The Alans or Alāns (Latin: "Alani"), were an ancient and medieval Iranian nomadic pastoral people of the Northern Caucasus. Generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae, the Alans have been connected by modern historians with the Central Asian Yancai and Aorsi of Chinese and Roman sources, respectively. Having migrated westwards and become dominant among the Sarmatians on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, they are mentioned by Roman sources in the 1st century AD. At the time, they had settled the region north of the Black Sea and frequently raided the Parthian Empire and the Caucasian provinces of the Roman Empire. From 215250 AD, their power on the Pontic Steppe was broken by the Goths.