Alanís, Spain

Alanís is a municipality in Seville. In 2005 it had a population of 1,937. It has an area of 280 square kilometers and a population density of 6.9 people per square kilometer. It is located at an altitude of 660 meters and is 106 kilometers from Seville.DemographicsThe population has been steadily decreasing from 2,108 in 1996 to its current level.MonumentsAlanís has several monuments.Religious monumentsErmita de San Juan. (S XIV), mudejar. Recently restored.Ermita Nuestra Señora de las Angustias. Gothic. Remade in the 18th century.Ermita de Ntro Padre Jesus de Nazareno. From the 16th century. Can be visited from 10 AM to 10 PM.Iglesia Parroquial Ntra Sra de las Nieves. Important Gothic altarpiece.Ermita de San Miguel de la Breña.Other monumentsCastillo de Alanís, of Arabic origin.HistoryAlania and Alanis as descendants of the Alans. The Alans (also called alauni or halani) were an ethnic group of Iranian origin included in the family of the Sarmatians, very warlike nomadic pastoralists from different backgrounds, who speak the Iranian language and shared with them the same culture in many ways. Flavius Josephus (37-94), writing in his Jewish War (Book 7, Chapter 8.4) how Alans (whom he calls The Scythian tribe medieval Alania arose in the 8th century a consolidated Alan kingdom, called in the chronicles of the time Alania, in the northern Caucasus Mountains, roughly in what today is Circassia and North Ossetia-AlaniaThe Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus argued that "almost all the Alani are tall and handsome. Their hair is usually blond and his eyes terribly fierce. " It also considered that the Alans were the ancient masagetos "iuxtaque Massagetae Halani et Sargetae ',' per Alban et Massagetas, nunc appellamus quos Alans," "Halanos pervenit, veteres Massagetas."