Media's territorial expansion led to the formation of the first Iranian empire, which at its height would have exercised authority over more than two million square kilometers, stretching from the eastern banks of the Halys River in Anatolia to Central Asia.

[6] Before the archaeological discoveries of Assyrian and Babylonian ruins and cuneiform archives in the mid-19th century, the history of civilizations in the Near East prior to the Achaemenid Empire relied solely on classical and biblical sources.

[8] In his account in the first book of his Histories, Herodotus traces the development of a unified Median state or empire with a major capital at Ecbatana and a geographical reach as far west as the Halys river in central Turkey.

[18] Any effort to identify distinctive elements of the Median material culture from the Iron Age III (c. 800–550 BCE) in the western region of Iran primarily focuses on sites near the ancient capital of Media, Ecbatana (modern Hamadan).

In one of their reports, the excavators David Stronach and Michael Roaf conjectured that the collapse of Assyria and the gradual erosion of Scythian power might have influenced the abandonment of various fortresses, especially those located near the territorial core of Media.

Later, during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III (r. 745–728 BCE), Assyria began organizing provinces in conquered lands, ensuring a regular source of income and providing a base for further territorial conquests.

[16] The application of a model of secondary state formation to the case of Media proposes that, stimulated by decades of aggressive Assyrian intrusion, Median bēl ālāni learned by example how to organize and administer themselves politically and economically so as to achieve state-like status.

This episode is followed by the deportation of two city lords from the country of Patušarri to Assyria, here Esarhaddon's activities against the "distant" Medes reached to the Caspian Sea and the Salt Desert near Mount Bikni.

Saparda, which was made part of the province of Harhar in 716 BCE, was not under Assyrian control anymore and its city lord Dusanni is mentioned, alongside Kaštaritu, as an enemy of Assyria in several oracle queries.

Among the dominant groups were the Scythians, and their involvement in the affairs of the western plateau during the 7th century BCE may mark one of the most significant turning points in Iron Age history.

[42] The Babylonian historian Berossus mentions that this alliance between Babylon and Media was sealed with the marriage of Amytis, probably the daughter of Cyaxares, with the son of Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar II.

[47] Herodotus recounts that Cyaxares sent an embassy to Lydia to demand the extradition of Scythian fugitives from Media, but the Lydian monarch Alyattes refused, leading to war between the two kingdoms.

In the sixth year of the conflict, a solar eclipse interrupted a battle, leading both sides to conclude a peace treaty mediated by Labynetus of Babylon and Syennesis I of Cilicia.

[37] Later indirect evidence suggests that the Medes may have conquered Hyrcania, Parthia,[1] Sagartia,[49] Drangiana,[50] Aria[51] and Bactria, becoming an empire that stretched from Anatolia in the west to Central Asia in the east.

That the confrontation is likely to have been longer than the concise chronicle entry conveys is indicated by an inscription from Sippar where the Babylonian king Nabonidus seems to refer to a conflict between Persians and Medes already in 553 BCE.

Some theories suggest that tribute demands and commercial exploitation along the Great Khurasan Road may have contributed to the accumulation of wealth by Median chiefs, prompting an ambitious individual to seek broader authority.

[26] An alternative view suggests a loose confederation of tribes capable of causing devastating effects, such as the conquest of Assyria, but lacking centralized imperial structures, mechanisms, and bureaucracies of control.

In his charming account of the youth of Cyrus II, Herodotus suggests that the Median court included bodyguards, messengers, the "king's eye" (a kind of secret agent), and builders.

When founding the Achaemenid Empire, Cyrus likely continued the organization and practices of the Median court, including forms of etiquette, ceremony, and diplomatic protocol that the Medes, in turn, inherited from Assyria.

The court's primary entertainment was hunting, often taking place in a forest where lions, leopards, bears, boars, antelopes, gazelles, wild asses, and deer could be found.

The mountainous nature of their country and its martial character contributed to the development of suitable attire for cavalry: tight trousers typically made of leather with an extra belt for a short sword, a long tight leather tunic, a round felt helmet with cheek flaps and a neck protector, possibly covering the mouth, and a long variegated cloak thrown over the shoulders and fastened to the chest with empty sleeves hanging at the sides.

In Assyrian reliefs, the Medes are sometimes depicted wearing what appears to be sheepskin cloaks over their tunics and high-laced boots, equipment necessary for pastoral work in the plateaus where winters brought snow and intense cold.

From Median territories, the Assyrians received tribute in the form of horses, cattle, sheep, Bactrian camels, lapis lazuli, bronze, gold, silver, and other metals, as well as linen and wool fabrics.

This route connected the Eastern and Western worlds, linking Media to Babylon, Assyria, Armenia, and the Mediterranean in the west, as well as to Parthia, Aria, Bactria, Sogdiana, and China in the east.

This is inferred from a passage in the Babylonian Chronicle from the 6th century BCE, which mentions that king Cyrus II took silver, gold, goods, and properties from Ecbatana as spoils to Anshan.

[1] The archaeological evidence available is limited, but the easternmost site with potentially Median pottery is Tepe Ozbaki, situated 75 km west of Tehran, so it is probable that Media extended at least that far east.

Since textual and archaeological evidence from Iran does not lend any support to a Median domination of Khuzestan and both biblical and Babylonian sources do not explicitly mention Media's overlordship over Elam, the idea faces much skepticism.

The Babylonian Chronicle records that in 547 the Persian king Cyrus passed through Arbela (modern Erbil) on his way to attack a kingdom whose name is damaged but which is often supposed to have been Lydia.

[47] Many eastern areas that appear as parts of the Achaemenid Empire in the Behistun inscription find little or no mention in the sources relevant to the political history of the preceding fifty years, for example, Aria, Drangiana and Arachosia, among others.

As a result, some scholars are removing many supposed "provinces" and "dependent kingdoms" from the composition of the "Median Empire", such as Persia, Elam, Assyria, northern Syria, Armenia, Cappadocia, Drangiana, Parthia, and Aria.