Medes
Iron Age Iranian people who formed a powerful but poorly documented state.
The Medes were an Iron Age Iranian people who spoke the Median language and inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, they occupied the mountainous region of northwestern Iran and the northeastern and eastern region of Mesopotamia near Ecbatana (present-day Hamadan). Their consolidation in Iran is believed to have occurred during the 8th century BC. In the 7th century BC, all of western Iran and some other territories were under Median rule, though their precise geographic extent remains unknown. Although widely recognized as playing an important role in the history of the ancient Near East, the Medes left no written records; knowledge of them comes only from foreign sources such as the Assyrians, Babylonians, Armenians, and Greeks, as well as a few Iranian archaeological sites.
- field
- Ancient Near Eastern history
- nationality
- Iranian (Median)
- known_for
- Forming a powerful state in the 7th century BC, playing a pivotal role in the fall of the Assyrian Empire, and competing with Lydia and Babylonia
- language
- Median
- period
- Iron Age (circa 11th century BC to 550s BC)
Lore & Background
The Medes first appear in historical records in the 9th century BC, mentioned in contemporary Assyrian texts. By this time, Indo-Iranian-speaking peoples had likely settled in Western Iran for centuries, gradually infiltrating the region as small groups of nomadic pastoralists. The Medes were well established in Western Iran and frequently clashed with the Assyrians. Accounts by Herodotus convey the image of a powerful people who formed an empire at the beginning of the 7th century BC that lasted until the 550s BC, played a pivotal role in the fall of the Assyrian Empire, and competed with Lydia and Babylonia. However, a recent reassessment of contemporary sources has altered scholars' perceptions, with some specialists suggesting that there never was a powerful Median kingdom.
Reader's Guide
The Medes are significant for their role in the ancient Near East, particularly in the fall of the Assyrian Empire and their competition with Lydia and Babylonia. However, their history is difficult to reconstruct because they left no written records; knowledge comes only from foreign sources and a few archaeological sites. The state remains difficult to perceive in the documentation, leaving many doubts about its extent. After the fall of the last Median king against the Persian king Cyrus the Great, Media became an important province prized by successive empires: Achaemenids, Seleucids, Parthians, and Sasanids. Archaeological discoveries after the 1960s, such as Tepe Nush-i Jan, Godin Tepe, and Babajan, have provided material evidence of Median settlements, showing links between Median architecture and later Achaemenid and Safavid traditions. These sites, along with Assyrian reliefs, indicate urban settlements with handicraft production and an agricultural and cattle-breeding economy.
Did You Know?
- The Medes spoke the Median language, an Iranian language, and left no written records of their own.
- Their name is derived from the Old Persian 'Māda-', possibly related to the Proto-Indo-European word 'med(h)-' meaning 'central'.
- Herodotus claimed the Medes were formerly called Arians and changed their name after the Colchian woman Medea.
- Major Median archaeological sites include Tepe Nush-i Jan, Godin Tepe, and Babajan, discovered after the 1960s.
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