Nairi Confederation Discussion

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The Nairi were a Late Bronze Age confederation located in the Armenian highlands and Pontic region of Asia Minor. They were in conflict with the Hittite Empire in the 14th century. They were a force strong enough to contend with both Assyria and Hatti. The Nairi lands were inhabited by fierce tribal groups divided into a number of principalities. First mentioned by the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta who claimed to have defeated forty of their kings, they are also documented by Hittite texts as likely corresponding to the Azzi confederation. In 882 BC, the Assyrian king Assurnasirbal II invaded Nairi which at the time had 4 known regions: Bit-Zamani, Shubru, Nirdun and Urumu/Nirbu. There was a clear seperation of entities between the Urartu and Nairi - however over time the Urartu conquered so much of the Nairi lands that the Urartian kings decided Nairi was a suitable name for the kingdom they ruled. Over time the Nairi peoples as a seperate group disappeared and by the 7th century BC the term referred simply to a province of Assyria.