongol invasions of the 1200s and incursions byTamerlane in the late 1300s, the Alans fled from their homeland to seek refuge in the remote Caucasian valleys while others were incorporated into the conquering society. The Alans who retreated into the Caucasus were unable to reform theKingdom of Alania and eventually split into different petty subgroups. These petty groups came under the partial influence of theirKabardian neighbors and later became two distinct ethnic groups, the Iron and theDigor.[1]
By theRussian conquest in the late 1700s,Orthodox Christianity had become the dominant religions among the Irons after going through a revival. This is different from the Digors who became majorityIslamic.[1]
In the late Soviet period and later in the 1990s, Ossetian intellectuals began to reclaim their Alanian heritage in an attempt to fuse together the Ossetian subgroups who have remained divided on dialect and religion. This led toNorth Ossetia being renamedNorth Ossetia-Alania in 1994.[1]
 | This article about an ethnic group in the Caucasus is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
