The article advances a proposition to add a third feudal stage to the two traditionally distinguished stages of the historical development of the Narts’ epic, suggesting that alongside with the tribal and military-democratic stages of its evolution it goes through the feudal one as well. From a point of view of general folklore, these will correspond to the following three phases: scattered legends – cycles formed around the main characters – hypercyclization / complete epics. As a result, not only the plots and motifs of the epic, the characters represented in it, but also its general content are reconsidered, its pragmatics, i. e., its place and role in traditional culture as a whole are seen in a different light. The basis for the review of the generally accepted theory is a passage from the so-called “Chronograph” (Georgian “Zhamtaagmcereli”), or the “Hundred Year Anniversary” of the XIV century. The identification of the Alanian ruling dynasty with the epic military lineage of Axsærtæggatæ the mentioned work contains makes it possible to consider the Nart epic as a kind of “Book of Kings”. From this point of view, Nart Čelæxsærtæg should be regarded as a hero, in whose image the traits of mythological and historical kin are interwoven. On the one hand, his name recognizes the link with the ancestor of the military family Axsærtæg, representing the mythological era. On the other hand, he holds the title of the historical medieval ruler As-Tarxan. Thanks to the name of his daughter (Bedukha), which can be considered as a vernacular version of the name Burdukhan, he can be identified as Khuddan, the Alanian king of the XIIth c. In this case, the epic itself could be considered as a means of legitimizing the Alan ruling, that is, historical dynasty of power, which thus provided its continuity with the mythological epoch, giving it the necessary ideological basis for the dominant position in the society.

Keywords: Narts’ epic, stages of development, Alanian ruling dynasty, feudal stage, historical prototype, main content, legitimization.

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