Georgian-Alan (Ossetian) Dynastic And Military Ties In The Medieval Period

The last cycle of Georgian-Ossetian ethnic conflict in the 1990's-2000's badly damaged relations between the two distinct groups. Hostility was provoked by a flood of publications in both countries claiming that the roots of such hatred reached deep into the past. A malignant form of ethnocentric nationalism deliberately distorted the truth of the medieval past. An objective analysis of the evidence from Georgian, Byzantine, Armenian, Russian, Greek and Latin primary sources reveals a completely different situation of intensive cultural exchange affecting all spheres of life. Indeed, close and usually friendly dynastic and military ties throughout the medieval period in the Caucasus rather than conflict characterized the relations between the two peoples