abstract:During the late nineteenth century rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire, the word "Nairi" or "Nayiri" (Armenian: Նայիրի in TAO or Նաիրի in RAO) came to be used as a synonym for Armenia among Armenians who came to see the Nairi (see also Mitanni, better known to Armenians as Aram-Naharin), a people located in the wider area of the Armenian Highlands during the Late Bronze Age, as their remote ancestors.