| Media 𐎶𐎠𐎭 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Historical region of Iran | |||||||
.jpg) The regional origin of the Medes | |||||||
| Capital | Ecbatana | ||||||
| History | |||||||
• Establishment of theMedes | c. 678 BC | ||||||
• Fall of the Median dynasty | c. 549 BC | ||||||
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| Today part of | Iran | ||||||
Media[a] is anIron Age region of northwesternIran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of theMedes.[N 1] During theAchaemenid period, it comprised present-dayIranian Azerbaijan,Iranian Kurdistan and westernTabaristan. As asatrapy under Achaemenid rule, it would eventually encompass a wider region, stretching to southernDagestan in the north.[2] However, after thewars of Alexander the Great, the northern parts were separated due to thePartition of Babylon and became known asAtropatene, while the remaining region became known asLesser Media.
In 678 BC,Deioces united theMedian tribes of Media and made the firstIranian Empire. His grandsonCyaxares managed to unite allIranian tribes ofAncient Iran and made his empire a major power. When Cyaxares died he was succeeded by his son,Astyages, who was the last king of theMedian Empire.
_Relief_Achamenid_Period.JPG)
In 553 BC,Cyrus the Great,King of Persia, rebelled against his grandfather, the Median King,Astyages son of Cyaxares; he finally won a decisive victory in 550 BC resulting in Astyages' capture by his own dissatisfied nobles, who promptly turned him over to the triumphant Cyrus.[3]
After Cyrus's victory against Astyages, the Medes were subjected to their close kin, the Persians.[4] 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 inEcbatana; and many noble Medes were employed as officials,satraps and generals. At the beginning the Greek historians referred to theAchaemenid Empire as aMedian Empire.
After the assassination of the usurperSmerdis, a Mede Fravartish (Phraortes), claiming to be a scion of Cyaxares, tried to restore the Mede kingdom, but was defeated by the Persian generals and executed in Ecbatana (Darius I in the Behistun inscription). Another rebellion, in 409 BC, againstDarius II[5] was of short duration. But theIranian[6] tribes to the north, especially theCadusii, were always troublesome; many abortive expeditions of the later kings against them are mentioned.[7]
Under Persian rule, the country was divided into two satrapies: the south, with Ecbatana and Rhagae (Rey near modernTehran), Media proper, or Greater Media, as it is often called, formed in Darius I the Great's organization the eleventh satrapy,[8] together with the Paricanians and Orthocorybantians; the north, the district of Matiane, together with the mountainous districts of the Zagros and Assyria proper (east of the Tigris) was united with theAlarodians and Saspirians in easternArmenia, and formed the eighteenth satrapy.[9]
Caucasian Albania (roughly comprising northeast of modern-dayAzerbaijan and southernDagestan) was rapidly incorporated by theAchaemenid Persians and were under the command of the satrapy of Media[10][11] in the later period.
When the Persian empire decayed and the Cadusii and other mountainous tribes made themselves independent, easternArmenia became a special satrapy, while Assyria seems to have been united with Media; thereforeXenophon in theAnabasis always designates Assyria by the name of "Media".[7]
FollowingAlexander's invasion of the satrapy of Media in the summer of 330 BC, he appointed assatrap a former general ofDarius III the Great namedAtropates (Atrupat) in 328 BC, according toArrian. In the partition of his empire, southern Media was given to the MacedonianPeithon; but the north, far off and of little importance to the generals squabbling over Alexander's inheritance, was left to Atropates.
While southern Media, withEcbatana, passed to the rule ofAntigonus, and afterwards (about 310 BC) toSeleucus I, Atropates maintained himself in his own satrapy and succeeded in founding an independent kingdom. Thus the partition of the country that Persia had introduced became lasting; the north was namedAtropatene (in Pliny,Atrapatene; in Ptolemy,Tropatene), after the founder of the dynasty, a name still said to be preserved in the modern form 'Azerbaijan'.
The capital of Atropatene wasGazaca in the central plain, and the castlePhraaspa, discovered on the Araz river by archaeologists in April 2005.
Atropatene is that country of western Asia which was least of all other countries influenced byHellenism. There exists not even a single coin of its rulers. Southern Media remained a province of theSeleucid Empire for a century and a half, and Hellenism was introduced everywhere. Media was surrounded everywhere by Greek towns, in pursuance of Alexander's plan to protect it from neighboring barbarians, according toPolybius.[12] Only Ecbatana retained its old character. ButRhagae became the Greek townEuropus; and with itStrabo[13] namesLaodicea,Apamea Heraclea or Achais. Most of them were founded by Seleucus I and his sonAntiochus I.
In 221 BC, the satrapMolon tried to make himself independent (there exist bronze coins with his name and the royal title), together with his brotherAlexander, satrap of Persis, but they were defeated and killed byAntiochus the Great. In the same way, the Mede satrapTimarchus 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 began, brought about chiefly by the intrigues of theRomans, and shortly afterwards, in about 150, the Parthian kingMithradates I conquered Media.[14]Antiochus VII Sidetes briefly reasserted Seleucid control over the region in 130 BC, but his defeat and death at theBattle of Ecbatana marked the final loss of Seleucid influence in Media.
From this time Media remained subject to theArsacids or Parthians, who changed the name of Rhagae, or Europus, intoArsacia,[15] and divided the country into five small provinces.[16] From the Parthians, it passed in 226 to theSassanids, together with Atropatene.
An early description of Media from the end of the 9th century BC to the beginning of the 7th century BC comes from the Assyrians. The southern border of Media, in that period, is named as theElamite region of Simaški in present-dayLorestan Province. To the west and northwest, Media was bounded by theZagros Mountains and from the east by theDasht-e Kavir desert. This region of Media was ruled by the Assyrians and for them the region fell "along theGreat Khorasan Road from just east of Harhar to Alwand, and probably beyond."[17] The location of Harhar is suggested to be "the central or eastern"Mahidasht District inKermanshah Province.[18]
Its borders were limited in the north by the non-Iranian states of Gizilbunda andMannea, and to its south byEllipi andElam.[17][19] Gizilbunda was located in theQaflankuh Mountains, and Ellipi was located in the south of modern Lorestan Province.[19] On the east and southeast of Media, as described by the Assyrians, another land with the name of "Patušarra" appears. This land was located near a mountain range which the Assyrians call "Bikni" and describe as "Lapis Lazuli Mountain". There are differing opinions on the location of this mountain.Mount Damavand ofTehran andAlvand of Hamadan are two proposed sites. This location is the most remote eastern area that the Assyrians knew of or reached during their expansion until the beginning of the 7th century BC.[20]
In Achaemenid sources, specifically from theBehistun Inscription (2.76, 77–78), the capital of Media isEcbatana, called "Hamgmatāna-" in Old Persian (Elamite:Agmadana-; Babylonian:Agamtanu-) corresponding to modern-dayHamadan.[21] The other cities existing in Media wereLaodicea (modernNahavand)[22] and the mound that was the largest city of the Medes, Rhages (present-dayRey). The fourth city of Media wasApamea, near Ecbatana, whose precise location is now unknown.
Media related toMedes at Wikimedia Commons
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See alsoTaxation districts of the Achaemenid Empire(according toHerodotus) | ||
