David Soslan was a member of the royal house which ruled Alania (Ovseti or Oseti in the Georgian sources; hence, the modern designation of Ossetia), an Orthodox Christian kingdom in the North Caucasus, and frequently intermarried with the Bagrationi dynasty of Georgia. An anonymous chronicler, writing during the reign of George IV Lasha (son of Tamar and David Soslan; 1212–1223), ascribes to Soslan a Bagratid ancestry. A version of his Bagratid origin found further development in the works of the 18th-century Georgian scholar Prince Vakhushti Bagrationi: He considered Soslan to be a descendant of George I of Georgia (1014–1027) and his Alan wife Alde who were the parents of Demetrius (Demetre), an unfortunate pretender to the Georgian crown whose son, David, was forced by Bagrat IV of Georgia to flee to Alania. According to Vakhushti, David and his descendants - Aton and Jadaron - married into the Alan ruling family and became "kings of the Osi" ["i.e"., Alans]. This Jadaron is said to have been Soslan's father. While this account is considered credible by the modern scholars such as Mariam Lordkipanidze and Cyril Toumanoff the issue of Soslan's origin still remains uncertain.