Media was a historical region in the northwestern part of the Iranian Highlands. This country has long been no longer on the world map, but scientists still argue about the role it played in the political history of the Ancient East. Great empire or seedy state formation? Researchers are in no hurry to answer this question unequivocally.
Media was a fertile country located south and southwest of the Caspian Sea, between Armenia to the north and Persia to the south. Its northern part was called by the Greeks Atropatena, or Small Media, and the southern part was called Big Media. The main cities were Rages in the north and Ecbatana in the south. After a long slavery under the yoke of Assyria, the Medes revolted and achieved independence in the 7th century BC. They remained independent until the union with Persia during the reign of Cyrus. This is how the Medo-Persian world power arose. Since that time, both peoples have observed the desire for uniformity of customs, worship and culture. From ancient written sources, we can conclude that the Medes, Persians and Bactras once constituted one people with a common dialect and one religion, worshiped a supreme being in the form of fire, honored the stars, but more - the sun and the moon.
"Dark" story
“The history of the Medes is dark and incomprehensible” - it was this phrase that opened the chapter on the history of Media in one of the textbooks on the ancient history of the 19th century. She turned out to be prophetic. The fact is that during the XIX-XX centuries there was an opinion that Ancient Media was a huge empire, which included Upper Mesopotamia, the indigenous territory of Assyria, Persia, Elam, Drangiana, Parthia, as well as Asia Minor up to the Galis River. According to ancient sources, it existed from 612 to 550 BC, that is, from the time of the destruction of the Assyrian capital of Nineveh to the victory of the Persians over the Medes. However, at the end of the last century, historians began to redraw the map of the Middle East of the 1st millennium BC. Some of them began to exclude Persia, Elam, Assyria, Armenia, Cappadocia from the Media,Parthia and its other supposed provinces and vassal kingdoms. In their opinion. Media was a primitive state formation, the influence and contours of which were limited to the territory of the city of Ecbatana with the adjacent area. But other historians still adhere to traditional ideas based on ancient traditions. Indeed, how can you ignore the inscriptions of the Assyrian and Babylonian kings, the Bible and the works of Herodotus, Berossus, Strabo, Ctesias and other ancient historians?The Bible and the works of Herodotus, Berossus, Strabo, Ctesias and other ancient historians?The Bible and the works of Herodotus, Berossus, Strabo, Ctesias and other ancient historians?
It is proved that at the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st millennium BC, Iranian-speaking tribes settled on the territory of Northern Iran, which later peacefully assimilated with the local population. Already from the 9th century BC Assyrian cuneiform texts mention the entire population of Iran under the general name "Madai" ("Medes"). The Assyrians waged a stubborn war with them, making numerous predatory campaigns. In the late 9th - early 8th centuries BC, Media was conquered by Assyria.
However, foreign expansion accelerated the consolidation of the Median tribes and led to the emergence of the first state formations. During this period, small states-regions begin to form, among which the state of Manna came to the fore. Median society is entering a new era of class formation and the creation of a slave society. Around 673 BC, the Medes, led by a certain Kashtariti (Herodotus calls him Fraort), rebelled and gained independence.
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The eaten disciple and the expulsion of the Scythians
According to Herodotus, an independent Median kingdom existed for 150 years, under 4 kings (other historians call 10 kings). Under Fraorte, Persia was conquered and even Nineveh was besieged, under whose walls he died. He was succeeded by Cyaxar (625-585 BC) - the most powerful Median king. Under him, Media became the first country of the Ancient East. He united all the Median tribes into a single state with the capital in Ecbatana, created a strong regular army, reorganizing it according to the types of weapons (spearmen, archers and cavalry), and again went to Nineveh. But this time she was saved by the Scythians, who acted as allies of the Assyrians and defeated the Medes. Scythian domination was established over the country for 28 years. During this time, the Scythians, with their arrogance and outrage, led the country into complete disorder.
General devastation and fear of new Scythian raids put the local population on the brink of survival. It seemed that this cruel people would rule the region for centuries to come. But Kiaxar solved the problem in the spirit of his time. He invited the most noble Scythian leaders to the feast. The tables were full of food and wine. When the drunken Scythians lost the remnants of their caution and drew out battle songs glorifying their exploits, the palace guards unexpectedly pounced on them and interrupted the guests who were already unable to defend themselves. Thus, Herodotus testifies, the Medes saved their kingdom. After this treacherous massacre, they quickly undertook several military actions, as a result of which the demoralized Scythians were completely defeated.
The weakened Scythian kingdom was forced to admit its dependence on Media. Some of the Scythians remained to serve at Kiaksar, some went back to the Black Sea steppes. Legend has it that the revenge of the Scythians for treachery was worthy. The king of Media entrusted them with the royal hunt and even entrusted the training of archery to his sons. Once the Scythians returned without game, and an angry Kiaxar attacked them with insults. The Scythians did not endure humiliation. In retaliation, they killed one of the students, cut the body into pieces and gave it to the king in the guise of skinned game. Before Ciaxarus knew the terrible truth, they fled to the Lydian king Alyattus, which led to a war between Media and Lydia. It broke out in 590 BC and ended only five years later, when the decisive battle was interrupted by a solar eclipse. Most of the surviving Scythians fled for the Caucasian ridge,having plundered the land of Urartu. With their departure, the peoples of the Near East got rid of their unpredictable and aggressive neighbor.
The great land of Zoroastrians
Chiaxar, expanding Media to its extreme limits, died in 585 BC. A large and powerful power was inherited by his son Astyages (584-550 BC), who became its last king. Media, apparently, was a rather loose state, in which the tribal aristocracy played a significant role. The descendants of the Median leaders strongly limited the tsarist power, which pursued a progressive policy of uniting the country. The Persian king Cyrus rebelled against Astyages and after a three-year war he took possession of the entire Median kingdom, founding the Achaemenid state (550 BC). Under Darius, Media became part of the 2nd Persian satrapy, and the Persians borrowed many elements of culture from the Medes. For example, the geographer Strabo considered the Persian clothing to be Median, since the turbans, felt hats,chitons with sleeves and shoes were more suitable for the cold mountainous north. The Mussels had long hair and beards; like the Persians, and indeed all Iranians, they wore pants, short boots and on their belt - a short sword-akinak, the hallmark of a free man.
The Medes were armed with short spears and braided leather-covered shields. But unlike the Persians, who fought on foot, the Medes were famous for their cavalry and used plate armor that covered riders and horses. The Medes king fought in the center of the army, standing on an Assyrian chariot, a custom later adopted by the Persians.
Little is known about the Median culture. More recently, our knowledge of Median architecture was limited to images on Assyrian reliefs. Now, 70 km from modern Hamadan (ancient Ecbatans), a fire temple of the 8th century BC, built in the shape of a diamond, was found. Among the Medes, pure Zoroastrianism was developed, possibly the former state religion. No wonder the Zoroastrian clergy-magicians came from the Median tribe. From their midst (as it is assumed, even before Cyrus), Zarathustra (or Zoroaster) appeared as a reformer of the ancient, but forgotten service to the light. It was probably during this period that Zoroastrianism began to make progress among the Western Iranians.
In the Greco-Roman tradition, Media was included in the scheme of succession of empires. It included Assyria, Media, Persia, and later the Seleucid Empire. Therefore, we will not deprive Media of her prominent role in history.
Evgeny YAROVOY