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Template:FixBunching Template:Ancient Near East portal Template:FixBunching Nairi is the Assyrian word rivers, given from the 13th to 10th centuries BC (Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age) to a people located around Lake Van, in what is now East Anatolia, Turkey.

There are insufficient primary sources for a definite description of their ethic roots and territorial distribution. By some opinions, they may have been a Hurrian tribe, related to contemporary Mitanni (Götze 1936; skeptically Benedict 1960). The Egyptians referred to the Mitanni "Naharin".

The Nairi were considered a force strong enough to contend with both the Assyrians and Hittites during the Bronze Age collapse.

The Nairi fought against the southern incursions of the Assyrians and would later unite into Urartu. The names of twenty-three Nairi lands were recorded by Tiglath-Pileser I (10th century BC) their southern point was Tumme, known to have been south-west of Lake Urmia, and their northern one Daiaeni. These lands are known from the list of defeated kings: "the king of Tumme, the king of Tunube, the king of Tuali, the king of Kindari, the king of Uzula, the king of Unzamuni the king of Andiabe, the king of Pilakinni, the king of Aturgini, the king of Kulibarzini, the king of Shinibirni, the king of Himua, the king of Paiteri, the king of Uiram, the king of Shururia, the king of Albaia, the king of Ugina, the king of Nazabia, the king of Abarsiuni, and the king of Daiaeni."

In Armenian nationalism

During the late nineteenth century rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire, "Nairi" ("Նաիրի") came be to be used as a synonym for Armenia among some Armenians who came to see the Nairi as their remote ancestors. In 1916, Vahan Terian published a collection of poems entitled Land of Nairi (Armenian: Yerkir Nairi), in which he used Nairi in place of Armenia. Likewise in 1923, Yeghishe Charents wrote a satirical novella entitled Land of Nairi, once again using Nairi as a synonym for Armenia. Another writer, Hayastan Yeghiazarian, used Nairi Zarian as his pen-name, replacing his first name, Hayastan (the Armenian word for Armenia) with Nairi. And during twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Nairi, under various spellings, has been used as a first name for both girls and boys in Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora.

Armenians presently use the name Nairi for a variety of products and businesses ranging from restaurants to movie theaters, magazines to publishing houses, hotels to cognac, and even computers. In the United States, especially in areas where there are large Armenian communities, many businesses, including beauty-salons, bakeries, and grocery stores bear the name Nairi. A famous example of this would be the "Nairi" brand of Armenian brandy produced by the Yerevan Brandy Company.

See also

• Bronze Age collapse

References

1. The Nairi Tac Central
2. The Armenians - Page 27 by Elizabeth Redgate, A. E. (Anne Elizabeth) Redgate
3. Grayson, IL, 1976 (pp. 12-13)
4. Assyrian Catalogue of Anatolian lands and leaders

• Albrecht Götze, Hethiter, Churriter und Assyrer, Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning, Serie A: Forelesninger XVII (Oslo, 1936).
• Warren C. Benedict, Urartians and Hurrians. Journal of the American Oriental Society 80/2, 1960, 100-104.
• Ralf-Bernhard Wartke, Urartu Das Reich am Ararat, Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz/Rhein 1993
• A. G. Sagona, Matasha McConchie, Liza Hopkins (2004) "Archaeology at the North-east Anatolian Frontier", ISBN 9042913908

v t e History of Anatolia

• Iron Age Anatolia