Media

Media, ancient country of Asia, corresponding to the north-eastern area of modern Iran. The inhabitants, who were known as Medes, and their neighbours, the Persians, spoke Indo-Iranian languages that were closely related to Old Persian. Historians know very little about the Median culture except that a polytheistic religion was practised, and a priestly caste called the Magi existed.

From about 835 bc the Median peoples became subject intermittently to the kings of Assyria. About 715 bc the Median chieftain Dayaukku, known to the Greek historian Herodotus as Deïoces, led the Medes in an unsuccessful rebellion against the Assyrian king Sargon II (reigned 722-705 bc). The later rulers of Media considered Dayaukku the founder of the Median dynasty. Subsequently, another chieftain named Khshathrita (reigned c. 675-653 bc), known to the Greeks as Phraortes, united the Median peoples and expelled the Assyrians. Khshathrita was killed by the Scythians, who invaded Media from the north-west.

Khshathrita's son Cyaxares (reigned 625-585 bc) chose Ecbatana (modern Hamadān, Iran) as his capital. In 625 he drove the Scythians out of Media and imposed his rule over the Persians. He then proceeded to attack the Assyrians and captured the city of Ashur in 614 bc. In alliance with the newly independent kingdom of Babylonia, he took the city of Nineveh and overthrew the Assyrian Empire in 612. Thereafter Cyaxares extended the territory of his kingdom to include the whole of eastern Anatolia. Cyaxares was succeeded by his son Astyages (reigned c. 584-550 bc). The Persians, under Cyrus the Great, revolted against him about 550 bc. Joined by a portion of the Median army under a chief named Harpagus, they took Ecbatana and deposed the Median king. From that time onwards Media was politically subservient to Persia; the Persians, however, regarded the Medes as equals, and thereafter the two peoples were considered as one.