In the second half of the 7th century the Medians gained their independence and were united by a dynasty, which, if we may trust Herodotus, derived its origin from Deioces (q.v.) a Median chieftain in the Zagrus, who was, with his kinsmen, transported by Sargon to Hamath (Hamah) in Syria in 715 B.C. The origin and history of the Median Empire is quite obscure, as we possess only very scanty contemporary information, and not a single in scription from Media itself. Our principal source is Herodotus, who wrongly makes Deioces the first king and uniter of the whole nation, and dates their independence from c. 710—i.e. from the time when the Assyrian supremacy was at its height. But his account contains real historical elements, whereas the story which Ctesias gave (a list of nine kings, beginning with Arbaces, who is lAnc. Mantiane, Strabo, xi. 529; Martiane, Ptol., vi. 2, 5.
said to have destroyed Nineveh about 88o B.C., preserved in Diod., ii. 32, seq. and copied by many later authors) has no historical value whatever, although some of his names may be derived from local traditions. According to Herodotus, Phraortes, the son of Deioces, was the first who attacked Nineveh, but was defeated and slain; and when his son Cyaxares renewed the attack, his progress was interrupted by an invasion of the Scythians, who founded an empire in western Asia, which lasted 28 years. This invasion of Asia by the Scythians appears to have greatly shaken the Assyrian empire ; from Jeremiah and Zephaniah we know that a great invasion of Syria and Palestine by northern barbarians really took place in 626 B.C. Some stories in Herodotus show the Scythian warriors in connection with Cyaxares and the Medes ; so the probable explanation is that the Babylonian annals generally give the title "King of the hosts of the Manda" to the Median kings ; Manda is an old word for the nomadic tribes of the north, which is also applied to the Cimmerian chieftains.
Until 1923 we knew practically nothing about the fall of the Assyrian empire. But in this year, a chronicle was discovered by Gadd (the "Fall of Nineveh") in the British Museum, which gives us the exact dates. From it we learn that Nabopolassar of Baby lon and Cyaxares (Uvakishtar) of Media began the war against the Assyrians (who were supported by the Egyptians) in 616 B.C. In 612 the allies began the siege of Nineveh, which was stormed and destroyed. The last king, Siusharishkun, the Saracus of Berossus probably sought his death in the flames of his palace; but an offspring of this dynasty, Ashuruballit, still maintained the fragments of his kingdom for some years in Harran (Carr hae), until this town also was taken by the Medes.
The victors divided the provinces between themselves. Syria. with Palestine and the south of Mesopotamia fell to the Chal daean empire of Babylon; the Median king ruled over the great est part of Iran, Assyria and northern Mesopotamia, Armenia and Cappadocia. His power was very dangerous to their neighbours, and the exiled Jews expected the destruction of Babylonia by the Medes (Isa. xiv., xxi.; Jerem. 1. li.), and Nebuchadrezzar tried to secure his kingdom by great fortifications, canals and walls against the menace from the north. He succeeded in estab lishing a state of equilibrium for half a century, further secured by an intermarriage between the dynasties. When Cyaxares at tacked Lydia, the kings of Cilicia and Babylon intervened and negotiated a peace in 585, by which the Halys was established as the boundary.
About the internal organization of the Median Empire we know only that the Greeks derive a great part of the ceremonial of the Persian court, the costume of the king, etc., from Media. But it is certain that the national union of the Median clans was the work of their kings; and probably the capital Ecbatana (q.v.) was created by them.
By the rebellion of Cyrus, king of Persia, against his suzerain Astyages, the son of Cyaxares, in 553, and his victory in 55o, the Medes were subjected to the Persians. In the new empire they retained a prominent position ; in honour and war they stood next to the Persians ; the ceremonial of their court was adopted by the new sovereigns who in the summer months resided in Ecbatana, and many noble Medes were employed as officials, satraps and generals. After the assassination of the usurper Smerdis, a Mede Fravartish (Phraortes), who pretended to be of the race of Cyax ares, 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., 1. 2, 19) was of short duration. But the non Aryan tribes of the north, especially the Cadusians, were always troublesome ; many abortive expeditions of the later kings against them are mentioned.