View source for Medes

{{Short description|Ancient Iranian people}}
{{About|the ancient Iranian people|other uses|Medes (disambiguation)|Medians|Median (disambiguation)}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2025}}
[[File:Hottenroth I-021 - 28 - Median male.jpg|thumb|upright|Artistic representation of a Median man]]

The '''Medes'''{{#tag:ref|{{IPAc-en|m|iː|d|z}}; {{langx|peo|{{script|Xpeo|{{small|𐎶𐎠𐎭}}}}|translit=Māda}}; {{langx|akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒆳𒈠𒁕𒀀𒀀}}|translit=Mādāya}};<ref>{{cite book |last=Parpola |first=Simo |date=1970 |title=Neo-Assyrian Toponyms |url=https://archive.org/details/neoassyriantopon0000parp |location=Kevaeler |publisher=Butzon & Bercker |pages=[https://archive.org/details/neoassyriantopon0000parp/page/230/mode/2up 230]-[https://archive.org/details/neoassyriantopon0000parp/page/230/mode/2up 231] }}</ref> {{langx|grc|Μῆδοι|translit=Mêdoi}}; {{langx|hbo|{{script|Hebr|מָדַי}}|translit=Madáy}}<br />{{pb}}According to the ''[[OED]]'' entry "Mede", the word is from [[Classical Latin]] ''{{lang|la|Mēdus}}'' (usually as plural, ''{{lang|la|Mēdī}}'') from [[ancient Greek]] (Attic and Ionic) {{lang|grc|Μῆδος}}, ''Mê̄dos'', {{IPA|grc|mɛ̂ːdos|}} ([[Arcadocypriot Greek|Cypriot]]: {{lang|grc|Μᾶδοι}}, ''Mâdoi'', {{IPA|grc|mâdoi̯|}}, plural) from [[Old Persian]] {{translit|peo|Māda}}.<ref>''[[OED]]'' Online [http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/115629?rskey=kViil4&result=4 "entry Mede, n."]:</ref>|group="N"}} were an [[Iron Age]] [[Iranian peoples|Iranian people]] who spoke the [[Median language]]{{#tag:ref|{{Harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=140}}: "Archaeological evidence for the religion of the Iranian-speaking Medes of the first centuries of the 1st millennium B.C. comes so far only from the burials of "Necropolis B" in Tepe-Sialk, ascribed with some probability to the Medes; these are the usual ancient burials in pits, certainly not Zoroastrian."<br />''[[Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture|EIEC]]'', p. 30: "By the seventh century BC the Urartian state was collapsing, ultimately in the face of the (Semitic) Babylonians and the Medes (Iranians of what is now northwestern Iran)."<br />{{Harvnb|Kuz'mina|2007|p=303}}: "Proto-Iranian split into Western (Median, ancient Persian, and others) and Eastern (Scythian, Ossetic, Saka, Pamir and others), and the direct genetic relation between the Scythian and Saka culture of the 7th–6th century BC and the Bronze Age culture of the Eurasian steppes identified by the retrospective method proves the Indo-Iranian character of the latter."|group="N"}} and who inhabited an area known as [[Media (region)|Media]] between [[western Iran|western]] and [[northern Iran]]. Around the 11th century BC, they occupied the mountainous region of northwestern Iran and the northeastern and eastern region of [[Mesopotamia]] in the vicinity of [[Ecbatana]] (present-day [[Hamadan]]). Their consolidation in Iran is believed to have occurred during the 8th century BC. In the 7th century BC, all of western Iran and some other territories were under Median rule, but their precise geographic extent remains unknown.<ref name="Iranica">{{Cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/media|title=MEDIA |website=Encyclopaedia Iranica |language=en|access-date=17 August 2017}}</ref>

Although widely recognized as playing an important role in the history of the [[ancient Near East]], the Medes left no written records to reconstruct their history. Knowledge of the Medes comes only from foreign sources such as the [[Assyria]]ns, [[Babylonia]]ns, [[Armenians]] and [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]], as well as a few Iranian archaeological sites, which are believed to have been occupied by Medes. The accounts related to the Medes reported by [[Herodotus]] convey the image of a powerful people, who would have formed an empire at the beginning of the 7th century BC that lasted until the 550s BC, played a pivotal role in the fall of the Assyrian Empire, and competed with the powerful kingdoms of [[Lydia]] and Babylonia. 

The state remains difficult to perceive in the documentation, which leaves many doubts about its extent. A recent reassessment of contemporary sources from the Median period has altered scholars' perceptions of the [[Median state]], with some specialists even suggesting that there never was a powerful Median kingdom. In any case, it appears that after the fall of the last Median king against the Persian king [[Cyrus the Great]], Media became an important province and was prized by the empires which successively dominated it ([[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenids]], [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucids]], [[Parthian Empire|Parthians]] and [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanids]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Karen Radner, "Assyria and The Medes." in D.T. Potts (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran (Oxford 2013) 442-456. {{!}} PDF {{!}} Assyria |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/162028612/Karen-Radner-Assyria-and-the-Medes-In-D-T-Potts-ed-The-Oxford-Handbook-of-Ancient-Iran-Oxford-2013-442-456 |access-date=21 January 2024 |website=Scribd |language=en}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
The original source for their name and homeland is a directly transmitted [[Old Iranian]] geographical name which is attested as the [[Old Persian]] "{{translit|peo|Māda-}}" ({{small|singular masculine}}).<ref name=Tavernier/> The meaning of this word is not precisely known.<ref>{{Harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=57}}</ref> However, the linguist [[Wojciech Skalmowski|W. Skalmowski]] proposes a relation with the [[Proto-Indo-European language|proto-Indo European]] word "med(h)-", meaning "central, suited in the middle", by referring to the [[Old Indic]] "madhya-" and Old Iranian "maidiia-" which both carry the same meaning.<ref name=Tavernier>{{Harvnb|Tavernier|2007|p=27}}</ref> The Latin ''medium'', Greek ''méso'', Armenian ''mej'', and English ''mid'' are similarly derived from it.

[[Herodotus]] claimed that Greek legends, especially when similarities in names familiar to Greeks and used by foreign peoples were observed, could explain the origin of such an [[ethnonym]]. According to his [[Histories (Herodotus)|''Histories'']]  (ca.440 BC):<ref name="Herodotus-vii-62">Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.62.1 7.62]</ref>
{{cquote|The Medes were formerly called by everyone ''[[Arya (Iran)|Arians]]'', but when the [[Colchian]] woman [[Medea]] came from [[Athens]] to the Arians, they changed their name, like the Persians [did after [[Perses (son of Perseus)|Perses]], son of [[Perseus]] and [[Andromeda (mythology)|Andromeda]]].<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.62]</ref> This is the Medes' own account of themselves.}}

== Archaeology ==
[[File:Ecbatane - excavated house.jpg|thumb|Excavation from ancient Ecbatana, Hamadan, Iran]]
The discoveries of Median sites in [[Iran]] happened only after the 1960s.<ref name="stronach-EIr-288">{{Harvnb|Stronach1982|p=288}}</ref> Prior to the 1960s, the search for Median archeological sources has mostly focused in an area known as the "Median triangle", defined roughly as the region bounded by [[Hamadan]] and [[Malayer]] (in [[Hamadan province]]) and [[Kangavar]] (in [[Kermanshah province]]).<ref name="stronach-EIr-288"/> Three major sites from central western Iran in the [[Three-age system|Iron Age III period]] (i.e. 850–500 BC) are:<ref name=Young-p449>{{Harvnb|Young|1997|p=449}}</ref>
* [[Noushijan Tappe|Tepe Nush-i Jan]] (a primarily religious site of Median period),
:The site is located 14&nbsp;km west of Malāyer in Hamadan province.<ref name="stronach-EIr-288"/> The excavations started in 1967 with [[David Stronach]] as the director.<ref>{{Harvnb|Stronach|1968|p=179}}</ref> The remains of four main buildings in the site are "the central temple, the western temple, the fort, and the columned hall" which according to Stronach were likely to have been built in the order named and predate the latter occupation of the first half of the 6th century BC.<ref name="stronach-EIr-290"/> According to Stronach, the central temple, with its stark design, "provides a notable, if mute, expression of religious belief and practice".<ref name="stronach-EIr-290"/> A number of ceramics from the Median levels at Tepe Nush-i Jan have been found which are associated with a period (the second half of the 7th century BC) of power consolidation in the Hamadān areas. These findings show four different wares known as "common ware" (buff, cream, or light red in colour and with gold or silver mica temper) including jars in various size the largest of which is a form of ribbed [[pithos|pithoi]]. Smaller and more elaborate vessels were in "grey ware", (these display smoothed and burnished surface). The "cooking ware" and "crumbly ware" are also recognized each in single handmade products.<ref name="stronach-EIr-290">{{Harvnb|Stronach|1982|p=290}}</ref>
* [[Godin Tepe]] ([[Godin Tepe#Level II|Godin Tepe's Level II]]: a fortified palace of a Median king or tribal chief),
:The site is located 13&nbsp;km east of Kangāvar city on the left bank of the river Gamas Āb". The excavations, started in 1965, were led by T. C. Young, Jr. According to [[David Stronach]], the evidence shows an important [[Bronze Age]] construction that was reoccupied sometime before the beginning of the [[Iron Age|Iron III]] period. The excavations of Young indicate the remains of part of a single residence of a local ruler which later became quite substantial.<ref name="stronach-EIr-288"/> This is similar to those mentioned often in Assyrian sources.<ref name=Young-p449/>
* [[Babajan, Lorestan|Babajan]] (probably the seat of a lesser tribal ruler of Media).
:The site is located in northeastern [[Lorestan]] with a distance of roughly 10&nbsp;km from [[Nurabad, Lorestan|Nūrābād]] in Lorestan province. The excavations were conducted by C. Goff in 1966–69. The second level of this site probably dates to the 7th century BC.<ref>{{Harvnb|Henrickson|1988|p=?}}</ref>
These sources have both similarities (in cultural characteristics) and differences (due to functional differences and diversity among the Median tribes).<ref name=Young-p449/> The architecture of these archaeological findings, which can probably be dated to the Median period, show a link between the tradition of columned audience halls often seen in the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (for example in [[Persepolis]]) and [[Safavid Iran]] (for example in [[Chehel Sotoun]] from the 17th century AD) and what is seen in Median architecture.<ref name=Young-p449/>

The materials found at Tepe Nush-i Jan, Godin Tepe, and other sites located in Media, together with the Assyrian reliefs show the existence of urban settlements in Media in the first half of the 1st millennium BC which functioned as centres for the production of handicrafts and also of an agricultural and cattle-breeding economy of a secondary type.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dandamayev|Medvedskaya|2006|p=?}}</ref> For other historical documentation, the archaeological evidence, though rare, together with Assyrian cuneiform records makes it possible, regardless of Herodotus' accounts, to establish some of the early history of the Medians.<ref>{{Harvnb|Young|1997|p=448}}</ref>

== History ==
=== Origins ===
At the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the Iranian tribes emerged in the region of northwest Iran. These tribes expanded their control over larger areas.<ref>{{Harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|pp=36–41}}</ref> [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] tribes were present in western and northwestern Iran from at least the 12th or 11th centuries BC. But the significance of Iranian elements in these regions were established from the beginning of the second half of the 8th century BC.<ref name=dandamaev-lukonin-2-3>{{Harvnb|Dandamaev|Lukonin|Kohl|Dadson|2004|pp=2–3}}</ref> By this time the Iranian tribes were the majority in what later become the territory of the Median Kingdom and also the west of [[Media (region)|Media proper]].<ref name=dandamaev-lukonin-2-3/> A study of textual sources from the region shows that in the Neo-Assyrian period, the regions of Media, and further to the west and the northwest, had a population with Iranian speaking people as the majority.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zadok|2002|p=140}}</ref>

In western and northwestern Iran and in areas further west prior to Median rule, there is evidence of the earlier political activity of the powerful societies of Elam, Mannaea, [[Assyria]] and [[Urartu]].<ref name="dandamaev-lukonin-2-3" /> There are various and updated opinions on the positions and activities of Iranian tribes in these societies prior to the "major Iranian state formations" in the late 7th century BC.<ref name="dandamaev-lukonin-2-3" /> One opinion (of Herzfeld, ''et al.'') is that the ruling class were "Iranian migrants" but the society was "autonomous" while another opinion (of Grantovsky, ''et al.'') holds that both the ruling class and basic elements of the population were Iranian.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dandamaev|Lukonin|Kohl|Dadson|2004|p=3}}</ref>

The Medes first appear on the historical scene in the 9th century BCE, when they are mentioned in contemporary Assyrian texts. {{Explain|date=May 2025|reason=Contemporary meaning? Writing didn’t appear until the 4th millennium BC, there would be no contemporary Assyrian texts. Needs to be an explanation of what "contemporary" means in this context.}} By this time, it is highly likely that Indo-Iranian-speaking peoples had already settled in Western Iran at least some 500 years — if not 1,000 years — prior to this period. Most scholars believe that the arrival of Indo-Iranian speaking populations into Western Iran was not the result of one mass migration, but instead small groups of nomadic pastoralists gradually infiltrated the region from the northeast over a long period of time, perhaps dating back to the early 2nd millennium BCE.{{Citation needed|reason=Citations for specific info need to be more prevalent throughout the page|date=May 2025}} These pastoralist groups gave rise to diverse cultural and linguistic groups, with one such group eventually coalescing into the people referred to by the Assyrians as the Medes.<ref name=":1" /> From the 9th century BCE onwards the Medes were well established in Western Iran and frequently clashed with the Assyrians, their powerful neighbors to the west.{{Citation needed|reason=Citations for specific info need to be more prevalent throughout the page|date=May 2025}}

=== Assyrian intervention in Median territories ===
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2025}}
At the start of the [[Iron Age]], [[Zagros Mountains]] and the [[Iranian Plateau]] were politically fragmented in the extreme. {{Explain|date=May 2025|reason=When? Added a general intro based on the context further down, but I haven’t read the sources}} The Assyrian sources of the 8th and 7th centuries BCE tell of a bewildering number of kings and chieftains who ruled areas of different sizes, most of which seem to have been very small.{{Citation needed|reason=what sources|date=May 2025}} In referring to the Median rulers, the Assyrian texts use the title ''bēl āli'' (meaning "city lord"), a term for petty rulers who were not important enough to be called kings. Since there's no very large settlements in Median territory, ''bēl āli'' is sometimes translated as "chief" or "chieftain".{{Citation needed|reason=Citations for specific info need to be more prevalent throughout the page|date=May 2025}} From the Assyrian perspective, the Medes were a strange people living beyond the eastern fringes of the civilized world.{{Citation needed|reason=Probably, who told you that|date=May 2025}} [[Shalmaneser III]] (858-824 BC) was the first Assyrian king who made serious efforts to extend the power of his kingdom beyond the reaches of northern Mesopotamia, and he was the first Assyrian king to reach the Iranian Plateau. Although his army operated near Median territories in 843, 827, and 826 BCE, the Medes are not mentioned in the reports on these campaigns.{{Citation needed|reason=Even if it’s just the source at the end of the paragraph it needs to be cited throughout|date=May 2025}} Only once, in 834, did Shalmaneser sally forth from [[Parsua]] in order to attack four settlements in the regions of "Messi, Amadaya, Araziaš and Harhar." Among these, Amadaya can be identified as Media. Shalmaneser's attack was, however, a mere side show without any consequences since Media was not the focus of Shalmaneser's attention.{{Citation needed|reason=Citations for specific info need to be more prevalent throughout the page|date=May 2025}}

The Assyrian interest in the Iranian highlands probably stemmed from their need for horses to supply the chariots and cavalry of their armed forces. For most of the 9th century BCE, the Assyrians found what they needed in the Zagros Mountains, in areas closer to the Assyrian heartland and more accessible.{{Citation needed|reason=Citations for specific info need to be more prevalent throughout the page|date=May 2025}} However, the situation changed when the kingdom of [[Urartu]] expanded into the areas south of [[Lake Urmia]], thus cutting off Assyria's most convenient connection with central Iran.{{Citation needed|reason=Citations for specific info need to be more prevalent throughout the page|date=May 2025}} This prompted Assyria to seek new and more reliable access routes connecting Assyria with horse-breeding areas far from Urartian interference. This attracted Assyria's attention to the Medes, renowned for their wealth of horses. In a campaign in 819 or 818 BCE, [[Shamshi-Adad V]] (823-811 BCE) led Assyrian forces deep into western Iran. Advancing through Mesa, Gizilbunda, Mataya (Media), and Araziaš, he followed the path previously taken by Shalmaneser III in 834 BCE. During this expedition, Assyrian forces encountered and fought a ruler named Hanaşiruka in Media. According to Shamshi-Adad's inscriptions, they purportedly killed 2,300 of Hanaşiruka's warriors and 140 cavalrymen, and Hanaşiruka's royal city of Sagbita was destroyed, along with 1,200 other settlements. However, considering later campaigns in the region, these figures seem exaggerated. Hanaşiruka fared better than his neighboring rulers, the king of Gizilbunda and the ruler of Araziaš. Hanaşiruka not only survived the assault but also did not submit to the Assyrian king and apparently had no booty taken from his land. While only a fraction of the Median territories was affected by Shamshi-Adad's incursion, this marked the first of a series of Assyrian attempts to exert its power over the horse breeders of western Iran. Between 810 and 766 BCE, at least seven and possibly as many as nine Assyrian campaigns were directed against Media, climaxing in the years 793-787 BCE when [[Nergal-ila'i]], the commander-in-chief of [[Adad-nirari III]] (810-783 BCE), led no fewer than five expeditions east-ward.<ref name=":0" />

The earliest Assyrian incursions into the Zagros region seem to have focused mainly on plunder. It is only under the king [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] (744-727 BCE) and his successors that the Assyrians attempted to take direct control of Median territory by founding new Assyrian provinces in the western Zagros. They also converted some Median towns to Assyrian centers, renaming them with the prefix ''kār'', which meant "harbor" or "trading station".<ref name=":1" /> Their new names highlight their central role in commerce.<ref name=waters>{{cite journal |last=Waters |first=Matt |date=October–December 2005 |title=[Review:&#93; Media and Its Discontents |url=https://www.academia.edu/1040674 |url-access=registration |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=125 |issue=4 |pages=517–533 |jstor=i20064419 |access-date=10 February 2024 }}</ref> In the course of his campaigns, Tiglath-Pileser III established two new provinces, expanding the permanent Assyrian presence much further onto the Iranian Plateau. East of the existing Assyrian province of Zamua (established no later than 843 BCE), Tiglath-Pileser founded the province of Parsua. Additionally, the province of Namri, likely established in the 790s BCE, now shared a border with the newly created province of Bit-Hamban. The Assyrian overland route connecting the Median territories with the Mesopotamian lowlands now reached as far as the strategically significant city of Harhar on the Iranian Plateau. In 738 BCE, Tiglath-Pileser sent an army detachment against "the mighty Medes in the east", likely in the region beyond [[Mount Alvand]]. The operation was successful, with the Assyrians capturing the settlement of Mulugani and capturing "5,000 horses, people, oxen, sheep and goats."

[[Sargon II]] (721-705 BCE) resumed efforts to strengthen the Assyrian Empire's grip on western Iran even further. This renewed advance was a highly concentrated affair, accomplished in just four years from 716 to 713 BCE, during which time the Median lands were invaded no fewer than three times. Most chiefs who paid tribute in 714 BCE, did not do so again in 713 BCE, which shows that even when the Assyrian Empire's involvement with the Median territories was at its absolute peak, only a small fraction of the Median chiefs in power established a lasting relationship with the Assyrian conqueror. The majority anticipated that Assyrian forces would eventually withdraw, as they had done in the past. However, the establishment of fortresses in Harhar and Kišesim in 716 BCE marked a turning point. From then on, the Assyrians maintained a permanent presence in western Iran.

However, the effectiveness of Assyrian rule was still limited and remained weak, especially in areas east of the Zagros mountain range. Since direct control over the Medes was challenging to keep, deals were made with those local rulers. In exchange for recognizing the Assyrian king's authority, providing a fixed quantity of horses as tribute, and fulfilling other obligations, cooperative chiefs received the protection of the Assyrian Empire and retained the freedom to govern their subjects as they deemed fit. This compromise usually suited both sides well.<ref name=":0" /> Sargon II undertook another expedition to Media in 708 BCE but was unable to achieve his goal of conquering all Median lands or establishing stable control over them. Subsequently, the tribes on the Iranian plateau opposing Assyrian dominance consolidated their efforts against it. By the end of the 8th century BCE, the first major unions and states based on tribal confederations began to emerge in the western Iranian territory, led by local chiefs.{{sfn|Dandamayev|Medvedskaya|2006}} While during Sargon II's reign, the Medes seemed contained through diplomacy and the strategic backing of competing factions, by the time of his grandson [[Esarhaddon]] (680-669 BCE), the Assyrians appeared to have lost ground in Media. Records from this period indicate unrest in the Median provinces. In inquiries directed to the god [[Shamash]], the king seeks guidance on the power of the Medes and their allies, the [[Cimmerians]] and [[Manneans]]. Notably, the ''bēl-āli'' of Karkaššî, [[Kashtariti]], becomes the focus of the king's concern. Even the once routine collection of horse tribute from the Medes now encounters unexpected difficulties.
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The ''adê'' tablets record the oaths made by eight Zagros-dwelling ''bēl-ālāni'' who swore loyalty to Esarhaddon and his crown prince [[Ashurbanipal]] (668-631 BCE). The interpretation of these oaths has been a subject of debate, ranging from vassal treaties to the swearing in of a corps of Median bodyguards to the crown prince. The discovery of a very similar tablet from the Syrian site of [[Tell Tayinat]] points to an empire-wide attempt at making all allies swear allegiance to the crown-prince before Esarhaddon's death. Six years prior one of these ''bēl-ālāni'', Ramataya of Urakazabarna, had visited the Assyrian court. He brought tribute in the form of horses and lapis lazuli, seeking Esarhaddon's assistance against rival ''bēl-ālāni''. However, it appears that the oaths and alliances eventually fell apart, leading to the tablets that documented them being taken from the temple storage room and crushed. While, by the mid-seventh century, the Median ''bēl-ālāni'' seemed poised to form alliances that could have united against the Assyrians, there is no indication that the fundamental political structure of the Medes as independent ''bēl-ālāni'' was undergoing significant changes as Herodotus's story of [[Deioces]]'s rise would suggest. The last mention of Median ''bēl-ālāni'' comes from an inscription of Ashurbanipal that recounts a campaign of 656 BCE, in which three Median ''bēl-ālāni'' rebelled and were captured and brought back to Nineveh. As it became conceivable for a united Media to defeat Assyria and assume her mantle of power in the region, the impetus to unite may have been stronger than the competitive forces dividing the ''bēl-ālāni''.<ref name=":1" />

After 670 BCE, susceptible to Scythian and Cimmerian raids and facing the decline of trade along the [[Great Khorasan Road]], many Median chiefdoms probably collapsed leaving fewer chiefs to compete for power. The states of non-Iranian peoples like the [[Manneans]], [[Elippians]], and [[Kassites]] probably collapsed as well, which allowed Median groups to take over their territory. With fewer chiefs remaining, one of them might have risen to the position of paramount chief, subjugating his former equals. [[Cyaxares]] probably rose to prominence in this context. He may indeed have fought the Scythians, as Herodotus claims, which may have earned him his reputation as a great warrior. Through his victories, Cyaxares gained more and more influence, eventually uniting the Medes and other peoples under his leadership.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/34484530 |title=The Median Dark Age |access-date=18 January 2024 |last=Nijssen |first=Daan}}</ref>

=== Rise and fall ===
{{Main|Median kingdom}}
[[File:Pre-Achaemenid Era.gif|thumb|Timeline of Pre-Achaemenid era.]]

From the 10th to the late 7th centuries BCE, the western parts of Media fell under the domination of the vast [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]], which stretched from [[Cyprus]] in the west, to parts of western Iran in the east, and [[ancient Egypt|Egypt]] and the north of the [[Arabian Peninsula]].<ref>[[Georges Roux]], ''Ancient Iraq'', 1992{{full citation needed|date=June 2014}}</ref> During the reign of [[Sinsharishkun]] (622–612 BCE), the Assyrian empire, which had been in a state of constant civil war since 626 BCE, began to unravel. Subject peoples, such as the Babylonians, Egyptians, Scythians, Cimmerians, and [[Arameans]] quietly ceased to pay tribute to Assyria.

Assyrian dominance over the Medes came to an end during the reign of Median king [[Cyaxares]], who, in alliance with the Babylonian king [[Nabopolassar]], attacked and destroyed the strife-riven Neo-Assyrian Empire between 616 and 609 BCE.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/place/Assyria/ Encyclopaedia Britannica] "The last great Assyrian ruler was Ashurbanipal, but his last years and the period following his death, in 627 BCE, are obscure. The state was finally destroyed by a Chaldean-Median coalition in 612–609 bce."</ref> After the fall of Assyria, a unified [[Median state]] became one of the four major powers of the [[ancient Near East]] together with Babylonia, [[Lydia]], and [[ancient Egypt|Egypt]]. The Medes were subsequently able to expand beyond their original homeland and had eventually a territory stretching roughly from northeastern Iran to the [[Kızılırmak River]] in [[Anatolia]].<ref name=":3" />

Cyaxares was succeeded by his son [[Astyages]]. In 553 BCE, [[Cyrus the Great]], the King of Persia, a Median vassal, [[Medo-Persian conflict|revolted]] against the Median king. In 550 BCE, Cyrus finally won a decisive victory resulting in Astyages' capture by his own dissatisfied nobles, who promptly turned him over to the triumphant Cyrus.<ref name=":3">{{cite book|title=From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire|first= Pierre|last= Briant|publisher= Eisenbrauns|year= 2006|page= 31}}</ref>

==== Median dynasty ====
{{Main|Median dynasty}}

In Herodotus (I, 95–130), [[Deioces]] is introduced as the founder of a centralized Median state. He had been known to the Median people as "a just and incorruptible man" and when asked by the Median people to solve their possible disputes he agreed and put forward the condition that they make him "king" and build a great city at Ecbatana as the capital of the Median state.<ref>{{Harvnb|Young|1988|p=16}}</ref> Judging from the contemporary sources of the region, and disregarding<ref>{{Harvnb|Young|1988|p=19}}</ref> the account of Herodotus, puts the formation of a unified Median state during the reign of [[Cyaxares]] or later.<ref>{{Harvnb|Young|1988|p=21}}</ref>

The list of Median rulers and their period of reign is compiled according to two sources. Firstly, Herodotus who calls them "kings" and associates them with the same family.<ref name="Diakonoff1985">{{Harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=112}}</ref> Secondly, the [[Babylonian Chronicles]] which in "Gadd's Chronicle on the Fall of Nineveh" gives its own list. A combined list stretching over 150 years is thus:

* [[Deioces]] (700s–675 BC)
* [[Phraortes]] (675–653 BC)
* [[Scythians|Scythian]] rule (652–624 BC)
* [[Cyaxares]] (624–585 BC)
* [[Astyages]] (585–550 BC)

However, not all of these dates and personalities given by Herodotus match the other near eastern sources.<ref name="Diakonoff1985" />

=== Later history ===
[[Image:Persepolis Apadana noerdliche Treppe Detail.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|The Apadana Palace, 5th century BCE [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] [[relief|bas-relief]] shows a Median soldier behind a Persian soldier, in [[Persepolis]], Iran]]
After Cyrus's victory against Astyages, the Medes were subjected to their close kin, the Persians.<ref>Herodotus, ''The Histories'', p. 93.{{full citation needed|date=June 2014}}</ref> In the new empire they retained a prominent position; in honour and war, they stood next to the Persians; their court ceremony was adopted by the new sovereigns, who in the summer months resided in [[Ecbatana]]; and many noble Medes were employed as officials, [[satrap]]s and generals.

In later periods, Medes and especially Median soldiers are identified and portrayed prominently in ancient archaeological sites such as [[Persepolis]], where they are shown to have a major role and presence in the military of the Persian [[Achaemenid Empire]]. The Medes within the Achaemenid Empire enjoyed a similar status to the Persians and made up a large part of its ruling class, so much so that the Greek frequently called the Persians, Medes and coined the term "Medizing" to refer to  "pro-Persian" policies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Daryaee |first=Touraj |title=The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0199390427 |pages=122, 123}}</ref>

== Culture and society ==
=== Society ===
[[File:Mad-5223.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.3|Stone relief of a Median man]]
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2025}}
The almost complete lack of written material makes it difficult to know how the Medes conceived their society. According to Herodotus, Persian society during the reign of Cyrus the Great was composed of 'numerous tribes' (''génea''), and each tribe was divided into 'clans' (''phrātría'').{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} This general outline by the Greek historian reflects the concept that the social groups individuals belonged to were family, clan, tribe, and country. Although clan affiliations or tribal connections of significant individuals are rarely mentioned in Achaemenid period texts, the Persians still identified themselves through their relationships with family (paternal name), clan, and tribe.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} It is quite likely that the Medes did the same, as, according to Herodotus, their nation was also composed of tribes (''génēa'').<ref>{{cite web |access-date=7 October 2021 |language=en-US |title=CLASS SYSTEM II. In the Median and Achaemenid Periods |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/class-system-ii |website=Encyclopaedia Iranica}}</ref>

Assyrian inscriptions use the unusual term "''bēl-āli''" for the Median leaders, a term that is occasionally applied also to other rulers of polities in the Zagros mountains, but otherwise unknown in the Assyrian records. Literally translated the term means "head of a city" but it has been variously translated as "chieftain", "city leader", or "city lord".{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} The term as used by the Assyrians is probably also a reflection of their own interpretation of a power structure that was unfamiliar to them and could only be rendered in terms that the Assyrians themselves understood. It is clear from Assyrian sources that the position of ''bēl-āli'' could be hereditary.<ref name=":1" /> The Assyrian sources do not provide any information about the organizational structure above the level of chieftains, and the inner structure of these Median chiefdoms remain largely unknown. According to Herodotus, the Medes were divided into six tribes: Busai, Paretakenians, Struchates, Arizantians, Budians, and [[Magi]]ans. The name of these tribes appear to be completely unknown to the Assyrians despite centuries of direct contact with various Median groups. Only the name of Herodotus's Paretakenians sounds similar to the lands of Partakka and Partukka, whose chieftains sought help from the Assyrian king [[Esarhaddon]] (680-669 BC).{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} If any tribal structures existed from the 9th to the 7th century BC, their political significance was likely minimal. Contrary to expectations, the Medes' internal rivalries did not result in the concentration of land, wealth, and power in the hands of a steadily decreasing number of chieftains over time, the opposite occurred. In 819 BC, a small number of Median chiefs fielded considerably stronger forces against Assyria than their more numerous descendants did in the later half of the 8th century BC, when they were attacked by Tiglath-Pileser III and Sargon II. This suggests that sons of chieftains had equal inheritance rights, leading to the division of their father's lands, increasing the number of chiefdoms, and accelerating Media's political fragmentation. Sargon II's inscriptions alone identify at least 55 Median chiefdoms, and considering that there were likely additional less important chiefdoms not mentioned in Assyrian records, the total number could have been close to a hundred or even more.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |date=14 April 2023 |first1=Karen |first2=Nadine |first3=Daniel T. |language=en |last1=Radner |last2=Moeller |last3=Potts |publisher=Oxford University Press |title=The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East: Volume IV: the Age of Assyria |isbn=978-0-19-068763-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jTOxEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA674}}</ref>

Presumably the tribal union of the Medes was not merely nominal. It is to this union that the Medes must have owed at times the possibility of collective action with a choice of capable leaders. But such unity could manifest itself only occasionally. In the majority of the cases the Medes, in spite of their strength, were divided. The six Median tribes resided in Media proper, the triangular area between [[Rhagae]], [[Isfahan|Aspadana]] and [[Ecbatana]].<ref name="books.google.no">{{cite book|last=Gershevitch|first=I.|title=The Cambridge History of Iran |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kMLKgzj5afMC&pg=PA75|year=1985 |page=75 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-20091-2}}</ref> In present-day [[Iran]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=(Diaconus) |first1=Leo |title=The History of Leo the Deacon: Byzantine Military Expansion in the Tenth Century |date=2005 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |isbn=978-0884023241 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RCDsV41k8A0C&pg=PA204 |page=204 |language=en}}</ref> that is the area between [[Tehran]], [[Isfahan]] and [[Hamadan]], respectively. Of the Median tribes, the Magi resided in Rhagae,<ref>{{cite book|last=Boyce |first=Mary|author-link=Mary Boyce|title=A History of Zoroastrianism: Volume II: Under the Achaemenians |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3sfAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA9|year=1982|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-06506-2}}</ref> modern Tehran.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zumerchik|first1=John|last2=Danver |first2=Steven Laurence |title=Seas and Waterways of the World: An Encyclopedia of History, Uses, and Issues |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IBKoUXrF5p0C&pg=PR99 |year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-711-1}}</ref> They were of a sacred caste which ministered to the spiritual needs of the Medes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sabourin|first=Leopold |title=Priesthood|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S883AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA28 |year=1973|publisher=Brill Archive |id=GGKEY:ZRNUJJQ6GG2}}</ref> The Paretaceni tribe resided in and around Aspadana, modern Isfahan,<ref name="books.google.no"/><ref>{{cite book |title=Travels in Luristan and Arabistan |url=https://archive.org/details/travelsinlurista02debo|page=[https://archive.org/details/travelsinlurista02debo/page/312 312]|year=1845|publisher=J. Madden and Company}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Christensen |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Christensen (historian)|title=The Decline of Iranshahr: Irrigation and Environments in the History of the Middle East, 500 B.C. to A.D. 1500 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ebB_ac13v3UC&pg=PA131 |page=131 |year=1993 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press|isbn=978-87-7289-259-7}}</ref> the Arizanti lived in and around [[Kashan]] ([[Isfahan Province]]),<ref name="books.google.no"/> and the Busae tribe lived in and around the future Median capital of Ecbatana, near modern Hamadan.<ref name="books.google.no"/> The Struchates and the Budii lived in villages in the Median triangle.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomson|first=James Oliver |title=History of Ancient Geography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rQipbjusDyQC&pg=PA292 |page=292 |year=1948|publisher=Biblo & Tannen Publishers|isbn=978-0-8196-0143-8}}</ref>

The family life of the Medes was based on patriarchal authority and [[polygamy]] was permitted. [[Strabo]] ([[Geographica|Geogr.]] XI, 13.11) mentions a peculiar law applied to all Medes – a law requiring every man to have no fewer than five wives. It is very unlikely that such a burden would actually be obligatory on anyone: most likely only five lawful wives, and no more, were permitted by the aforementioned law, just as four wives, and no more, are legal for [[Muslims]].{{sfn|Rawlinson|2007}} The Medes had "cities", probably small fortified settlements like those identified archaeologically. These locations were characterized by fortifications, warehouses, worship buildings, and ceremonial structures. The common population did not reside within these places, nor necessarily in immediate proximity; it is presumed they inhabited small villages or pastoral camps.<ref name=":2" />

The Medes are portrayed in the reliefs of [[Persepolis]], dating back to 515 BCE, just 35 years after the fall of the Median Kingdom. The reliefs depicting the Medes appear in three locations, showing guards, nobles, and their delegations. The reason for their frequent representation lies in the fact that the Medes held a privileged status in the Achaemenid Empire. The first relief shows four Medes and Persian spearmen. In this relief, the Medes wear short coats, trousers, and round caps, under which they seem to have curly hair.{{sfn|Stierlin|2006|p=145}}

=== Religion ===
{{See also|Mazdaism}}[[File:Farvahar background.jpg|thumb|[[Faravahar]], a symbol of Zoroastrianism]]

Information about the religion of the Medes is very limited. Primary sources pointing to their religious affiliations include the archaeological discoveries in Tepe Nush-i Jan, personal names of Median individuals, and the ''Histories'' of Herodotus.<ref name=EIR-MediaReligion/> Between 1967 and 1977, [[David Stronach]] excavated a building at Tepe Nush-i Jan that had been built around 750 BC and appears to be mainly religious in character. The building was erected on a rock about 30 meters high and included a "Central Sanctuary", "Western Sanctuary", "Fortress" and "Columned Hall", which were surrounded by a circular brick support wall. The Central Sanctuary was tower-shaped with a triangular inner altar. Its space is 11×7 meters and the walls are eight meters high. Near the west corner of the altar, a stepped fire altar constructed of mud bricks was discovered. As is known, the [[cult of fire]] was a common Indo-Iranian legacy.{{sfn|Dandamayev|Medvedskaya|2006}} According to Herodotus, the Medes had a priestly caste called the [[Magi]], who were one of the tribes of this people. They had the right or privilege to serve as priests not only for the Medes but also for the Persians. Thus, they constituted a priestly caste that passed its functions from father to son. They played a significant role in the court of the Median king Astyages, serving as advisers, sorcerers, dream interpreters, and soothsayers. Classical authors regarded the Magi as Zoroastrian priests. From the personal names of Medes as recorded by Assyrian texts from 8th and 9th centuries BCE there are examples of the use of the Indo-Iranian word ''arta-'' (lit. "truth") or [[theophoric name]]s with ''Maždakku'' and even the name of the god [[Ahura Mazda]], which is familiar from both [[Avestan]] and Old Persian.{{sfn|Dandamayev|Medvedskaya|2006}}<ref name=EIR-MediaReligion>{{Harvnb|Dandamayev|Medvedskaya|2006|loc=Median Religion}}</ref>

The religion promoted by the Magi could be some form of pre-Zoroastrianism or [[Zoroastrianism]] itself. This is a controversial topic on which scholars have not yet reached a consensus. [[Igor Diakonoff]] supposed that Astyages and perhaps even Cyaxares had already adopted a religion derived from the teachings of [[Zoroaster]] (although not necessarily identical with his doctrine). [[Mary Boyce]] argued that the existence of the Magi in Media with their own traditions and forms of worship was an obstacle to Zoroastrian proselytism there.<ref name=EIR-MediaReligion/> Boyce wrote that the Zoroastrian traditions in the Median city of Ray probably goes back to the 8th century BCE.<ref>{{Harvnb|Boyce|Grenet|1991|p=81}}</ref> It is suggested that from the 8th century BCE, a form of "[[Mazdaism]] with common Iranian traditions" existed in Media and the strict [[Zoroastrianism|reforms of Zarathustra]] began to spread in western Iran during the reign of the last Median kings in the 6th century BCE.<ref name=EIR-MediaReligion/> It is also possible that the Medes may have practised [[Mithraism]], with [[Mithra]] as their supreme deity.<ref>{{Harvnb|Soudavar|2003|p=84}}</ref>

=== Language ===
{{Main|Median language}}
Median people spoke the Median language, which was an Old Iranian language. [[Strabo]]'s ''[[Geographica]]'' (finished in the early first century) mentions the affinity of Median with other [[Iranian languages]]: "The name of'' [[Ariana]] ''is further extended to a part of Persia and of Media, as also to the [[Bactria]]ns and [[Sogdia]]ns on the north; for these speak approximately the same language, but with slight variations".<ref>Geography, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239%3Abook%3D15%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D8 Strab. 15.2.8]</ref>

No original deciphered text has been proven to have been written in the Median language. It is suggested that similar to the later Iranian practice of keeping archives of written documents in Achaemenid Iran, there was also a maintenance of archives by the Median government in their capital Ecbatana. There are examples of "Median literature" found in later records. One is according to Herodotus that the Median king Deioces, appearing as a judge, made judgement on causes submitted in writing. There is also a report by [[Dinon]] on the existence of "Median court poets".<ref>{{Harvnb|Gershevitch|1968|p=2}}</ref> Median literature is part of the "Old Iranian literature" (including also [[Saka language|Saka]], [[Old Persian]], [[Avestan]]) as this Iranian affiliation of them is explicit also in ancient texts, such as Herodotus's account<ref name="Herodotus-vii-62"/> that many peoples including Medes were "universally called Iranian".<ref>{{Harvnb|Gershevitch|1968|p=1}}</ref>

No documents dated from the Median period have been preserved. Only one bronze plate dating from the pre-Achaemenid period has been found in Median territory, bearing a cuneiform inscription in Akkadian dating back to the 8th century BCE, but it does not mention any Median names. A cuneiform inscription on a piece of silver was excavated at Tepe Nush-i Jan, but only the end of one sign and the beginning of the next were preserved.{{sfn|Dandamayev|Medvedskaya|2006}} If writing was employed by the Medes, it likely utilized a script similar to Aramaic that was written on perishable materials since no historical accounts, literary texts, bureaucratic records, or even commercial transaction records survived. Some small elements of the Median language have been reconstructed from place names, personal names, and some suggested Median linguistic remnants in [[Old Persian]].<ref name=":1" /> Numerous non-Persian words in Old Persian texts are commonly assumed to be Median, and other Median forms are preserved in Akkadian versions of Achaemenid inscriptions and elsewhere.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-vi2-documentation | title=Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica }}</ref> The Median words in Old Persian texts, whose Median origin can be established by "phonetic criteria",<ref name=Schmitt2008-p98/> appear more frequently among royal titles and among terms of the chancellery, military, and judicial affairs according to [[Rüdiger Schmitt]].<ref name=Schmitt2008-p98>{{Harvnb|Schmitt|2008|p=98}}</ref> It's likely that the Median language differed only dialectically from Old Persian.<ref>{{cite web |access-date=17 September 2023 |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Media and Medes |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10117a.htm |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref>

=== Art and architecture ===
[[File:Gold Rhyton in the form of a Ram's Head - Reza Abbasi Museum - Tehran, Iran.jpg|thumb|[[Rhyton]] in the shape of a ram's head, gold – Kurdistan - western Iran <ref>{{cite web | url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/ziwiye | title=Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica }}</ref> –, late 7th–early 6th century BCE]] 

Very little remains of the material culture of the Medes, and it is challenging to confidently attribute artifacts from the period before the Persian Empire to the Medes specifically or to other groups residing in western Iran during the Iron Age. For this reason, Median art remains a purely speculative topic,<ref name=":0" /> and its existence is even denied by some scholars.{{sfn|Dandamayev|Medvedskaya|2006}} [[Géza de Francovitch]] noted that there is not a single work conclusively of Median origin in the archaeological record. This observation appears to remain relevant, even after the excavation of two seemingly Median sites in western Iran and the emergence of more academic writings claiming to have unraveled and understood the characteristics of Median art.<ref name=":20" /> Still, other scholars presume that archaeological sites such as Tepe Nush-i Jan and Godin Tepe, located in Media and dating back to the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, are examples supporting the existence of Median art. Although Tepe Nush-i Jan was not a capital, according to David Stronach, it became a crucial link in a chain of evidence regarding the composition and development of Median architecture, as well as the incorporation of Median culture into ancient Eastern civilizations. Influence and direct borrowing of fine details, entire architectural forms, and building design that had precise analogs in [[Assyrian art|Assyrian]] and [[Art of Urartu|Urartian art]] can be traced in the architecture of Tepe Nus-i Jã and Godin Tepe. The Medes not only borrowed some elements from foreign art but also used them in new contexts with new functions and meanings, that is, in a new context without their typical and initial qualities. Later, the Achaemenids borrowed cultural achievements from the ancient Near East through the Medes.{{sfn|Dandamayev|Medvedskaya|2006}} [[J. Curtis]] argues against the minimalist position that there is nothing readily identifiable as Median art, but rather asserts that those objects that may be characterized as Median were heavily influenced by Assyrian art.<ref name=waters/><ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/372125/Media "Media (ancient region, Iran)"] [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]. Pesquisa em 28/04/17</ref> Objects in a style halfway Assyrian, halfway Achaemenid, are often attributed to Median art.<ref name=":21">{{cite web |access-date=8 October 2022 |language=en-US |title=ART IN IRAN ii. Median Art and Architecture |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/art-in-iran-ii-median |website=Encyclopaedia Iranica}}</ref>

Herodotus provides a description of the palace of Deioces in Ecbatana, stating that it was an architectural complex built on a hill and surrounded by seven concentric walls, with each [[battlement]] of a wall surpassing that of the wall next outside it. 
{{Citation needed|date=May 2025|reason=Saying Herodotus said something doesn’t mean it checks without question if you don’t actually cite it}}
The palace itself and the royal treasures were located within the innermost circle. The battlements of these circles would have been painted with seven different colors, indicating that the Medes developed a rich [[polychrome]]; and the two innermost circles were covered with silver and gold, respectively. The artistic contributions of Median [[goldsmith]]s are also mentioned in Persian records.{{sfn|Dandamayev|Medvedskaya|2006}}

[[Pictorial art]] has been excavated in small quantities and of somewhat disappointing quality so far. Evidence shows that Median pictorial art was heavily influenced by the Babylonians, Assyrians, Elamites, and perhaps the early phase of the 'animal style' of the Ancient Near East. In Hamadan, a bronze plate was discovered with the inscription of a king of Abadana, a small kingdom west of Assyrian outposts. The plate depicts the king dressed similarly to Babylonian attire from the late Kassite period. Another inscribed object is a cylinder seal with a hero fighting a monster, the scene and inscription style related to the Elamite style in Susa, but the hero's headdress is typical of the Medes in Achaemenid palace reliefs. Other findings include a crude-style cylinder seal impression from Nush-i Jan and cylinder seals in various Mesopotamian styles from the ruins and vicinity of Hamadan, some dating back to the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. These findings reveal a strong influence from other civilizations but lack distinctive traits of authentic Median art. Local craftsmanship is indicated by excavated bronze jars. Architectural painting, attested in both Baba Jan and Nush-i Jan, can be compared to the not-so-sophisticated geometric style found in [[Tepe Sialk]]. [[Richard David Barnett|R. D. Barnett]] argued that the so-called [[Scythian art|Scythian style]], more precisely the earliest phase of this style, was also part of contemporary Median art (late 8th century BCE). However, this theory has not been proven or refuted so far.<ref name=":21" />

A passage from the ''Babylonian Chronicle'' records that after the conquest of Ecbatana, Cyrus took the silver, gold, goods, and properties of the city to Persia. While the exact nature of these precious metals and goods is not specified, except for being portable material, it is possible that Median artisanal objects, as well as state or religious items, were among the spoils.<ref name=":20">{{cite book |date=1 January 2013 |first=Oscar White |language=en |last=Muscarella |title=Archaeology, Artifacts and Antiquities of the Ancient Near East |publisher=Brill |chapter=Median Art and Medizing Scholarship |pages=999–1023 |doi=10.1163/9789004236691_040 |isbn=978-90-04-23669-1 |chapter-url=https://brill.com/view/book/9789004236691/B9789004236691_040.xml}}</ref>

Greek references to "Median" people make no clear distinction between the "Persians" and the "Medians"; in fact for a Greek to become "too closely associated with Iranian culture" was "to become Medianized, not Persianized".<ref name="Young-p449" /> The Median kingdom was a short-lived Iranian state and the textual and archaeological sources of that period are rare and little could be known from the Median culture.<ref name=Young-p450>{{Harvnb|Young|1997|p=450}}</ref>

=== Economy ===
The basic economic resource in the region was pastoralism, as indicated in the records of Assyrian raids and tributes. A primary factor for economic development was the breeding of valuable breeds, such as horses for military use and Bactrian camels for commercial transport. The proximity to the Assyrian Empire, as well as to Urartu, Elam, and Babylon, made the breeding of these animals highly profitable. However, the most crucial economic factor was the strategic location of the Medes along the main trade route, the [[Silk Road]], connecting Mesopotamia to Central Asia.<ref name=":2">{{cite book |author-link=Mario Liverani |chapter=The Rise and Fall of Media |chapter-url=http://m-hosseini.ir/mad-hakha/articles-1/20.pdf |date=2003 |editor-link2=Michael Roaf |editor-link3=Robert Rollinger |editor1-first=Giovanni B. |editor1-last=Lanfranchi |editor2-first=Michael |editor2-last=Roaf |editor3-first=Robert |editor3-last=Rollinger |first=Mario |isbn=978-9-990-93968-2 |last=Liverani |location=[[Padua]] |pages=1–12 |publisher=S.a.r.g.o.n. Editrice e Libreria |title=Continuity of Empire (?) Assyria, Media, Persia}}</ref>

Assyrian palace reliefs depict inhabitants of the eastern mountain regions wearing the same tunics, sheepskin coats, lace-up boot, and hairstyles. This visual evidence suggests a similarity in the lifeways of the Western Iranian peoples, with no apparent significant distinctions among the Medes and their neighbors. The only direct references to the Median lifestyle occur in a literary text from the 7th century BCE, known as the "Sargon Geography", mentioning one Median chiefdom, Karzinu, reached by Assyrian forces in 716 BCE. As usual, non-Mesopotamian foreigners are characterized negatively, by listing the Assyrian cultural elements that the foreigners supposedly lacked. The description of the people of Karzinu makes it clear that they differed in quite a number of respects, including hairstyle, funerary practices, and diet, from the cultural habits of the western parts of the Assyrian Empire.

Median livestock breeders probably practiced [[transhumance]], inhabiting their settlements in winter and spending the summer on pastures high in the mountains. The information gleaned from the Sargon campaign provides a rare reference to Median farming, suggesting a robust rural economy combining livestock breeding and farming, albeit lacking notable crafts or industries worth mentioning. The degree to which the Medes participated in the trade that passed through their territories between Mesopotamia and the lands further east is unknown. Assyrians received various goods from the Medes, including horses, mules, Bactrian camels, oxen, sheep, and goats. However, there is an absence of sophisticated finished products like precious textiles, metalwork, or furniture, and no luxury goods except for lapis lazuli.<ref name=":0" />

The Medes were defined by their life in the Zagros Mountains. They sowed grain in the broad valleys and pastured their animals on the hillsides, moving from summer to winter pastures as the weather demanded. The Medes raised sheep, goat, and cattle for meat, milk, and wool, but it was the Median horses that were considered their most treasured resource. The Medes were known for their horsemanship, and when the Assyrians demanded tribute from them it was almost always in the form of horses trained for riding.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |access-date=6 January 2024 |date=2021 |pages=39 |periodical=King of the Seven Climes |title=The Median Confederacy |url=https://www.academia.edu/34285360}}</ref>

== Mythology ==
In the [[Greek myth]] of [[Jason|Jason and the Argonauts]], Medea is the daughter of King [[Aeëtes]] of Colchis and a paternal granddaughter of the sun-god [[Helios]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], 700 BC: ''[[Theogony]]'', pp. 993–1002</ref> Following her failed marriage to Jason while in [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]], for one of several reasons depending on the version,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270588130 |title=Madea in the Context of East/West Relationships |author=Ketevan Nadareishvili |date=2010–2011}}</ref> she marries King [[Aegeus]] of Athens and bears a son [[Medus]]. After failing to make Aegeus kill his older son [[Theseus]], she and her son fled to ''[[Ariana|Aria]]'', where the Medes take their name from her, according to several Greek and later Roman accounts, including in [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]' ''[[Description of Greece]]'' (1st-century AD).<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias2A.html | title=PAUSANIAS, DESCRIPTION OF GREECE 2.1-14 - Theoi Classical Texts Library}}</ref> According to other versions, such as in [[Strabo]]'s ''[[Geographica]]'' (1st-century AD) and [[Justin (historian)|Justin]]'s ''Epitoma Historiarum Philippicarum'' (2nd or 3rd century AD), she returned home to conquer neighboring lands with her husband Jason, one of which was named after her; while another version related by [[Diodorus Siculus]] in ''[[Bibliotheca Historica]]'' (1st-century BC) states that after being exiled she married an Asian king and bore Medus, who was greatly admired for his courage, after whom they took their name.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.theoi.com/Text/DiodorusSiculus4C.html | title=DIODORUS SICULUS, LIBRARY OF HISTORY BOOK 4.40-58 - Theoi Classical Texts Library}}</ref>

== Kurds and Medes ==
{{Main|Origin of the Kurds}}

Various historians have suggested a link between the Medes and the [[Kurds]]. One of the earliest historical texts often cited to support this connection is the [[Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan|Kārnāmag-ī Ardaxšīr-ī Pābagān]] (Book of the Deeds of Ardashir). In this text, which narrates the rise of [[Ardashir I]] (d. 242 AD), the [[Sasanian Empire|Sassanid]] king battles a local ruler named Madig, who is referred to as the 'King of the Kurds' (Madig î Kurdan Şâh). Some scholars interpret the name 'Madig' as a reference to 'Mede', suggesting a sociopolitical continuity between the Medes and the Kurds in the perception of the late [[Sasanian Empire|Sassanid]] era.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Theodor Noldeke |url=http://archive.org/details/GeschichteDesArtachsirIPapakanAusDemPehlewiUebersetzt |title=Geschichte des Artachsir i Papakan aus dem Pehlewi uebersetzt |pages=48-49 |language=German}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Askari |first=Nasrin |title=The medieval reception of the Shahnama as a mirror for princes {{!}} WorldCat.org |url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/946967827 |access-date=27 November 2025 |website=search.worldcat.org |page=114 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sanjana |first=Darab Dastur Peshotan |url=http://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.15864 |title=The Karname I Artakshir I Papakan : being the oldest surviving records of the Zeroastrian emperor Ardashir Babakan |date=1896 |publisher=Education Society Steam Press, Bombay |quote=Afterwards he (viz., Artakhshir), having collected many soldiers and heroes of Zâvûl, proceeded’ to battle against Mâdîg, the King of the Kûrds'.}}</ref>

Russian historian and linguist [[Vladimir Minorsky]] suggested that the Medes, who widely inhabited the land where currently the [[Kurds]] form a majority, might have been forefathers of the modern Kurds. He also states that the Medes who invaded the region in the eighth century BC linguistically resembled the Kurds. This view was accepted by many Kurdish nationalists in the twentieth century. However, [[Martin van Bruinessen]], a Dutch scholar, argues against the attempt to identify the Medes as ancestors of the Kurds:<ref name="Ozoglu25">Hakan Özoğlu, ''Kurdish notables and the Ottoman state: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Shifting Boundaries'', SUNY Press, 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=CttLWEaTrJUC&dq=%22many+Kurdish+nationalists+in+the+twentieth+century%22&pg=PA25 p. 25.]</ref>

<blockquote>Though some Kurdish intellectuals claim that their people are descended from the Medes, there is no evidence to permit such a connection across the considerable gap in time between the political dominance of the Medes and the first attestation of the Kurds 
:—van Bruinessen</blockquote>

Contemporary linguistic evidence has challenged the previously suggested view that the Kurds are descendants of the Medes.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cxr_vqpwVUkC&q=%22kurds+are+descendants%22&pg=PA61|title=Turkey Foreign Policy and Government Guide|date=April 2003|publisher=International Business Publications, USA|isbn=9780739762820}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EzzYk_gzpJ0C&q=%22kurds+are+descendants%22&pg=PA59|title=Turkey|isbn=9781419191268|last=Federal Research Division|year=2004|publisher=Kessinger }}</ref> [[Gernot Ludwig Windfuhr]], professor of Iranian Studies, identified the [[Kurdish languages]] as [[Parthian language|Parthian]], albeit with a [[Median language|Median]] substratum.<ref>Windfuhr, Gernot (1975), "Isoglosses: A Sketch on Persians and Parthians, Kurds and Medes", Monumentum H.S. Nyberg II (Acta Iranica-5), Leiden: 457–471</ref> [[David Neil MacKenzie]], an authority on the Kurdish language, said Kurdish was closer to Persian and questioned the "traditional" view holding that Kurdish, because of its differences from Persian, should be regarded as a [[Northwestern Iranian language]].<ref name=Paul>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Paul |first=Ludwig | title= KURDISH LANGUAGE i. HISTORY OF THE KURDISH LANGUAGE | encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica | access-date=31 October 2016|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kurdish-language-i}}</ref> The [[Kurdology|Kurdologist]] and [[Iranian studies|Iranologist]] [[Garnik Asatrian]] stated that "The Central Iranian dialects, and primarily those of the Kashan area in the first place, as well as the Azari dialects (otherwise called [[Tati language (Iran)|Southern Tati]]) are probably the only Iranian dialects, which can pretend to be the direct offshoots of Median... In general, the relationship between Kurdish and Median is not closer than the affinities between the latter and other North Western dialects – Baluchi, Talishi, South Caspian, Zaza, Gurani, Kurdish (Soranî, Kurmancî, Kelhorî).<ref>Schmitt, Rüdiger (1989). Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum. Wiesbaden: Reichert.</ref><ref>G. Asatrian, ''Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds'', Iran and the Caucasus, Vol. 13, pp. 1–58, 2009. (p. 21 [https://archive.org/stream/ProlegomenaToTheStudyOfTheKurds/Asatrian_kurds_djvu.txt])</ref> Asatrian also stated that "there is no serious ground to suggest a special genetic affinity within North-Western Iranian between this ancient language [Median] and Kurdish. The latter does not share even the generally ephemeric peculiarity of Median."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Asatrian|first=Garnik|date=2009|title=Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25597392|journal=Iran & the Caucasus|volume=13|issue=1|pages=1–57|doi=10.1163/160984909X12476379007846|jstor=25597392|issn=1609-8498|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

According to [[Alireza Shapour Shahbazi|Shahbazi]], the Medes were ancestors of many Iranians, particularly the Kurds.<ref>{{Cite book|author-last=Shahbazi|author-first=A. Shapur|author-link=Alireza Shapour Shahbazi|editor-last=Daryaee|editor-first=Touraj|editor-link=Touraj Daryaee|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KjQ_AwAAQBAJ&q=Kurds&pg=PT157|title=The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History|chapter=The Achaemenid Persian Empire (550–330 BCE): Political History|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-020882-0|page=122}}</ref> To [[Wadie Jwaideh|Jwaideh]], "The empire of the Medes, one of the reputed ancestors of the Kurdish people, was the only great national state that may be said to have been established by the Kurds."<ref>[[Wadie Jwaideh|Jwaideh, W. Elias]] (2006). ''The Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development''. [[Syracuse University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-8156-3093-7}}. p. xv.</ref> In Kurdish mythology and tradition, the Medes are regarded as the ancestral roots of the Kurdish people. The rise of the [[Median kingdom|Median Kingdom]] is often associated with the legend of [[Kaveh the Blacksmith|Kawa the Blacksmith]] (the [[Newroz as celebrated by Kurds|Newroz]] legend), who led an uprising against the tyrant Zahak and ended his rule on the day of the vernal equinox. This myth places the Medes in a central position within Kurdish tradition, both historically and symbolically.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Cambridge History Of The Kurds|last=Demir|first=Ipek|isbn=978-1-108-47335-4|pages=836-838|language=en}}</ref>



According to ''The Cambridge History of the Kurds:''

{{blockquote|Although some Kurdish authors have claimed descendants for Kurdish from [[Avestan]] and Median, a direct link of Kurdish with Avestan was ruled out in Iranian [[philology]] even back in its initial stages (cf. Rödiger and Pott, 1842, cited in Lecoq, 1997: 31), while Avestan, although its classification is also unresolved, is traditionally considered to be closer to [[Eastern Iranian languages]] (cf. Korn, 2016: 403). Furthermore, the purported relationship of Kurdish to the Median language, although defended by Minorsky based mostly on [[Conjecture|conjectural]] historical evidence (Minorsky, 1940: 143–6), is not supported by linguistic evidence, since information about the Median language is extremely limited and indirect, being mostly restricted to the loanwords found in the [[Old Persian]] inscriptions (Lecoq, 1987: 674).4 As Lecoq (1997: 31) states in relation to the Kurdish–Median connection, everything is possible but nothing is demonstrable. But even the limited data at hand provide evidence against Kurdish–Median genetic affinity (Asatrian, 2009: 21; MacKenzie, 1999: 675–6; Rossi, 2010: 308). Refuting thus the Median origin of Kurdish, MacKenzie (1961) outlined a picture of the evolution of North-western Iranian languages where Kurdish and [[Persian language|Persian]] evolved in parallel and therefore Kurdish "represented an early splitting from the linguistic subgroup of Median" (cf. Rossi, 2010: 307–8). Likewise, in his survey of major isoglosses in the historical [[phonology]] of [[West Iranian languages]], Windfuhr (1975: 458) concluded on the basis of these facts (and with regard to the subsequent migration of the Kurds into the Median territory – explained below) that Kurdish can probably not be considered a 'Median' dialect neither linguistically nor geographically, stating further that the modern Iranian languages of [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]] (originally '[[Atropatene|Aturpatakan]]') and [[Central Iran]] (e.g. Sivandi) are Median dialects (Windfuhr, 2009: 15).<ref>{{cite book |editor-first1=Hamit |editor-last1=Bozarslan |editor-first2=Cengiz |editor-last2=Gunes |editor-first3=Veli |editor-last3=Yadirgi |chapter=The History of Kurdish and the Development of Literary Kurmanji |first=Ergin |last=Öpengin |title=The Cambridge History of the Kurds |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2021 |pages=608–609 }}</ref>}}

== See also ==
* {{Portal inline|Kurdistan}}
* {{Portal inline|Iran}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group="N"}}

==Citations==
{{reflist}}

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==Further reading==
* "[https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9051719 Mede]". ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 16 January 2008.
* {{citation|last=Gershevitch|first=Ilya|title=The Cambridge History of Iran|volume=2|place=Cambridge, UK |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1985|isbn=978-0-521-20091-2}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.iranchamber.com/history/median/median.php Median Empire] at Iran Chamber Society website.

{{Ancient Mesopotamia}}
{{Median topics|state=expanded}}
{{Median and Achaemenid kings}}
{{Achaemenid Provinces}}
{{Iran topics}}

{{coord missing|Iran}}

[[Category:Medes| ]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of the Near East]]
[[Category:Historical Iranian peoples]]