In 2008 Americans became aware of a region most had never head of before: South Ossetia. The nations of Russia and Georgia fought a war over South Ossetia. South Ossetia is recognized as part of Georgia by all but three nations. Russia, Nicaragua and Venezuela all recognize South Ossetia as independent, though Russia treats it more as a satellite of Russia. North Ossetia is part of Russia. Recently, about a year after the war itself, the EU issued a report on the war that blamed both Russia and Georgia for the outbreak of the war and blamed both for violations of human rights. Ossetia remains a flashpoint today with no real resolution to the conflict.

The Caucasus region, which includes several such flashpoints including Ossetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Abkhazia, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, actually has a fascinating history going back as far back as history goes. To many New Yorkers, many of these cultures blend into the "Russian" communities in places like Brighton Beach. In fact, many restaurants we think of as "Russian" in NYC are actually Georgian.

For example, Armenia was at one time a great kingdom called Urartu (the Assyrian name you will read in most textbooks, but they called themselves "Biainili") which rivaled Egypt, Assyria and the Hittites in epic fights for control of the Middle East. Later it was a border state between Rome and Persia, making it one of the most fought over regions of antiquity.

The modern Georgians have a particularly ancient history, dating back to the ancient Greek stories of Jason and the Argonauts, which was an expedition to the city of Colchis in modern Georgia and reflects actual Greek exploration and colonization of the Black Sea area. Even before that the region was dominated by an Iranian tribe called the Cimmerians (made both famous and silly by the Conan Books, in reality a branch of the Scythians which dominated the steppes of Central Asia during ancient times).

The Caucasus were also where, in the early Middle Ages, a Jewish Kingdom called Khazaria stopped the advance of Islam in a forgotten chapter of history that has as much impact on modern times as the Christian victory over Islam in the Battle of Poitiers that is credited with stopping Islam from conquering all of Europe. If Europe is Christian today because of Charles Martel and the Franks, Russia is Christian today because of the Jewish and pagan Khazars.

Caught in the middle of the wars between the Khazars and their neighbors, and often allied with the Khazars, were the Alans, also called the Os...from which the Ossetians are descended. The Alans were a branch of the Saramatians, a later, related branch of the Iranian Scythians...in fact I always suspected they were merely a later version of the same tribal groups. According to the Roman historian the Alani were previously called the Massagetae, suggesting a link to the Germanic Getae (relatives of the Goths)? Early on the Alans were one of the tribes mixed in with the Goths and Huns who sometimes fought the Roman Empire, sometimes fought for the Roman Empire. In fact the great domino effect of barbarian migrations (not as large as originally thought, but still disruptive) that eventually brought down the Western Roman Empire began with the Huns conquering the Alans, soon to be followed by the Goths known commonly as Ostrogoths, but more accurately at that early date as the Greutungi (the Ostrogoths being a later grouping that included many groups, including part of the Greutungi). This is what pushed the next group of Goths, generally called the Visigoths but at that time more accurately called the Tervingi (the Visigoths were a later grouping formed from several groups including part of the Tervingi) into the Roman Empire where they defeated a Roman Emperor Valens at the battle of Adrianople (Hadrianopolis). That battle is often considered the beginning of the end of the Western Roman Empire. Alanic cavalry fought alongside the Tervingi at Adrianople.

After many years of being dominant players on the European stage, the Goths and Huns largely disappeared. The Goths were mostly absorbed into the Spanish, French and Italian people, though for many decades one group of Goths remained independent on the Crimean peninsula and even became part of the Khazar Kingdom. The Huns may have become the modern Bulgarians, though only after being largely absorbed into Slavic tribes. Yet the Alans remained independent and unique. Some Alans fought with the Franks. But mostly the Alans remained in the Caucasus in between the Muslims and the Jewish Khazars. In fact, the Khazars were so important in the region that many of the Alans also converted to Judaism.

After the fall of the Khazars, the Rus (original Russians, Slavic groups with influences from the eastern Vikings) conquered the region, including Alania. Some Alans moved west to disappear into the Slavic cultures. But some stayed put and became part of the Ossetian heritage.

So the Ossetians are descended from warriors who fought Rome alongside the Huns and Visigoths, and warriors who converted to Judaism and stood with the Khazars against Christians and Muslims alike. Now these latter day Alans are still there, caught between the Georgians and Russians. The ancestors of the Ossetians were so independent and ornery that while most of Europe and the Middle East were converting to Christianity and Islam, they converted to Judaism. That, too, is part of the Ossetian heritage.

Almost every modern conflict has history behind it. Many cultures have roots that go very deep even if by modern standards they are obscure. Russia is a complete newcomer to the world compared with Armenia, Georgia and Ossetia. Sometimes keeping these deep roots in mind helps us to understand why some small, obscure cultures will show such pride and independence. They've been through this before. Interestingly, the Georgians and the Ossetians are more closely related to eachother than either is to most of their neighbors, being both descended partly from Iranian horsemen of the Scythian/Saramatian cultures that knew and fought the ancient Greeks and Romans.

One caveat is, of course, that almost no culture at any time in history has been homogeneous. The groups called "Huns," "Alans," "Goths," "Slavs," etc. all were made up of numerous subgroups, some related, some not, so that genes and cultures mixed to make unique cultures. But deep roots through history still affect modern politics, and it is best to keep those roots in mind when observing modern conflicts.