Roxolani  The Roxolani were a Sarmatian people (a large Iranian confederation that existed in classical antiquity)  and are believed to be an offshoot of the Alans. However, according to Strabo, they were the most remote of Scythian peoples. In his "Getica" (c. 551 CE), Jordanes uses a variant name, "Rosomoni" (or Rosomones) for the Roxolani. The following tribal names in "Bavarian Geographer" apparently belong here:  Sebbirozi habent ciuitates XC. Attorozi habent ciuitates XLVIII, populus ferocissimus. Vuillerozi habent ciuitates LXXX. Zabrozi habent ciuitates CCXII. Chozirozi habent ciuitates CCL. The etymology of "Roxolani" may combine or Alanic "radiant light" + "Alani". This would make "Roxolani" an endonym translatable as "bright Alans". George Vernadsky suggested, along similar lines, that the "Rocas" (or "Rogas"), a tribe conquered by the Ostrogoths in the 4th century, may have been synonymous with the Roxolani/Rosomoni. To be specific, Vernadsky suggested that "Rocas" may have its origins in and the name of the "Asii", a steppe tribe whose name may have been interchangeable with that of the Alans. Other theories suggest that Iranian-speaking steppe peoples, such as the Alans, merged in a variety of forms with early Slavic peoples. According to one hypothesis, the Antes originated as a sub-group of Alans. A similar theory, reported by Vernadsky, suggests that "Roxolani" originated as a portmanteau of the names of the Slavic regions (Rus' Khaganate, Kievan Rus'', 'Rus' people") and the "Alani". Their first recorded homeland lay between the Volga, Don and Dnieper rivers; they migrated in the 1st century AD toward the Danube, to what is now the Baragan steppes in Romania. Around 100 BC, they invaded the Crimea under their king Tasius in support of the Scythian warlord Palacus but were defeated by Diophantus, general of Mithradates VI.