Alains were met in Khozary (Crimea) by the ambassadors of Bibars I., sultan of Egypt, 1260–1270 (Makrizi by Quatremère, I, i, 213, 218); a statement confirmed by Aboulfeda who says they occupied Kyrkyer, now Tchyfout Kaleh—Jew’s Fortress (see note 8, p. 176, for this name), close to which is Baghtchasaraï the modern Tatar capital in the peninsula; also by Marino Sanudo the Venetian traveller, who wrote, 1333, that there still were in the country “Gothi et aliqui Alani” (Kunstmann, _Stud. über M. S._, 105). The Alains should be included amongst those populations in the East that were converted to Christianity through the exertions of Justinian; but they relapsed to paganism until a priesthood was settled in their country by Thamar, the great queen of Georgia, 1174–1201, who caused numerous churches to be constructed for their use; and that they belonged to the Greek Church, as stated by Schiltberger, is shewn by Rubruquis the Gray Friar, for he met at Scacatay some Alans or Aas, “as they were called by the Tartars”, who professed the Greek faith, and with whom he offered up prayers for the dead (_Recueil de Voy. et de Mém._, iv, 243, 246, _et seq._)—ED. (3.) “it is the Schurian and not the Greek tongue”.—This Jacob, surnamed Baradæus, or Zanzalus, died as bishop of Edessa in 588, leaving his sect in the most flourishing condition; it forms the Syrian church in Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, and other parts. His followers, known as Jacobites, believe that in the Saviour of the World, both natures are united in one, and herein lies the principal difference from the Greek Church. Although their vernacular is the Arabic, the Syrian Christians employ the Syrian language in public worship (Mosheim, _Ecclesiastical History_, etc., i, 154; Gardner, _The Faiths of the World_, etc., ii, 194).—ED. CHAPTER LVII. (1.) “Pera, which the Greeks call Kalathan, and the Infidels call it the same.”—The Genoese were already established at Constantinople when Manuel I. ascended the throne (1143). Besides the emporium of Copario in the city of Constantinople, they possessed Orcu in the suburb of Galata (Heyd, _Le Colonie Commer._, etc., i, 330; Desimone, _I Genovesi_, etc., 217 _et seq._), which they occupied during the reign of the Angelos dynasty, remaining there so long as the Latin Empire lasted, but without ever successfully rivalling the Venetians. After the restoration of the Greek Empire at Constantinople by Michel VIII. in 1261, their fortunes changed in consequence of the great privileges that were accorded to them by the emperor, which included the cession of the suburb of Galata, soon to become the central depôt of all their settlements in Greece, on the shores of the Black Sea and of the Sea of Azoff, a transfer which probably accounts for the appearance of “Mæotis palus, nunc Galatia”, in the list of new names supplied by Codinus (_Hieroclis Synecdemus_, etc., 313).