Medes facts for kids

"Mede" redirects here. For the town in Italy, see Mede (Italy).

Median Empire
c. 625 BCE–549 BCE
Median Empire, ca. 600 BC
Capital		Ecbatana
Religion		Zoroastrianism, possibly also Proto-Indo-Iranian religion
Government		Monarchy
Historical era		Iron Age
•	Cyaxares united Median tribes	c. 625 BCE
•	Cyrus the Great	549 BCE
Preceded by Succeeded by Neo-Assyrian Empire Achaemenid Empire

The Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. This area was known in Greek as Media or Medea They entered this region with the first wave of Iranian tribes, in the late second millennium BC (at the end of the Bronze Age).

By the 6th century BC, the Medes were able to make their own empire. It stretched from southern shore of the Black Sea and Aran province (in modern Azerbaijan) to north and central Asia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The Medes had many tributary states, including the Persians, who eventually took over the Median empire as part of the Achaemenid Persian Empire.

The Medes are credited with the foundation of the first Iranian empire, the largest of its day until Cyrus the Great established a unified Iranian empire of the Medes and Persians, often referred to as the Achaemenid Empire.

Controversy

Modern scholars question whether a Median empire even existed. It is argued that even if it existed, it must have been just a political alliance among highland neighbors of the Assyrians. The alliance might include Armenia in southeastern Anatolia, Sagartians in modern northern Iraq, and the actual Medians in the area between what is today Hamadan-Kirmanshah in cental Zagros. Neither cuneiform sources, archaeological evidence, or biblical accounts, support Herodotus, who claimed there really was a Median empire.

Median language

Strabo mentions the affinity of Mede with other Iranian languages in his "Geography":

The name of Ariana is farther extended to a part of Persia and of Media, as also to the Bactrians and Sogdians on the north; for these speak approximately the same language, with but slight variations.

– Geography, 15.8

Words probably of Mede origin appear in various other Iranian dialects, including Old Persian. For example, Herodotus mentions the word Spaka (dog), still found in some Iranic languages.

Images for kids

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  Excavation from ancient Ecbatane, Hamadan, Iran

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  Timeline of Pre-Achaemenid era.

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  Rhyton in the shape of a ram's head, gold – western Iran – Median, late 7th–early 6th century BC

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  Protoma in the form of a bull's head, 8th century BC, gold and filigree, National Museum, Warsaw

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  The Apadana Palace in Persepolis, Iran, northern stairway (detail) – fifth-century BC Achaemenid bas-relief shows a Mede soldier in traditional Mede costume (behind Persian soldier)

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  The Ganj Nameh ("treasure epistle") in Ecbatana. The inscriptions are by Darius I and his son in Xerxes I

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  Apadana Hall, 5th century BC Achaemenid-era carving of Persian and Median soldiers in traditional costume (Medians are wearing rounded hats and boots), in Persepolis, Iran