MEDIA (Assyro Mât Ma-da-a-a). - The northwestern part of the Iranian plateau, between the Araxes, the Caspian, the central desert, the borders of Persis and Susiana (Elam) and the Zagros ranges: a country with a relatively dense population already from prehistoric times, which, after the Medes had established their predominance there, determined the history of the 1st millennium B.C.
The country lent itself very well as the foundation of a great power: "good in men and horses,"
rich in metals and in craftsmen in the "cities" or rather small towns. But the bulk of the people were the shepherds, vigorous and fierce. The few true cities were at the crossroads of the caravan routes: such as Ecbatana (Hangmatana), controlling trade toward the west, and Rhagae (south of Tehran), controlling trade toward the north and east.
Knowledge of the history of Media is based on lacunose sources: Avestan literature (especially the yat and yama: vague indications, with the exception of the Videvdat, "Anti-demonic Law"), Greek accounts (in part fabulous), Assyrian annals (the richest in information). The excavated sites are still lacking, along with the practical illustration they provide for chronology and history.
The language of the Medes is known only from proper names; it was close to Persian, so that no interpreters were needed, and likewise to that of the Scythians, Saka (in southern Russia and Siberia) and the Indo-Aryans; it belongs to the eastern branch of the Indo-European family. The religion was, at least in part, monotheistic.
How was the region occupied by the Medes (from the 13th to the 9th century B.C.)? Still in the 9th and 8th centuries the proper names of that region represent a mixture of Subaraean, Aramaic and Median names; and as a vassal of the great king of Nineveh someone even assumed an Assyrian name. It was a migration carried out on a large scale, in which the "feudal" system of the shepherds of Central Asia played a part: the leaders of the hordes with their horsemen came to occupy the towers and castles, whence petty rulers already established in the land controlled the valleys, and became their successors. Behind them came the shepherds and the flocks, which mingled with the indigenous population of shepherds and sedentary folk. Peacefully, then, families of newly arrived lords and of indigenous lords united; in this mixture the Medes gained the upper hand.
In the pre-imperial period the country thus lacked political unity. There were only demana ("house"), vis ("tribe") and faithra ("district"), but not yet dahyu ("land"), all dominated by the airjaman, the "horsemen" (Assyrian with the epithet danuñti = "the strong"), the ruling class that had established itself over the hvaetu and vercena, the lower classes. For this reason the Assyrians had to deal only with the petty rulers, that is, the "feudal" lords controlling some trade route, and therefore more influential. These easily submitted at the approach of an Assyrian army, in order then to live in full freedom when it withdrew. The Assyrians knew how to remedy this state of affairs by founding colonies and making part of Media a province of theirs; yet they never succeeded in organizing it effectively, and still less in establishing its boundaries.
The first Assyrian incursion is reported by Shalmaneser III in 836: a certain number of petty rulers of the land Mada submitted, southeast of Lake Urmia. A century later (737) Tiglath-Pileser penetrated as far as the "Mountain of lapis lazuli," the majestic Demavend north of Tehran. After Samaria was taken by Sargon (722 B.C.), part of the Israelites was deported "to the cities of Media," that is, to the Assyrian colonies of the province of Media. Sargon moreover, in 715, deported the Median petty ruler Daiakku to Hamath in Syria, with his vassal horsemen. Of him the Greeks made the founder of the Median dynasty, under the name Deioces.
The true founder of the dynasty, however, was Cyaxares I (Uahfatar). Still paying tribute to Sargon (in 714), under Sennacherib he set about attacking and plundering the Assyrian colonies around Harbâr, in the Zagros (in 702). Then the invasion of the Gimmirrai and the Išguzai (Cimmerians and Scythians) damaged both: Assyria lost the regions around Lake Urmia, noted for the breeding of thoroughbred horses, and, wishing to remedy this, made vast raids in Media, penetrating as far as the land of Patufarri, on the shores of the salt waters of the Central Lake, carrying off especially the numerous herds of horses.
The founder of the Median Empire may be said to be Kša-thritha or Fravartiš (Phraortes), originally petty ruler of Kar Kašši, who reigned from 675 to 653. Besides systematically setting about attacking the Assyrian colonies, he succeeded in establishing a stable understanding between Medes and Cimmerians, directed against Assyria. He even knew how to make his vassal Ariyaramna, son of Hahamiš (from whom the dynasty of the Achaemenids descends), who had introduced his Persians into Persis, as he narrated on a golden tablet, then brought to Ecbatana, already fortified in a wondrous manner (cf. the book of Judith). Finally Fravariš risked battle with Ashurbanipal and lost both battle and life (653); the Persians made themselves independent.
Media rose again under Cyaxares II (ca. 625-585), who, combining the technique of the Scythians with that of the Assyrians, reorganized the Median army to perfection, dividing it into spearmen, archers and horsemen. The Assyrian incursions immediately ceased. Cyaxares subdued Persia (Persis and Anšan) once again, despite the sovereignty of the Assyrians. He even descended from the Zagros mountains to besiege Nineveh. But Sinšar-iškun knew how to move against him the "Scythians" allied with him (so the Greek sources; more accurate perhaps is to think of the people of the Ummān Manda, then entering history). It seems that Cyaxares was forced to submit to them. But already in 616 he freed himself, drawing some of them to his side, formed an alliance with Nabopolassar, who by then had taken all of Babylonia from Assyria, and carried the war into enemy territory. The alliance meant that the last hour of Assyria had struck.
The following wars show Media as the greatest power of the time, and to it are due the successes that followed: the conquest of the city of Aššur in 614, of Nineveh in 612, of Haran, the last center of the Assyrians, taken in 610 and defended in the years that followed. The alliance was sealed with the marriage of Nebuchadnezzar to Amyhia, and Media received Assyria and the northern territories. In other military expeditions Cyaxares subdued the Carduchi, between the Caspian and the Elburz, and even the Parthians, in eastern Irān. A long war with Alyattes of Lydia (590-585) ended with a compromise peace, extending Media as far as the Halys. An alliance was also made with Lydia, and Cyaxares gave another daughter in marriage to Croesus, crown prince, later the last king of Lydia on the throne of Sardis.
Shortly after its apogee the Median power collapsed. Ištumegu (v. ASTYAGES), the last king, gave his daughter Mandane in marriage to Cambyses I, his vassal in Persia. From this union was born Cyrus (v.) the Great, who ascended the throne of Persia in 559. His aims were not only independence, but even the throne of Media. Having secured the loyalty of all his land and of certain Median tribes, he formed an alliance with Nabonidus, who went to attack Haran, then in the possession of the Medes. In 553 Cyrus was summoned by Astyages to the court of Ecbatana; he did not appear, which meant revolt, and Astyages moved his army against him. But the army of Astyages turned against its leader, took him prisoner and brought him to Cyrus, who hastened to go to Ecbatana to lay hands on his treasures.
Thus in 550 the independence of the Medes came to an end. Mada became the first satrapy. But the Persians regarded it as a part of the homeland, and the Medes enjoyed the same rights of honor as the Persians, the highest offices being accessible to them. Ecbatana remained a favored residence of the Achaemenid kings.
Bibliography2 works
Herzfeld, Archaeological history of Iran, Londra 1935, pp. 1-43; G. G. Cameron, Histoire de l'Iran antique, Parigi 1937; A. T. Olmstead, History of the persian empire, Londra-Nuova York 1948, pp. 16-38.
Pietro Nober