Ethnically distinct from their Georgian neighbors, South Ossetians were separated from what became North Ossetia (and Russia) in the 13th century, when Mongol invaders pushed them southward into the Caucasus.
A break with Georgia, reports The New York Times, would potentially let South Ossetians reunite with their northern brethren and rekindle a long-dormant kingdom with ancient roots.
• "Enclave Hails Tight Embrace From Moscow," The New York Times, Aug. 26, 2008.
TSKHINVALI, Georgia -- The last time South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia -- the last three times, actually -- hardly anyone noticed. Even Russia, its great friend to the north, declined to take up the cause....As Georgia grappled with two separatist regions, Abkhazia was always the bigger prize: it occupies a strategic position on the Black Sea coast, and was a beloved seaside resort in Soviet days. South Ossetia could not even boast of a gravel and concrete industry, as Abkhazia could. Many longtime observers expected hostilities to flare up in Abkhazia, whose separatist leaders have adamantly demanded independence.
In South Ossetia, by contrast, most people want to become part of Russia. The South Ossetians are part of a larger ethnic group that settled on both sides of the Caucasus. They dream of reuniting with the North Ossetians to restore Alania, an ancient kingdom they believe was home to their ancestors, the Scythians.
Though its veracity has been debated since Classical times, Herodotus's Histories is considered the first work of history in Western Literature. While it's unlikely that the first Scythian king was actually born to a creature half-snake and half-woman, the introduction of Heracles as his father nevertheless implies a heroic and divine genealogy that stretches back to Zeus himself.
• "The Scythians," from The Histories, by Herodotus (trans. Aubrey de Sélincourt), c. 430 BC.
The Greeks of Pontus give a different account of Scythia and the country behind it. According to them, Heracles came into this part of the world, which was then uninhabited, with the oxen of Geryon. Geryon's home was far away, on an island which the Greeks call Erythea, near Gades, which lies on the Ocean beyond the Pillars of Heracles. Legend says that Ocean is a great river running from the east all round the world; but there is nothing to prove this. When Heracles reached the country which is now Scythia, the weather was bad and it was bitterly cold, so he drew his lion's skin over him and went to sleep. While he slept, the horses which he had unharnessed from his chariot and turned loose to graze mysteriously disappeared. As soon as he awoke Heracles began to look for them, and roamed all over the country until he came at least to a place called Hylaea, or the Woodland, where in a cave he found a viper-maiden--a creature which from the buttocks upwards was a woman, but below them a snake. For a moment he looked at her in astonishment; then asked if she had seen his mares straying around. She replied that they were in her own keeping, and promised to return them to him on condition that he lay with her. Heracles complied. The viper-woman, however, did not at once give him back the mares, but put off the fulfillment of her bargain in order to keep Heracles as long as possible for her lover, though all he wanted himself was to get the horses and go. At last she let him have them, and said: "I have kept these horses safe for you, when I found them here; and you have given me my reward, for I have three sons by you. Now tell me what I am to do with them: when they grow up, shall I settle them here in this country, of which I am mistress, or send them to you?""When the boys are grown to be men," Heracles answered, "you will not be far wrong if you do what I will now tell you. Whichever of them you find can draw this bow as I do, and put on this girdle in the way I will show you, should be settled here in this country; but any of them who fail to do these two things must be sent away. Do this, and you will not only show proper obedience to me but find happiness for yourself as well."
Heracles then strung one of his bows--up to that time he always carried two--and showed her how to put on the girdle, after which he put into her hands both bow and girdle, and went away. The girdle had a little gold cup for the tongue of its buckle. When the boys grew up, their mother named the eldest Agathyrsus, the next Gelonus, and the youngest Scythes, and carried out the instructions which she remembered Heracles had given her. Two of the young men, Agathyrsus and Gelonus, failed to accomplish the task assigned them and were therefore banished from the country by their mother; but the youngest brother, Scythes, succeeded and was allowed to remain. In this way Scythes, the son of Heracles, became father of the line of Scythian kings; and to this day the Scythians wear belts with little cups attached, in memory of the belt of their ancestor Heracles. This was the only thing the mother of Scythes did for him.
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