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Alania was a medieval kingdom of the Iranian Alans (proto-Ossetians) that flourished between the 9th–13th centuries in the Northern Caucasus, roughly in the location of latter-day Circassia, Chechnya, Ingushetia, and modern North Ossetia–Alania. With its capital at Maghas, the location of which is still disputed, it became independent from the Khazars in the late 9th century. It was Christianized by a Byzantine missionary soon after, in the early 10th century. Reaching its peak in the 11th century, under the rule of king Durgulel, it profited from controlling a vital trade route through the Darial Pass. It maintained close relations not only with the Byzantine Empire, but also the Kingdom of Georgia as well as the small Dagestani kingdom of Sarir, the first two also employing Alan mercenaries, who were infamous horsemen. The kingdom eventually declined from the 12th century and had largely ceased to function as a political entity by the early 13th century. In 1239/1240 the Mongols invaded, storming and destroying the capital Maghas in the process. The name Alania derives from the Old Iranian stem *Aryāna-, a derivative form of the Indo-Iranian stem *arya- ('Aryan'). It is cognate with the name of Iran (Ērān), which stems from the Old Persian *Aryānām ('of the Aryans'). The Alans (Alani) originated as an Iranian-speaking subdivision of the Sarmatians. They were split by the invasion of the Huns into two parts, the European and the Caucasian. The Caucasian Alans occupied part of the North Caucasian plain and the foothills of the main mountain chain from the headwaters of the Kuban River in the west to the Darial Gorge in the east. Alania was an important buffer state during the Byzantine-Arab Wars and Khazar-Arab Wars of the 8th century. Theophanes the Confessor left a detailed account of Leo the Isaurian's mission to Alania in the early 8th century. Leo was instructed by Emperor Justinian II to bribe the Alan leader Itaxes into severing his "ancient friendship" with the Kingdom of Abkhazia which had allied itself with Caliph Al-Walid I.

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