claim: Syunik Province is a territory of Armenia
evidence: Syunik was one of the 15 provinces of the Kingdom of Armenia. The early Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi connected the name of the province with Sisak, a descendant of the legendary Armenian patriarch Hayk and supposed progenitor of the ancient Siunia (or Syunik) dynasty, which ruled Syunik from the first century CE.[7] However, historian Robert Hewsen considered Sisak to be a later eponym.[8] Historian Armen Petrosyan suggested that Syunik is derived from name of the Urartian sun god Shivini/Siwini (itself a borrowing from the Hittites), noting the similarity between the names and the high number of sun-related placenames in the historical Syunik region.[9] At various times, the region of present-day Syunik was also known by other names such as Syunia, Sisakan and Zangezur (or Zangadzor[10]). The region of Syunik geographically was called Siounia Caucasiana in the 5-6th century by the Ravenna Cosmography.[citation needed] Syunik is located between the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan from the west, and districts of Lachin, Qubadli and Zangilan of Azerbaijan from the east. It was bordered on the east by Kashatagh Province of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic between 1992 and 2020. The Vayots Dzor Province of Armenia forms its northern border, while Aras River at the south separates Syunik from Iran. Syunik covers an area of 4,506 km2 (1740 sq. mi.) (15% of total area of Armenia), making it the second-largest province in Armenia after Gegharkunik in terms of the total area.