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DOI: 10.46698/j8065-1585-1460-j

ABOUT SOURCES AND METHODS

Tuallagov, Alan A.
Kavkaz Forum. 2020. Issue 2.
Abstract:
The article is devoted to the problem of originating of the image of the Ossetian
Nicholas as a representative of the divine powers of Ossetian traditional ideas.
The relevance of the topic presented in the article is determined by the discussion
point that has arisen in the study of this divine image, as well as methodological
approaches of its implementation. The scientific novelty of the study is to use
original narrative sources for analysis, which allow us to verify the source base
and determine the validity of the various approaches that have appeared in
solving this problem. The aim of the study is to verify the image data of one of
the representatives of the Ossetian pantheon in the context of monotheistic
and polytheistic representations. The study used methods of textual research of
sources, inductive and logical analysis based on the principle of historicism and
systematic presentation.
The extensive analysis of the sources in which this image appears, the
historiography of the problem itself, allows the author to confirm his previously
formulated presumption on Nicholas as a god, whose formation had longstanding
origins. Applying to him the individual features of the Orthodox St.
Nicholas is dictated by the history of the Christianization of Alania under Byzantine
influence, the process of which was interrupted. Polytheistic ideas continued
to operate in the traditional representations of the Ossetians of the late XIX —
early XXth centuries. Specific examples of erroneous interpretations of certain
archaeological sites and materials from written sources, as well as methods and
approaches in criticizing the solutions presented earlier by the author, are noted.
The analysis is combined with the question of the original monotheistic «ideas»,
the artificiality of their application to the history of the Alans in modern conditions
is objectively rejected.
Keywords: Christianity, monotheism, polytheism, Alans, source studies, historiography
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