Azerbaijanis attempt to connect their history to the Kingdom of Atropatene, but the reality is different

The Kingdom of Atropatene existed from the end of the 4th century BC until the beginning of the 3rd century AD. It was located in the areas south and east of Lake Urmia. The state was named after the Achaemenid nobleman Atropates (4th century BC), whose name in Old Persian meant "protecter of fire". After Alexander the Great's campaigns, he became the governor of the northern lands of Media - Lesser Media. Later, the territory of Lesser Media was named Atropatene (Ātur-pāta-akān, literally "territory belonging to Atropates") after him.

Later, during the Arab period, under the influence of Arabic, this toponym was transformed into Adurbaigan and later into Azerbaijan. And since the newly created East Transcaucasian state in 1918 bore this name, Azerbaijani historiography, based solely on this, tries to connect the newly emerged Azerbaijani nation, who are in search of identity, with this ancient Iranian state.

According to Greco-Roman, Iranian sources and, in general, unbiased historiography, the population of Atropatene was of Iranian origin and was Iranian-speaking. In ancient period, no Turkic-speaking population existed in this area.

Atropates, who was of Iranian origin, could not even imagine that millennia later he would become the hero of national identity creation for Azerbaijanis who emerged in the 20th century.

Subscribe to our channel on Telegram