Maghas

It is known from Islamic and Chinese sources, but its location is uncertain, with some authors favouring North Ossetia and others pointing to Arkhyz in modern-day Karachay–Cherkessia, where three 10th-century churches still stand.

Historian John Latham Sprinkle from the University of Ghent (Belgium) identified Maghas with an archeological site known as Il’ichevskoye Gorodische in Otradnensky District, Krasnodar Krai.

[5] The Chinese transcription Muzashan uses the characters for wood (mu, 木) and mountain (shan, 山), which John Latham-Sprinkle interprets as a possible reference to the city's location in rough terrain.

While it does not directly mention Maghas, it contains a passage claiming that the people of Sarir, the eastern neighbor of Alania, left food out in order to avoid being eaten by giant flies the size of partridges.

[11] Minorsky interpreted this as a possible, somewhat confused reference to Sarir sending tribute to the city of Maghas, based on the name being a homophone for "fly" in Persian.