Atropatene (; originally known as "Atropatkan" and "Atorpatkan" ) was an ancient kingdom established and ruled under local ethnic Iranian dynasties first with Darius III of Persia and later Alexander the Great of Macedonia starting in the 4th century BC and includes the territory of modern-day Iranian Azerbaijan, Iranian Kurdistan, and a small part of the contemporary Azerbaijan Republic. Its capital was Ganzak. Atropatene also was the nominal ancestor of the name Azerbaijan.