Media Atropatene

Origins

Atropates had served as satrap of Media under Darius III and under Alexander the Great. After Alexander's death in 323 BCE, while the rest of Media passed to his successors, Atropates kept the northern part and ruled it as an independent kingdom, which the Greeks called Media Atropatene.

Rule and society

Its kings ruled from Ganzak, near the later fire temple of Takht-e Soleyman, over a land of horse pastures and mountains. Zoroastrianism was strong, and the region later held one of the great fire temples of Iran, Adur Gushnasp. The kingdom stood between the Seleucid Empire, the Parthian Empire, Armenia and Rome: in 36 BCE Artavasdes I helped repulse Mark Antony's siege of Phraaspa, then allied with him, and from the 1st century CE members of the Arsacid house often held the throne.

Decline and legacy

Atropatene came under the Sasanian Empire around 226 CE, when Ardashir I conquered it and made it a province. Its name became Middle Persian Aturpatakan and later Azerbaijan.