Atropatene o Mèdia Atropatene (originalment conegut com a Atropatkan i Atorpatkan) és el nom amb què es va conèixer al període clàssic la regió que equival a l'actual Azerbaidjan independent i a l'Azerbaidjan iranià,[1] i el Kurdistan iranià.[2] Durant l'imperi Persa, el país formava part de Pèrsia integrat en la satrapia de Matiana (XVIII) i la de Caspiana (XI) mentre la Mèdia cal buscar-la en aquest temps a l'est de la Matiana. Vers el 331 aC la Matiana havia esdevingut la Mèdia. Va ser governat inicialment per Darios I, el Gran, de Pèrsia, i posteriorment per Alexandre Magne[3] a partir del segle IV a.C..
La seva capital era Gazaka. Atropatene també va ser l'avantpassat nominal del nom d'Azerbaidjan.[4][5]
↑Media Atropatene, Compiled by S.E. Kroll, 1994 in Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World: Map-by-map Directory, Richard J. A. Talbert, Princeton University Press, 2000. Volume 2. pg 1292: "The map approximates the region called by Greek authors Media Atropatene after Atropates, the satrap of Alexander who governed there and later became an independent ruler. The modern name Azerbaijan derives from Atropatene. Originally, Media Atropatene was the northern part of greater Media. To the north, it was separated from Armenia by the River Araxes. To the east, it extended as far as the mountains along the Caspian Sea, and to the west as far as Lake Urmia (ancient Matiane Limne) and the mountains of present-day Kurdistan. The River Amardos may have been the southern border.". pg 1293: "Another important site (but not as large as the places just noted) is the famous fire-temple Adur Gushnasp, situated high in the Kurdish mountains at the holy lake of Takht-i Suleiman, and never mentioned by any ancient western source. It "[1].
↑Susan M. Sherwin-White, Amélie Kuhrt, "From Samarkhand to Sardis: a new approach to the Seleucid Empire", University of California Press, 1993. pg 78:"The independence of the area Media Atropatene, named after Atropates, satrap of Media under Darius and Alexander (now Azerbaijan), under local Iranian dynasts, was pre-Selecuid".