Sisak

Sisak (Croatian pronunciation: [sǐːsak]; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia located at the confluence of the Kupa, Sava, and Odra rivers, 57 km (35 mi) southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb. The city's total population in 2011 was 47,768 of which 33,322 live in the urban settlement (naselje).

Sisak is the administrative centre of the Sisak-Moslavina County, Croatia's biggest river port and a centre of river shipping industry (Dunavski Lloyd). It lies on the main road Zagreb-Sisak-Petrinja (M12.2) and the railroad Zagreb-Sisak-Sunja. Sisak is a regional economic, cultural and historical center. The largest oil refinery in Croatia is located here.

Name

Prior to the invasion by the Roman Empire, the region was Celtic and Illyrian and the city there was named Segestica. In German the town is known as Sissek, in Hungarian as Sziszek, Latin as Siscia, in Serbian Cyrillic as Сисак, and in Slovene as Sisek

Geography

Sisak is situated at the confluence of three rivers, the Sava, the Kupa and the Odra, and is usually considered to be where the Posavina (Sava basin) begins, with an elevation of 99 m.

Sisak (eponym)

Sisak (Armenian: Սիսակ) was the legendary ancestor of the Armenian princely house of Syuni, also called Siunids, Syunid and Syuni. 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. 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 (Armenian: 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.

According to historian Robert H. Hewsen: