by Mahir Khalifa-zadeh*
Created: August 03, 2024
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ATROPATES (Avestan: Atərəpāta; Old Persian: Ātrpātah and Pahlavi: Ātūrpāt; Ancient Greek: Ἀτροπάτης Atropátēs; (370 BC – 321 BC) was a Medes (Old Persian: 𐎶𐎠𐎭, Māda-a) and nobleman (possibly had very distant relation to the Achaemenid House) and satrap of Media (Ancient Greek: Μεγάλη) and general who served Darius III and Alexander of Macedon. He was a founder of the independent kingdom Media - Atropatene (Ancient Greek: Ἀτροπατηνή or Lesser Media) and the dynasty that was named after him. Atropates’ descendants ruled the kingdom until the 2nd century CE. The kingdom was established in c. 323 BC and was the only Iranian region to remain under Zoroastrian authority from the Achaemenids to the Muslim Arabs' conquest.
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Atropates (Ātūrpāt), King of Media – Atropatene,
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Military
History Museum, sculpture 2006, Baku, Azerbaijan |
General Atropates attracts the attention of historians because a couple of hypotheses exist regarding the origins of the name Azerbaijan. According to the classic tradition, the name comes from the time of Alexander of Macedon’s conquest of the Achaemenid Empire.
In particular, it presumably originates from General Atropates, a commander of the Achaemenid King Darius III's army's right wing in the Battle of Gaugamela (Ancient Greek: Γαυγάμηλα, also known as the Battle of Arbela) in 331 BC.
Atropates, as satrap (Median/Old Persian: xšaçapāvān, Parthian/Arsacid Pahlavi: šahrab) of Media, commanded Median, Arrānian (Latin: Albanian), Sacasenian, Cadusian, and Arminian (inhabitants of the Achaemenid's province of Armin/a, Old Persian: 𐎠𐎼𐎷𐎡𐎴, Elamite: Harminuya, Ancient Greek: Arminyaya, Latin: Armenia) troops.
Ilya Dyakonov indicated that Arrānians (Albanians) and Cadusians participated in the battle as allies of Atropates, not the Persians. Thus, he believed that Atropates' political influence extended far to the north of the Aras/Araxes River.
On the eve of the Gaugamela battle, Atropates commanded the mounted reconnaissance squad that Darius III sent to reconnoiter the field.
Intriguingly, during the Battle of Gaugamela, Atropates’ units pushed Alexander of Macedon’s army to halt its advance and implemented defensive measures. Only Alexander’s personal intervention with fresh troops allowed the Macedonians to stop their retreat and concentrate on a victorious advance in the center, facing troops under the direct command of Darius III.
Indeed, it was a unique moment in the battle. The Macedonian left wing had begun to retreat, and if King Darius III had realized and utilized it, the battle’s outcome would have been completely different. However, as is well known, Darius III’s poor commanding and leadership skills resulted in the catastrophic defeat of the Achaemenid Army.
When Darius lost the battle, he flew to the Medes' capital of Ecbatana (Achaemenids' summer capital), where Atropates tried to help him to get a new army.
One month after Darius III’s death in June 330 BC,
Atropates surrendered to Alexander. Later, in a personal meeting, Alexander
mentioned Atropates’ military skills and esteemed him so highly that his
daughter was married to Perdiccas - a close ally of Alexander and commander of
the Macedonian cavalry. The marriage occurred at the famous mass wedding in
Susa in February 324 BC. Atropates traveled to Susa with Alexander and offered 100
Amazons, as Greeks called beautiful female archers from Media and Arrān (Latin:
Albania, present-day Azerbaijan), for the Macedonian military elite.
In 324 B.C. Atropates pacified unrest against the Greeks, and Alexander decided to keep him as a King of the land, which later became the independent (or semi-independent, vassal of Arsacid Parthia) kingdom of Atropatene (Parthian/Arsacid Pahlavi: Āturpātakān, Pahlavi: Ādurbādagān) with its capital at Ganzak/Gazaca (Ancient Greek: Γάζακα).
Atropates had a last interview with Alexander in Media in 324-323, who came to inspect the breeding of the ancient world-famous Nisaean horses for the Macedonian army (Alexander's Bucephalus was a Nisaean horse).
Alexander acknowledged the geostrategic location of the Medes' Ecbatana for its approximately equal distance from Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis. In Ecbatana, Alexander left a huge treasure of 180,000 talents as a special reserve garrisoned by a force of 6000 Macedonians. By establishing the military base for Alexander's main army, Ecbatana became the most important military center of his empire. Ecbatana was the place where Bessus (Bactria's Viceroy and the slayer of Darius III) was executed and his body was publicly exposed to the Macedonian soldiers.
After Alexander's death in June 323 BC, Atropates did not participate in Alexander's satraps and generals meeting in Babylon. However, thanks to his diplomatic and political skills, he became one of only two non-Macedonians (along with Alexander's Bactrian father-in-law Oxyartes, Old Persian: 𐎢𐎺𐎧𐏁𐎫𐎼, Median: Huvaxštrah, Greek: Ὀξυάρτης) who were listed as holding a satrapy after the division of the empire between Alexander's successors.
It should be highlighted that Atropates was a strong
follower of Zarathustra (Zoroaster) and his name was neither Median nor Persian but Zoroastrian. The name Ātūrpāt originates from Avesta's
word “Âtare-pâta”, (keeper of
the fire) was one of the sons of Zarathustra. The transcription of the name Ātūrpāt from Pahlavi (Middle Persian) could be “protected by fire”.
Atropates enjoyed full support from Zoroastrian priests or Magi/Magus (Old Persian: 𐎶𐎦𐏁 maguš; Pahlavi: maguš; Ancient Greek μάγος magos) to minimize the Greeks’ impact on Zoroastrianism in Media-Atropatene. Truly, as some sources indicate, Atropates and his successors in Atropatene were zealous adherents of Zoroastrianism from Achaemenian times.
Indeed, the Achaemenids favored Goddess Anāhītā fire temple had been sacked and desecrated by Alexander the Great, who had burnt there the 12,000 ox-hides on which the original Avesta was written in golden lettering and which had been placed in the Fortress of Archives in the city of Istakhr in Pārs.
However, Atropates was able to secure the fire temple of Ādur Gušnasp in Šiz (now Azar Gushnasp in Takht-e Soleyman, Iranian Azerbaijan), where the other copy of the Holy Avesta was preserved and copied on calf skins.
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| Atropates (Ātūrpāt) meets Alexander of Macedon, painting 1956, National Museum of History, Baku, Azerbaijan |
Later, under the order of Sasanian King Shāpūr I (r. 240-272), the fire of Ādur Gušnasp (the last survived Great Fire of State) was classified as the empire’s most sacred victorious (Pahlavi: pērōzgar) warriors’ (Pahlavi: artēštār) class fire of the highest grade, holding the rank of “cathedral”.
The fire of Ādur Gušnasp, as Ataš Bahrām (Parthian: Ātaš-i Wahrām or Pahlavi: Ādur Bahrām - “fires of Victory,” the
Zoroastrian name of the God of War and Victory), was the most sacred or “cathedral”
fire of the highest grade in Zoroastrianism, established in the late Achaemenid
or Parthian era in Ādurbādagān in Media. Each new king, as Sasanian King Shāpūr
I proclaimed, was obligated to make a pilgrimage on foot after coronation to Ādur
Gušnasp, providing royal gifts and celebrating Nowruz (Pahlavi: No Ruz).
Next, following the administrative and military reforms of the Sasanian kings Kawād I (r. 473-531) and his oldest son Xusrō I Anōšīrvān (r. 531- 579), the name Ādurbādagān [Azerbaijan] was extended toward Caucasia, covering Arrān (Latin: Albania) and Armin (Greek: Arminyaya, Latin: Armenia).
Particularly, King Xusrō I Anōšīrvān established the kust-ī Ādurbādagān (region of Ādurbādagān) military command holding Ādurbādagān’s general (Pahlavi: spāhbed), who was at the time the famous Iranian hero - Prince and General Rostam Farrokhzād of Ādurbādagān.
Finally, as someone assumes, General Atropates (Āturpāt) occupies a significant place in the history of Azerbaijan. His name, possibly, is a key to understand the origin of the name Azerbaijan - a land of fire (Azerbaijani: odlar yurdu).
Eventually, the Pahlavi name Ādurbādagān evolved into the Turkified form of Azarbaijan/Azerbaijan. This is where the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Iranian province of Azerbaijan get their name.
* Khalifa-zadeh M., Research Professor, Ph.D, Canadian Historical Association, 130 Albert Street, Suite 1912, Ottawa, ON, K1P5G4, Canada
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