Sisak ( hy, Սիսակ) was the legendary ancestor of the
Armenian princely house of Syuni, also called Siunids, Syunid and Syuni.
[ Harutyunyan, Babken. ''«Սիսակ»'' (Sisak). Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1984, vol. 10, p. 399.] The
Armenian historian
Movses Khorenatsi states that Sisak was the brother of Harmar who was known as Arma, son of Gegham and a descendant of the legendary patriarch of the Armenians,
Hayk
Hayk ( hy, Հայկ, ), also known as Hayk Nahapet (, , ), is the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenians, Armenian nation. His story is told in the ''History of Armenia (Moses of Chorene), History of Armenia'' attributed to the Armeni ...
.
[ Movses Khorenatsi. '' History of Armenia, 5th Century'' (''Հայոց Պատմություն, Ե Դար''). Annotated translation and commentary by Stepan Malkhasyants. Gagik Sargsyan (ed.) Yerevan: Hayastan Publishing, 1997, 1.12, p. 88. .] Gegham had taken up residence near
Lake Sevan and, following his death, the lands encompassing the areas from Lake Sevan to the
Araxes River were inherited by Sisak.
The region assumed Sisak's name ( hy, Սիսական; Sisakan) after he died,
and those who descended from his dynastic line were known in Armenian as Syunis (in Armenian, Սյունիներ; Syuniner) or Sisakyaner (Սիսակյաններ). After the
Kingdom of Armenia introduced the system of administrative divisions known as ''nahangs'' (provinces) in the second century B.C., the Siunis were confirmed by King
Vologases (Vagharshak) the Parthian as the lords of the province of
Syunik.
[ Harutyunyan, Babken. ''«Սյունիներ»'' iuniner Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1984, vol. 10, pp. 473-475.]
References
Armenian nobility
{{Armenia-hist-stub