Medes: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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The '''Medes''' were an [[Iranians|Iranian]] people of [[Aryan|Indo-Iranian]] origin who lived in the western and north-western portion of present-day [[Iran]]. By the [[6th century BC|6th century]] [[Common Era|BCE]] (prior to the [[Persia|Persian]] invasion) the Medes were able to establish an empire that stretched from [[Arran (Azerbaijan)|Aran]] (the modern-day [[Republic of Azerbaijan]]) to [[Central Asia]] and [[Afghanistan]]. The [[Kurds]] of today consider themselves to be descended from the ancient Medes.

Apart from a few personal names, the language of the Medes is entirely unknown, but was undoubtedly quite similar to the [[Avestan]] and [[Scythian]] languages.

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==Early historical references to Medes==

[[Image:Median_Empire.jpg|thumb|left|Median Empire]]

The Medes, people of the ''Mada'', (the Greek form "Μηδοί" is Ionian for ''Madoi''), appear in history first in [[830s BC|836 BCE]]. Earliest records show that [[Assyria|Assyrian]] conqueror [[Shalmaneser II]] received tribute from the "Amadai" in connection with wars against the tribes of the [[Zagros]]. His successors undertook many expeditions against the Medes (''Madai''). [[Sargon II of Assyria|Sargon]] in [[710s BC|715 BCEBC]] and [[710s BC|713 BCEBC]] subjected them up to "the far mountain Bikni," i.e. the [[Alborz|Elbruz]] ([[Damavand]]) and the borders of the desert.

An Assyrian military report from [[800 BC|800 BCE]] lists 28 names of Mede chiefs, but only one of these is positively identified as Iranian. A second report from cac. 700 BCEBC lists 26 names; of these, 5 seem to be Iranian, the others are not.

At this early stage, the Medes were usually classed together with a kindred Iranian tribe, the Scythians. They were divided into many districts and towns, under petty local chieftains; from the names in the Assyrian inscriptions, it appears they had already adopted the [[Zoroastrianism|religion]] of [[Zoroaster]]. In spite of repeated rebellions by the early chieftains against the Assyrian yoke, the Medes paid tribute to Assyria under Sargon's successors,[[Sennacherib]], [[Esarhaddon]] and [[Assur-bani-pal]], whenever these kings marched in with their fierce armies.

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==The Median Empire==

In the second half of the [[7th century BC|7th century BCE]], the Medes gained their independence and were united by a dynasty. The origin and history of the Median Empire is quite obscure, as we possess almost no contemporary information, and not a single monument or inscription from Media itself. The story that [[Ctesias]] gave (a list of nine kings, beginning with Arbaces, who is said to have destroyed Nineveh about 880 BCEBC, preserved in Diod. ii. 32 sqq. and copied by many later authors) has no historical value whatever; though some of his names may be derived from local traditions.

The account of Herodotus does contain more valuable historical elements; if he may be trusted, this dynasty derived its origin from [[Deioces]], a Median chieftain in the [[Zagros]], who was, along with his kinsmen, transported by [[Sargon]] to Hamath (Haniah) in [[Syria]] in [[710s BC|715 BCEBC]].

The kings who established the Median Empire are generally recognized to be [[Phraortes]] and his son [[Cyaxares]]. They were probably chieftains of a nomadic Median tribe in the desert, the '''''Manda''''', mentioned by Sargon, and they likely founded the capital at [[Ecbatana]]. The Babylonian king [[Nabonidus]] also designated the Medes and their kings always as ''Manda''.

From Assyrian inscriptions, it is apparent that these early Mede dynasts, who had attempted rebellions against the Assyrians in the time of Esarhaddon and Assur-bani-pal, were allied with chieftains of the Cimmerians (who had come from the northern shore of the Black Sea and invaded Armenia and [[Asia Minor]]), of the Saparda, Ashguza and other tribes; and ''Jeremiah'' and ''Zephaniah'' in the Old Testament confirm that a massive invasion of [[Syria]] and [[Palestine]] by northern barbarians indeed took place in [[626 BC|626 BCEBC]].

According to Herodotus, the conquests of Cyaxares the Mede were interrupted by a Scythian invasion lasting twenty-eight years. The only certain fact is that in 612, Cyaxares (with the help of [[Nabopolasser]] the Chaldean) succeeded in destroying [[Nineveh]], and by 606, the remaining vestiges of Assyrian control.

From then on, the Mede king ruled over much of Iran, Assyria and northern Mesopotamia, Armenia and [[Cappadocia]]. His power was very dangerous to his neighbors, and the exiled [[Jew]]s expected the destruction of [[Babylonia]] by the Medes (Isa. xiii., xiv., xxi.; Jerem. 1. li.). When Cyaxares attacked [[Lydia]], the kings of [[Cilicia]] and [[Babylon]] intervened and negotiated a peace in [[585 BC|585 BCE]], whereby the [[Halys]] was established as the Medes' frontier with Lydia. [[Nebuchadrezzar]] of Babylon married a daughter of Cyaxares, and an equilibrium of the great powers was maintained until the rise of the Persians under [[Cyrus]].

About the internal organization of the Median Empire, we know that the Greeks adopted many ceremonial elements of the Persian court, the costume of the king, etc., through Media.

==Subjection to the Persians==

In [[553 BC|553 BCE]] Cyrus, king of Persia, rebelled against his suzerain, the Mede King [[Astyages]], son of Cyaxares; he finally won a decisive victory in [[550 BC|550 BCE]] resulting in Astyages' capture by his own dissatisfied nobles, who promptly turned him over to the triumphant Cyrus. Thus were the Medes subjected to their close kin, the Persians. In the new empire they retained a prominent position; in honor 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. After the assassination of the usurper Smerdis, a Mede Fravartish (Phraortes), claiming to be a scion of Cyaxares, tried to restore the Median kingdom, but was defeated by the Persian generals and executed in Ecbatana (Darius in the Behistun inscr.). Another rebellion, in 409, against [[Darius II]] (Xenophon, Hellen. ~. 2, 19) was of short duration. But the non-Aryan tribes to the north, especially the Cadusii, were always troublesome; many abortive expeditions of the later kings against them are mentioned.

Under Persian rule, the country was divided into two satrapies: the south, with Ecbatana and Rhagae (Rai), Media proper, or Greater Media, as it is often called, formed in Darius' organization the eleventh satrapy (Herodotus iii. 92), together with the Paricanians and Orthocorybantians; the north, the district of Matiane (see above), together with the mountainous districts of the Zagros and Assyria proper (east of the Tigris) was united with the Alarodians and Saspirians in eastern Armenia, and formed the eighteenth satrapy (Herod. iii. 94; cf. v. 49, 52, VII. 72).

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==Media and Hellenistic Greece==

[[Alexander the Great|Alexander]] occupied Media in the summer of [[330 BC|330 BCE]]. In 328 he appointed Atropates, a former general of Darius (Arrian iii. 8, 4), as satrap (iv. 18, 3, Vi. 29, 3), whose daughter was married to Perdiccas in 324 (Arrian vu. 4, ~). In the partition of his empire, southern Media was given to the Macedonian Peithon; but the north, which lay far off and was of little importance to the generals fighting over Alexander's inheritance, was left to Atropates.

While southern Media with Ecbatana passed to the rule of Antigonus, and afterwards (about 310) to Seleucus I, Atropates maintained himself in his satrapy and succeeded in founding an independent kingdom. Thus the partition of the country, that Persia had introduced, became lasting; the north was named Atropatene (in Plin. Vi. 42, ''Atrapatene''; in. Ptolem. Vi. 2, 5, ''Tropatene''; in Pniyb, V. 44 and 55 corrupted in r?. isarpajr a KaXouu~va), after the founder of the dynasty, a name still preserved in the modern [[Azerbaijan]]; cf. Nldeke, Atropatene, in Zeitschrif.t der deutschen morgeni. Geselisclzaft, 34, 692 sqq. and Marquart, Eranshahr, p. 108 sqq.

The capital was Gazaca in the central plain, and the strong castle Phraaspa (Dio Cass. xlix. 26; Plut. 4nlon. 38; Ptol. Vi. 2, 10) or Vera (Strabo xi. 523), probably identical with the great ruin Takhti Suleiman, where are remains of [[Sassanid dynasty|Sassanid]] fire-altars and a later palace. The kings had a strong and warlike army, especially cavalry (Polyb. v. 55; Strabo xi. 253). Nevertheless, [[Artabazanes |King Artabazanes]] was forced by [[Antiochus III the Great|Antiochus the Great]] in [[220 BC|220 BCE]] to conclude a disadvantageous treaty (Polyb. v. 55), and in later times, the rulers became in turn dependent on the Parthians, on Tigranes of Armenia, and in the time of [[Pompey]] who defeated their king Darius (Appian, Mithr. 108), on Antonius (who invaded Atropatene) and on Augustus of Rome. In the time of Strabo (17AD CE[[17]]), the dynasty still existed (p. 523); later the country seems to have become a Parthian province.

Atropatene is that country of western Asia which was least of all other countries influenced by [[Hellenistic Greece|Hellenism]]; there exists not even a single coin of its rulers. But the opinion of modern authors that it had been a special refuge of Zoroastrianism, is based on a wrong etymology of the name (falsely explained as "country of fire-worship"), and has no foundation whatever. There can be no doubt that the kings adhered to the Persian religion; but it is not probable that it was deeply rooted among their subjects, especially among the non-Aryan tribes.

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In 221, the satrap Molon tried to make himself independent (there exist bronze coins with his name and the royal title), together with his brother Alexander, satrap of Persis, but they were defeated and killed by Antiochus the Great. In the same way, hI 16r, the Median satrap Timarchus took the diadem and conquered Babylonia; on his coins he calls himself the great king Timarchus; but again the legitimate king, Demetrius I, succeeded in subduing the rebellion, and Timarchus was slain. But with Demetrius I. the dissolution of the Seleucid Empire begins, which was brought on chiefly by the intrigues of the Romans, and shortly afterwards, about 150, the Parthian king, Mithradates I. (q.v.), conquered Media (Justin xli. 6).

From this time Media remained subject to the [[Arsacid Dynasty|Arsacids]] or Parthians, who changed the name of Rhagae, or Europus, into ''Arsacia'' (Strabo xi. 524), and divided the country into five small provinces (Isidorus Charac.). From the Parthians, it passed in 226AD CE[[226]] to the Sassanids, together with Atropatene.

By this time the older tribes of Aryan Iran had lost their distinct character and had been amalgamated into one people, the Iranians. The revival of Zoroastrianism, enforced everywhere by the Sassanids, completed this development. It was only then that Atropatene became a principal seat of fire-worship, with many fire-altars. Arsacia (Rhagae) now became the most sacred city of the empire and the seat of the head of the Zoroastrian hierarchy; the Sassanid Avesta and the tradition of the Parsees therefore consider Rhagae as the home of the family of the Prophet Zoroaster.