Region
Atrapatene
[between L. Urmia and R. Aras] (Barrington)
Listen to the story
Atrapatene took its name from Atropates, a native of the region whom Alexander the Great made governor of all Media. He later founded his own kingdom in the northern mountains, and his descendants held it for generations against Parthians and Romans before finally submitting to Parthian rule. The land lay between Lake Urmia and the river Aras, the part of Media bordering Armenia, and its name lives on in Azerbaijan in north-west Iran. The Greek geographer Strabo says it sent the Persian Great King four thousand mules, three thousand horses and a hundred thousand sheep every year.