MATIENE

'Matiene' was the name of northwestern Iran from the time of the arrival of Iranians, who overran the Kingdom of Mannae. The Mannaeans were non-Indo-European, probably speaking either an Hurro-Urartian language like the Nairi or a Northeast Caucasian language like the Albanians to the north. The name Matiene derives either from Lake Matianus (Lake Urmia) or from the Matiani or Matieni people who lived around it. When the Mannaeans were overrun by the 'Matiani' (Iranians variously deemed to be Scythians, Sakas, Cimmerians or Sarmatians), the name of the kingdom changed from Mannae to Matiene or Matiane. Matiene and the remnants of Mannae were conquered by the Medes in 616 B.C.E. Matiene became a satrapy of the Median Empire until the Persian conquest, when it became a sub-satrapy of the Median satrapy of the Persian Empire. It is sometimes referred to as Media Minor during the Persian period. The Persian capital of Matiene was Gazaca, which means place of the treasury. It was south of Lake Matianus. Many scholars think that the name Matiene is not derived from Media or from Mitanni, an Indo-Iranic Hurrian state on the other side of Assyria at an earlier time, although geographically they were located in almost same area in what later became known as northwest of Persia.
There were at least two ethnic areas of 'Matiene' (now West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan), the larger part in the west around Lake Matianus, inhabited by the 'Matiani', and in the east, a strip containing the mountains along the shore of the Caspian Sea (now Ardabil Province), which was the home of the Cadusii. This country, whether called Mannae, Matiene, Media Minor, Media Atropatene, or Iranian Azerbaijan, is bounded on the north by Albania (Arran), on the northwest by the Nairi (then Urartu, then Armenia, now Turkey), on the southwest by Assyria (Iraq now), and on the south by Media proper (west central Iran, centered on Hamadan). Both the Persians and the Cimmerians were said to have originated from the Matiani by Herodotus, the Persians moving south to Persis (Fars) and the Cimmerians west into Anatolia along the south shore of the Black Sea.
After the Macedonian conquest of the Persian Empire, 'Matiene' became a satrapy of Alexander's Empire. After the death of Alexander, Matiene became independent under King Atropates. It became known as Media Atropatene or simply as Atropatene from his name.