Atropates

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Atropates (in Greek Aτρoπάτης; in Old Persian Atarepata), called Atrapes by Diodorus¹, a Persian satrap, apparently of Media, had the command of the Medes, together with the Cadusii, Albani, and Sacesinae, at the battle of Gaugamela, 331 BC. After the death of king Darius III Codomannus (330 BC), he was made satrap of Media by Alexander the Great². His daughter was married to Perdiccas in the nuptials celebrated at Susa in 324 BC; and he received from his father-in-law, after Alexander's death (323 BC), the province of the Greater Media.³ In the northern part of the country, called after him Media Atropatene, he established an independent kingdom, which continued to exist down to the time of Strabo.⁴ It was related by some authors, that Atropates on one occasion presented Alexander with a hundred women, said to be Amazons; but Arrian⁵ disbelieved the story.

References

Smith, William (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, ["Atropates"], Boston, (1867)

Notes

¹ Diodorus, Bibliotheca, xviii. 4

² Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri, [iii. 22], [iv. 18]

³ Arrian, vii. 4; Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, [xiii. 4]; Diodorus, ibid.

⁴ Strabo, Geography, xi.

⁵ Arrian, [vii. 13]

External links

[Livius], [Atropates] by Jona Lendering

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1867).

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