ИЗВЕСТИЯ СОИГСИ

A special place in the scientific study of the materials of Ossetian Nart sagas belongs to the problem of reflecting certain historical realities in them. Sometimes this may be limited to separate names. Such names can, in their turn, have limited occurrence in the epic. Two sagas may illustrate this thesis, where a character, referred to as the ruler of Skhuali or Skhuali-wajyg, is represented. Both sagas were recorded in South Ossetia. According to the opinion of the researchers, the name of the epic character may be associated with the name of historical Khorezm. Thus, the character is performing his deeds under the name «Khorezmian», which corresponds to the word-formation patterns in Ossetian. This may be a sign, that epic heroes in their wanderings reached the lands north of the Caspian Sea. Such assumption would, in the opinion of other researchers, may be substantiated by the data of medieval Russian sources, as well as by some Turkish relics found in the sagas. There are grounds for such approach. According to the opinion of the author of the article, it provides some opportunities for its further development by attracting data from other written sources. Byzantine sources enable us to compare the nickname of the character of the Ossetian Nart’ sagas with the placenames of the settlement of the early middle ages. This settlement could be located in the northern part of the Caspian Sea, possibly in the region of the Volga Delta. Historically, it should be associated with the period of the existence of the Khazar Khaganate and its Turkic population.

Keywords: Nart Epos, sagas, history, narrative sources, Khazars, Alans, North Caucasus.

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