Atropatene

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Atropatene

Atropatene or Media Atropatene was an ancient kingdom established in the 4th century BC in modern Iranian Azerbaijan and Iranian Kurdistan

Iranian Kurdistan

Iranian Kurdistan or Kurdistana Rojhilat or Rojhilat? Kurdistan , formerly: Persian Kurdistan) is an unofficial name for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has borders with Iraq and Turkey....
. Its capital was Gazaca. Atropatene also was the nominal ancestor of the name Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (disambiguation)

Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan may refer to:...
.

History
Following the death of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III of Macedon was an ancient Greeks King of Macedon . He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle....
in 323 BCE, the Macedonian's conquests were divided amongst the diadochi

Diadochi

The Diadochi were the rival successors of Alexander the Great, and their Wars of the Diadochi followed Alexander's death. This was the beginning of the Hellenistic period of Greek history, the time when many people who were not Greek themselves adopted Greek philosophy and styles, Greek urban life, and aspects of the Greek religion....
at the Partition of Babylon

Partition of Babylon

The Partition of Babylon designates the attribution of the territories of Alexander the Great between his generals after his death in 323 BCE....
. The former Achaemenid satrapy of Media

Medes

The Medes were an Ancient Iranian peoples who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. This area was known in Greek as Media or Medea ....
was divided into two states: The greater (southern) part - Media Magna was assigned to Peithon

Peithon

Peithon or Pithon was the son of Crateuas, a nobleman from Eordaia in western Macedonia. One of the bodyguards of Alexander the Great, later satrap of Medes and one of the diadochi....
, one of Alexander's bodyguards.

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Encyclopedia

Atropatene or Media Atropatene was an ancient kingdom established in the 4th century BC in modern Iranian Azerbaijan and Iranian Kurdistan

Iranian Kurdistan

History

Following the death of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

Diadochi

Partition of Babylon

The Partition of Babylon designates the attribution of the territories of Alexander the Great between his generals after his death in 323 BCE....
. The former Achaemenid satrapy of Media

Medes

Peithon

Matiene

Matiene was the name of a kingdom in northwestern Iran which overran the kingdom of the Mannae. The Mannaeans were non-Indo-European, probably speaking either an Hurro-Urartian languages language like the Nairi or a Northeast Caucasian languages language like the Caucasian Albania to the north....
, became Media Atropatene under Atropates

Atropates

Atropates was a Persian people nobleman who served Darius III, then Alexander III of Macedon, and eventually founded an independent kingdom and dynasty that was named after him....
, the former Achaemenid governor of all Media, who had by then become father-in-law of Perdiccas

Perdiccas

Perdiccas was one of Alexander the Great's generals. After Alexander's death in 323 BC he became regent of all Alexander's empire.Arrian tells us he was son of Orontes, a descendant of the independent princes of the province of Orestis ....
, regent of Alexander's designated successor.

Shortly thereafter, Atropates refused to pay allegiance to Seleucus

Seleucus I Nicator

Seleucus I , was a Ancient Macedonians officer of Alexander the Great. In the Wars of the Diadochi that took place after Alexander's death, Seleucus established the Seleucid dynasty and the Seleucid Empire....
, and made Media Atropatene an independent kingdom. It subsequently lost the Media prefix in the name and came to be known simply as Atropatene (Greek

Ancient greek language

#REDIRECT Ancient Greek...
: ??t??pat???).

The dynasty Atropates founded would rule the kingdom for several centuries, first independently, then as vassals of the Arsacids (who called it 'Aturpatakan'). It was eventually annexed by the Arsacids, who then lost it to the Sassanids, who again called it 'Aturpatakan'. The Arabs under the Rashidun

Rashidun

The Rightly Guided Caliphs or The Righteous Caliphs is a term used in Sunni Islam to refer to the first four Caliphs who established the Rashidun Empire....
took control of the area during the reign of Umar

Umar

Umar , also known as Umar the Great or Omar the Great was a Muslim from the Banu Adi clan of the Quraysh Tribes of Arabia, and a sahaba of Muhammad....
, at some time between 639 and 643. Atropatene formed a separate province of the early Islamic caliphate and was considered to have had strategic importance. It was during the Arab period that Middle Iranian

Middle Iranian languages

Middle Iranian may refer to any of a group of the Indo-European language Iranian languages spoken between the 4th century BC and the 9th century AD:...
(i.e. Parthian and Middle Persian) Aturpatakan became Adarbaygan, Adarbayjan, Azarbaijan, and finally, Azerbaijan.