Atropates (Old Persian: *Ātr̥pātah and Middle Persian Ātūrpāt;[1] Ancient Greek: Ἀτροπάτης Atropátēs; c. 370 BC – after 321 BC) was a Persian[2] nobleman who served Darius III, then Alexander the Great, and eventually founded an independent kingdom and dynasty that was named after him. Diodorus (18.4) refers to him as Atrápēs (Ἀτράπης),[3] while Quintus Curtius (8.3.17) erroneously names him 'Arsaces'.