Media
, ancient country of northwestern
Iran
, generally corresponding to the modern regions of Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and parts of Kermanshah. Media first appears in the texts of the Assyrian king
Shalmaneser III
(858?824
bc
), in which peoples of the land of “Mada” are recorded. The inhabitants came to be known as Medes.
Although Herodotus
credits
“Deioces son of Phraortes” (probably
c.
715) with the creation of the Median kingdom and the founding of its capital city at
Ecbatana
(modern Hamadan), it was probably not before 625
bc
that
Cyaxares
, grandson of
Deioces
, succeeded in uniting into a kingdom the many Iranian-speaking Median tribes. In 614 he captured Ashur, and in 612, in alliance with Nabopolassar of Babylon, his forces stormed Nineveh, putting an end to the
Assyrian
empire. The victors divided the Assyrian provinces among themselves, with the Median king taking over a large part of Iran, northern Assyria, and parts of Armenia.
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Ancient Greece
In many respects the internal organization of the Median empire probably
resembled
that of Assyria, but little is actually known. Few identifiable “Median” objects have been found, but the Medes apparently favoured rich ornamentation and also received a strong artistic influence from Assyria. Since no Median written documents of any kind have ever been uncovered, their spiritual and economic life is also a matter of conjecture.
By the victory in 550 of the Persian chief
Cyrus II
the Great over his suzerain,
Astyages
of Media, the Medes were made subject to the Persians. In the new Achaemenian Empire they retained a prominent position; in honour and war they stood next to the Persians, and their court ceremonial was adopted by the new
sovereigns
, who in the summer months resided in Ecbatana.
Alexander the Great
occupied Media in 330, and in the partition of his empire, southern Media was given to the Macedonian commander Peithon and eventually passed to the Seleucids, but the north was left to
Atropates, a former general of
Darius III
, who succeeded in founding an independent kingdom, named
Atropatene
, with its capital at
Gazaca
. In later times Atropatene came under the control of Parthia, Armenia, and Rome.
Southern Media remained a province of the
Seleucid empire
for a century and a half, and Hellenism was introduced everywhere. About 152
bc
, however, Media was taken by the Parthian king
Mithradates I
, and it remained subject to the Arsacids until about
ad
226, when it passed, together with Atropatene, to the S?s?nians. By that time the Medes had lost their distinctive character and had been
amalgamated
into the one nation of the Iranians.
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