Medes
[14] For other historical documentation, the archaeological evidence, though rare, together with Assyrian cuneiform records makes it possible, regardless of Herodotus' accounts, to establish some of the early history of the Medians.
[18] In western and northwestern Iran and in areas further west prior to Median rule, there is evidence of the earlier political activity of the powerful societies of Elam, Mannaea, Assyria and Urartu.
Most scholars believe that the arrival of Indo-Iranian speaking populations into Western Iran was not the result of one mass migration, but instead small groups of nomadic pastoralists gradually infiltrated the region from the northeast over a long period of time, perhaps dating back to the early 2nd millennium BCE.
The Assyrian sources of the 8th and 7th centuries BCE tell of a bewildering number of kings and chieftains who ruled areas of different sizes, most of which seem to have been very small.
However, the situation changed when the kingdom of Urartu expanded into the areas south of Lake Urmia, thus cutting off Assyria's most convenient connection with central Iran.
While only a fraction of the Median territories was affected by Shamshi-Adad's incursion, this marked the first of a series of Assyrian attempts to exert its power over the horse breeders of western Iran.
The Assyrian overland route connecting the Median territories with the Mesopotamian lowlands now reached as far as the strategically significant city of Harhar on the Iranian Plateau.
[21] Sargon II undertook another expedition to Media in 708 BCE but was unable to achieve his goal of conquering all Median lands or establishing stable control over them.
By the end of the 8th century BCE, the first major unions and states based on tribal confederations began to emerge in the western Iranian territory, led by local chiefs.
[23] While during Sargon II's reign, the Medes seemed contained through diplomacy and the strategic backing of competing factions, by the time of his grandson Esarhaddon (680-669 BCE), the Assyrians appeared to have lost ground in Media.
The adê tablets record the oaths made by eight Zagros-dwelling bēl-ālāni who swore loyalty to Esarhaddon and his crown prince Ashurbanipal (668-631 BCE).
The discovery of a very similar tablet from the Syrian site of Tell Tayinat points to an empire-wide attempt at making all allies swear allegiance to the crown-prince before Esarhaddon's death.
[20] After 670 BCE, susceptible to Scythian and Cimmerian raids and facing the decline of trade along the Great Khorasan Road, many Median chiefdoms probably collapsed leaving fewer chiefs to compete for power.
The Medes were subsequently able to expand beyond their original homeland and had eventually a territory stretching roughly from northeastern Iran to the Kızılırmak River in Anatolia.
[28] Judging from the contemporary sources of the region, and disregarding[29] the account of Herodotus, puts the formation of a unified Median state during the reign of Cyaxares or later.
[32] In the new empire they retained a prominent position; in honour and war, they stood next to the Persians; their court ceremony was adopted by the new sovereigns, who in the summer months resided in Ecbatana; and many noble Medes were employed as officials, satraps and generals.
This general outline by the Greek historian reflects the concept that the social groups individuals belonged to were family, clan, tribe, and country.
Contrary to expectations, the Medes' internal rivalries did not result in the concentration of land, wealth, and power in the hands of a steadily decreasing number of chieftains over time, the opposite occurred.
This suggests that sons of chieftains had equal inheritance rights, leading to the division of their father's lands, increasing the number of chiefdoms, and accelerating Media's political fragmentation.
Primary sources pointing to their religious affiliations include the archaeological discoveries in Tepe Nush-i Jan, personal names of Median individuals, and the Histories of Herodotus.
Evidence shows that Median pictorial art was heavily influenced by the Babylonians, Assyrians, Elamites, and perhaps the early phase of the 'animal style' of the Ancient Near East.
While the exact nature of these precious metals and goods is not specified, except for being portable material, it is possible that Median artisanal objects, as well as state or religious items, were among the spoils.
However, the most crucial economic factor was the strategic location of the Medes along the main trade route, the Silk Road, connecting Mesopotamia to Central Asia.
[43] Assyrian palace reliefs depict inhabitants of the eastern mountain regions wearing the same tunics, sheepskin coats, lace-up boot, and hairstyles.
The description of the people of Karzinu makes it clear that they differed in quite a number of respects, including hairstyle, funerary practices, and diet, from the cultural habits of the western parts of the Assyrian Empire.
[59] Following her failed marriage to Jason while in Corinth, for one of several reasons depending on the version,[60] she marries King Aegeus of Athens and bears a son Medus.
[61] According to other versions, such as in Strabo's Geographica (1st-century AD) and Justin's Epitoma Historiarum Philippicarum (2nd or 3rd century AD), she returned home to conquer neighboring lands with her husband Jason, one of which was named after her; while another version related by Diodorus Siculus in Bibliotheca Historica (1st-century BC) states that after being exiled she married an Asian king and bore Medus, who was greatly admired for his courage, after whom they took their name.
Rödiger and Pott, 1842, cited in Lecoq, 1997: 31), while Avestan, although its classification is also unresolved, is traditionally considered to be closer to Eastern Iranian languages (cf.
Furthermore, the purported relationship of Kurdish to the Median language, although defended by Minorsky based mostly on conjectural historical evidence (Minorsky, 1940: 143–6), is not supported by linguistic evidence, since information about the Median language is extremely limited and indirect, being mostly restricted to the loanwords found in the Old Persian inscriptions (Lecoq, 1987: 674).4 As Lecoq (1997: 31) states in relation to the Kurdish–Median connection, everything is possible but nothing is demonstrable.
Likewise, in his survey of major isoglosses in the historical phonology of West Iranian languages, Windfuhr (1975: 458) concluded on the basis of these facts (and with regard to the subsequent migration of the Kurds into the Median territory – explained below) that Kurdish can probably not be considered a 'Median' dialect neither linguistically nor geographically, stating further that the modern Iranian languages of Azerbaijan (originally 'Aturpatakan') and Central Iran (e.g. Sivandi) are Median dialects (Windfuhr, 2009: 15).
