Aylarova, Svetlana A.
Kavkaz Forum. 2023. Issue 16.

Abstract:
The article is devoted to the analysis of Ossetian historiography of the early
20th century. The focus is on the historiographical debate about the spiritual basis
of the historical path traversed by Ossetia, about its religious identity. Within the
framework of two discourses – Orthodox Christian and “traditional folk” – the
first historians affirmed religious values in modern Ossetia and sought to rely
on the creative principles of social cohesion. In their pursuit of European and
Russian integration of society, educators relied on different aspects of the national
tradition and presented different forms of cultural and historical identification.
Christian historians A. Gatuev and A. Kodzaev presented a holistic picture of the
history of Christianity among the Ossetians and their ancestors, and stated the
antiquity of Ossetian Christian history and traditions. S. Temirkhanov insisted on
the monotheistic basis of the ancient “folk” religious tradition, Indo-Iranian in its
origins. This tradition, in his opinion, formed the foundation of ethnic individuality
and formed the core of the value world of Ossetians. The first Ossetian historians
emphasized in the history of Ossetia the traditions of solidarity and unity,
fostered by Christianity and traditional religion. This was in demand by the public
consciousness of the emerging nation, which was faced with the destructive,
atomizing tendencies of market reality. The very formulation of the problem of
religious and cultural identity was a reaction of Ossetian socio-historical thought
to the objective processes of world modernization and globalization that took
place in the 19th - 20th centuries and the contradictory participation of Ossetia
and the North Caucasus in them. The works of historians and educators testify to
the maturity of the historical consciousness of the Ossetian people, demonstrate
the depth and versatility of the historical and cultural needs of the civil society of
Ossetia at the beginning of the 20th century.

Keywords: North Caucasus, Ossetia, Ossetian historiography, cultural identity, interreligious dialogue.

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