Alani, a tribe of Scythians, frequently appearing in connection with the various German invaders of the Roman world during the great migration of the nations of the north. Their origin is uncertain, though they seem to have been of Finnish stock. They originally dwelt about the eastern part of the Caucasian mountains, whence they extended toward the Don, and also made inroads into Armenia and Asia Minor. Vologeses, king of the Parthians, invoked against them the aid of the emperor Vespasian. Arrian the historian, lieutenant of the emperor Hadrian in Cappadocia, successfully warred against them. They are mentioned as excellent horsemen and marksmen with the bow. In the time of Aurelian they united with the Goths and invaded Asia Minor, but were expelled about 280 by the emperor Probus. In the later years of the 4th century they were routed by the Huns, and. joining their conquerors, drove out the Goths from the region between the Don and the Danube, and shared in the great movement of the northern tribes toward the southwest of Europe. Conjointly with the Suevi and the Vandals, in 406, they invaded and devastated Gaul. A body of the Alani who remained south of the Loire appeared in 451 as allies of Aetius against Attila. Another body of them marched in 409 into Spain, but were there overpowered by the Visigoths, and driven into Lusitania, where their name disappeared.

Still other Alani invaded northern Italy half a century later, and were almost totally destroyed. The annals of the Byzantine empire also mention the Alani as devastating both the regions on the Danube and in the Caucasus.