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| Media | |
|---|---|
| 678 BCE–550 BCE | |
 Location of Media (green) | |
| Capital | Ecbatana |
| Common languages | Median |
| Dominant mode of production | Slavery |
| Government | Monarchy |
| History | |
• Established | 678 BCE |
• Dissolution | 550 BCE |
Media was the first Iranian state. It was centered around the city of Ecbatana and expanded into Mesopotamia, Transcaucasia, and Anatolia.[1]
Formation[edit | edit source]
The Medes originally lived in northwestern Iran alongside earlier Gutian and Kassite inhabitants. Class society was just beginning to form in this region in the ninth century BCE.[1]
The Assyrians began raids against the Medes in the ninth century BCE. In 744 BCE, Tukultīapilešarra III reached the Bikni Mountains near modern Tehran and extracted a tribute of 15 tons of bronze and nine tons of lapis lazuli. The Medes regularly had to pay handicraft products and cattle to Assyria.[1]
In the late eighth century BCE, tribal unions led by chieftains formed. The Median chieftain Dahyukah became the governor of Manna and was under Assyrian influence. In 716 BCE, Rusa I of Urartu captured 22 Mannean fortresses and forced Dahyukah to break his alliance with Assyria. Šarrukīn II then deposed Dahyukah after defeating Urartu. In the late eighth and early seventh centuries BCE, Scythian and Cimmerian tribes entered Anatolia and began raiding Assyria and Urartu. The Cimmerians invaded Assyria in 679 BCE but were defeated.[1]
History[edit | edit source]
In 673 BCE, Median tribes led by Kaštariti rebelled against Assyria with support from the Scythians and Cimmerians. Scythian support for the rebellion ended when Aššuraḫaiddina married his daughter to the Scythian chieftain Prtatavah. Kaštariti founded an independent state in 672 BCE and began uniting Median tribes under his rule. In 653 BCE, Kaštariti went to war with the Assyrians but was defeated by their Scythian allies.[1]
In 625 BCE, Huvaxšarah overthrew the Scythians and finished uniting the Median tribes. He established Ecbatana (modern Hamadan) as Media's capital. In 614 BCE, Media returned to war against Assyria and took control of northern Mesopotamia. After destroying Assyria, Huvaxšarah attacked Persia and made its king Kambūjiyah a vassal. He also conquered the regions of Parthia and Hyrcania near the Caspian Sea and annexed Urartu and Manna.[1]
In 590 BCE, Huvaxšarah invaded Anatolia and reached the Halys River (modern Kızılırmak). King Walwetes of Lydia worried that the Medes would invade his kingdom and attacked Media. After six years of war, the soldiers saw a solar eclipse while fighting near the Halys and made peace because they believed it was a bad omen. A peace treaty fixed the border on the river, and Walwetes's daughter married Rštivaigah, the son of Huvaxšarah.[1]
Rštivaigah succeeded Huvaxšarah in 584 BCE and took control of Elam, which had formerly been a vassal of Babylonia. Media began preparing for war with Babylonia, but the Persians rebelled against the Medes and conquered them in 550 BCE.[1]
Military[edit | edit source]
Huvaxšarah reorganized the army based on the type of weapon instead of tribal groups. The army included archers, cavalry, and spear infantry.[1]