Azzi

Azzi is a surname, used by populations in Lebanon and coastal Tuscany.
Lebanese Azzi religious affiliation
The Azzis in Lebanon belong to the various religious groups within the country, though the great majority are Maronite Catholic.
*90% Maronite Catholic
*3% Roman Catholic
*2% Roman Orthodox
*4% Atheist or Agnostic
*1% Other
Genetic Composition
The Azzi family consists mostly of people of Lebanese/Italian ancestry although it does contain DNA information from areas such as Armenia, England, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Russia, Turkey and other nearby areas.
Members of the Azzi family tend to have a more European physical appearance. They tend to be more lofty in stature and the majority have paler skin and lightly colored hair, blue and green eyes are very common in the Azzi family although the majority have brown eyes.
Military/Governmental Service
The Azzi family has a long line of Lebanese soldiers and politicians, most of whom served in the Maghaweer or other Lebanese government organizations and services.
The Azzi family has three recipents of the medal of honor (one French, one Lebanese, one American) as well as various other receivers of decorations and awards. Three Azzis served in the French Foreign Legion during the 20th century as well.
Azzis have contributed greatly to northern Lebanese communities and villages, the mayor of Tabarja during the 1980's and 1970's (An Azzi and a highly decorated war veteran) was the first to modernize the town by organizing the paving of all cobble and dirt roads, the installation of electric street lamps, and the refurbishing of the old sewage system left over by the French Mandate in Lebanon as well as various other modernizations, refurbishes and care-taking. The mayor was awarded a Civil Service medal for his actions on behalf of his nation.
Historical attestation of the term Azzi
Although the history of the Azzi family is essentially unknown there have been attested references to a nation or people labeled Azzi:
*Hittite inscriptions deciphered in the 1920s by the Swiss scholar Emil Forrer testify to the existence of a mountain nation, the Hayasa or Azzi, lying around Lake Van. Several prominent authorities agree in placing nation of Hayasa or Azzi to the north of Ishuwa. Others see Hayasa and Azzi as identical (The same place).
*The oldest known ancestors of modern Armenians, the Hayasa-Azzi tribes, also known as Proto-Armenians, were indigenous to the Armenian Highland in Eastern Anatolia.
*There are Hittite writings belonging to the second half of the second millennium B.C. which mention a city named Chajasa. This city was the capital of the land of Azzi , and this land was localized at the coast of the Black Sea. In fact, it is very probable that the land of the Amazons at the river Thermodon and the country Azzi are geographically identical. The name Azzi is similar to the term Amazon. A well-known German researcher of Hittite History, named Friedrich Cornelius, has suggested that the term Amazon is formed by the word Am - a popular word for mother (also in Hittite language) - in combination with the name of the land Azzi, so Amazon means "Woman of the Azzi". Moreover, the name of the capital of the Azzi-land Chajasa is very similar to the name of the Amazon city Chadesia.
*Tablets tell of the attacks by King Suppiluliuma the 1st and his son Mursil upon Gümüshane, Bayburt and Erzincan which are named as The Land of Azzi during the age of the Hittites (1380-1305 BC). These tablets were discovered in Bogazköy in 1906 until 1912 by the German archeologist Hugo Winckler. One of the tablets state that "The locals appeared terrified to find their nearly impregnable (High up on rocky mountain) castles occupied by Azzi's during battle, The elders of the city came forth on their knees to the Azzi"
*A fragmented tablet dated to the 9th and 10th years of the Hittite king Mursili II records a feud between the dowager queen Tawananna and the wife of the king: "So the queen cursed me, my wife, my son before god Ishara, and then sacrificed us. Then my wife died because of it. But I marched toward the land of Azzi, the sun then became eclipsed..."

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu