Medes

"Mede" redirects here. For the town in Italy, see Mede, Lombardy.

History of Iran

See also: Kings of Persia · Timeline of Iran

Antiquity Prehistory Proto-Elamite period 3200–2800 Elamite dynasty 2800–550 Kassites 16th–12th cent. Mannaeans 10th–7th cent. Median Empire 728–550 Achaemenid Empire 550–330 Seleucid Empire 330–150 Parthian Empire 248 BCE–226 CE Sassanid Empire 226–651 Middle Ages Islamic conquest 637–651 Umayyad Caliphate 661–750 Abbasid Caliphate 750–1258 Tahirid dynasty 821–873 Alavid dynasty 864–928 Sajid dynasty 889/890–929 Saffarid dynasty 861–1003 Samanid dynasty 875–999 Ziyarid dynasty 928–1043 Buyid dynasty 934–1062 Sallarid 942–979 Ma'munids 995-1017 Ghaznavid Empire 963–1187 Ghori dynasty 1149–1212 Seljuq dynasty 1037–1194 Khwarezmid dynasty 1077–1231 Ilkhanate 1256–1353 Muzaffarid dynasty 1314–1393 Chupanid dynasty 1337–1357 Sarbadars 1337–1376 Jalayerid dynasty 1339–1432 Timurid dynasty 1370–1506 Qara Qoyunlu 1407–1468 Aq Qoyunlu 1378–1508 Modern history Safavid dynasty 1501–1722/36 Hotaki dynasty 1722–1729 Afsharid dynasty 1736–1750 Zand dynasty 1750–1794 Qajar dynasty 1781–1925 Pahlavi dynasty 1925–1979 Interim Government 1979–1980 Islamic Republic since 1980

The Apadana Palace, northern stairway (detail) - ancient 5th Century BCE bas-relief shows a Mede soldier in traditional Mede costume (behind Persian soldier)

The Medes (from Old Persian Māda-) were an ancient Iranian people who lived in Median Empire in an area known as Media and spoke a northwestern Iranian language referred to as the Median language. Their arrival to the region is associated with the first wave of Iranian tribes in the late second millennium BCE (the Bronze Age collapse) through the beginning of the first millennium BCE.

A few archaeological sites (discovered in the "Median triangle" in western Iran) and textual sources (from contemporary Assyrians and also Greeks in later centuries) provide a brief documentation of the history and culture of the Median state. These architectural sources, religions temples, and literary references show the importance of Median lasting contributions (such as the Safavid-Achaemenid-Median link of the tradition of "columned audience halls") to the Iranian culture. A number of words from the Median language are still in use and there are languages being geographically and comparatively traced to the northwestern Iranian language of Median. The Medes had an Ancient Iranian Religion (a form of pre-Zoroastrian Mazdaism or Mithra worshipping) with a priesthood named as "Magi". Later and during the reigns of last Median kings the reforms of Zarathustra spread in western Iran.

Besides Ecbatana (modern Hamedan), the other cities existing in Media were Laodicea, modern Nahavand and the mound that was the largest city of the Medes, Rhages (also called Rey), on the outskirts of Shahr Rey, south of Tehran. The fourth city of Media was Apamea, near Ecbatana which its precise location is not known. In later periods, Medes and especially Mede soldiers are identified and portrayed prominently in ancient Persian archaeological sites such as Persepolis, where they are shown to have a major role and presence in the military of the Persian Empire's Achaemenid dynasty.

According to the Histories of Herodotus, there were six Median tribes:

Thus Deioces collected the Medes into a nation, and ruled over them alone. Now these are the tribes of which they consist: the Busae, the Paretaceni, the Struchates, the Arizanti, the Budii, and the Magi.

The six Median tribes resided in Media proper, the triangle between of Ecbatana, Rhagae and Aspadana in todays central Iran, the area between Tehran, Isfahan and Hamadan. Of the Median tribes, the Magi resided in Rhaga, modern Tehran.It was a sort of sacred caste, which ministered to the spiritual needs of the Medes. The Paretaceni tribe resided in and around Aspadana, modern Isfahan., the Arizanti lived in and around Kashan and the Busae tribe lived in and around the future Median capital of Ecbatana, modern Hamadan. The Struchates and the Budii lived in villages in the Median triangle.

Name

The original source for different words used to call the Median people, their language and homeland is a directly transmitted Old Iranian geographical name which is attested as the Old Persian "Māda-" (sing. masc.). The meaning of this word is not precisely established. The linguist W. Skalmowski proposes a relation with the proto-Indoeuropean word "med(h)-" meaning "central, suited in the middle" by referring to Old Indic "madhya-" and Old Iranic "maidiia-" both carrying the same meaning.

They also appear in many ancient texts. According to the Histories of Herodotus,

The Medes were called anciently by all people Aryans; but when Medea, the Colchian, came to them from Athens, they changed their name. Such is the account which they themselves give.

Culture and society

In Greek references to "Median" people there is no clear distinction between the "Persians" and the "Medians"; in fact for a Greek to become "too closely associated with Iranian culture" was "to become medianized, not persianized". The Median kingdom was a short-lived Iranian state and the textual and archaeological sources of that period are rare and little could be known from the Median culture which nevertheless made a "profound, and lasting, contribu­tion to the greater world of Iranian culture".

Language

Main article: Median language

Median people spoke the Median language, which was an Old Iranian language. Strabo in his Geography (finished in the early 1st century AD) mentions the affinity of Median with other Iranian languages: "The name of Ariana is further extended to a part of Persia and of Media, as also to the Bactrians and Sogdians on the north; for these speak approximately the same language, but with slight variations".

No original deciphered text is proved to have been written in Median language. It is suggested that similar to later Iranian practice of keeping archives of written documents in Achaemenid Iran, there was also a maintenance of archives by Median government in their capital Ecbatana. There are examples of "Median literature" found in later records. One is according to Herdotus that the Median king Deioces, appearing as a judge, made judgement on causes submitted in writing. There is also a report by Dinon on existence of "Median court poets". Median literature is a part of the "Old Iranian literature" (including also Saka, Old Persian, Avestan) as this Iranian affiliation of them is explicit also in ancient texts, such as Herodotus's account that many peoples including Medes were "universally called Iranian".

Words of Median origin appear in various other Iranian dialects, including Old Persian. A feature of Old Persian inscriptions is the large number of words and names from other languages and the Median language takes in this regard a special place for historical reasons. The Median words in Old Persian texts, whose Median origin can be established by "phonetic criteria", appear "more frequently among royal titles and among terms of the chancellery, military, and judicial affairs". Words of Median origin include:

• *čiθra-: "origin". The word appears in *čiθrabṛzana- (med.) "exalting his linage", *čiθramiθra- (med.) "having mithraic origin", *čiθraspāta- (med.) "having a brilliant army", etc.
• Farnah: Divine glory; (Avestan: khvarənah)
• Paridaiza: Paradise, (as in Pardis پردیس)
• Spaka- : The word is Median and means "dog". Herodotus identifies "Spaka-" (Gk. "σπάχα" - female dog) as Median rather than Persian. The word is still used in modern Iranian languages including Talyshi.
• vazṛka-: "great" (as Modern Persian bozorg)
• vispa-: "all". (as in Avestan). The component appears in such words as vispafryā (Med. fem.) "dear to all", vispatarva- (med.) "vanquishing all", vispavada- (med. -op.) "leader of all", etc.
• Xshayathiya (royal, royalty): This Median word (∗xšaθra-pā-) is an example of words whose Greek form (known as romanized "satrap" from Gk. "satrápēs - σατράπης") mirrors, as opposed to the tradition, a Median rather than an Old Persian form of an Old Iranian word.
• zūra-: "evil" and zūrakara-: "evil-doer".

Religion

There are very limited sources concerning the religion of Median people. Primary sources pointing to religious affiliations of Medes and found so far include the archaeological discoveries in Tepe Nush-e Jan, personal names of Median individuals, and the Histories of Herodotus. The archaeological source gives the earliest of the temple structures in Iran and the "stepped fire altar" discovered there is linked to the common Indo-Iranian legacy of the "cult of fire". Herodotus mentions Median Magi as a Median tribe providing priests for both the Medes and the Persians. They had a "priestly caste" which passed their functions from father to son. They played a significant role in the court of the Median king Astyages who had in his court certain Medians as "advisers, dream interpreters, and soothsayers". Classical historians "unanimously" regarded the Magi as priests of the Zoroastrian faith. From the personal names of Medes as recorded by Assyrians (in 8th and 9th century BCE) there are examples of use of the Indo-Iranian word arta- (lit. "truth") which is familiar from both Avestan and Old Persian and also examples of theophoric names containing Maždakku and also the name "Ahura Mazdā". Scholars disagree whether these are indications of Zoroastrian religion of Medes. Diakonoff believes that "Astyages and perhaps even Cyaxares had already embraced a religion derived from the teachings of Zoroaster" which was not identical with doctrine of Zarathustra and Mary Boyce believes that "the existence of the Magi in Media with their own traditions and forms of worship was an obstacle to Zoroastrian proselytizing there". Boyce wrote that the Zoroastrian traditions in the Median city of Ray probably goes back to 8th century BCE. It is suggested that from 8th century BCE, a form of "Mazdaism with common Indo-Iranian traditions" existed in Media and the strict reforms of Zarathustra began to spread in western Iran during the reign of the last Median kings in 6th century BCE.

It is also suggested that "Mithra" has a Median name and Medes may have practised Mithraism and had Mithra as their supreme deity.

Kurdologists and Medes

See also: Kurds#Origins

The Russian historian and linguist Vladimir Minorsky suggested that the Medes, who widely inhabited the land where currently the Kurds form the majority, are likely to be the forefathers of the modern Kurds, also on the basis of historical and lingustic evidence that he gathered..

Contemporary linguistic evidence has challenged the previously held view that the Kurds are descendants of the Medes. Gernot Windfuhr (professor of Iranian Studies) identified Kurdish dialects as Parthian, albeit with a Median substratum. Even though Kurdish is a northwestern iranian language, David Neil MacKenzie, an authority of Kurdish language, thought that the Medes spoke a northwestern Iranian language, while the Kurdish people speak a southwestern Iranian language. The Kurdologist Martin van Bruinessen argues against the attempt to take Medes as ancestors of the Kurds. Modern scholars who consider central Iranian dialects, mainly those of Kashan area, and Tati of Tehran area as the only direct offshoots of the Median language.

See also

• Median Empire

Sources

• Boyce, Mary; Grenet, Frantz (1991), Zoroastrianism under Macedonian and Roman rule, BRILL, ISBN 9789004092716 
• Dandamayev, M.; Medvedskaya, I. (2006), "Media", Encyclopaedia Iranica Online Edition, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/media 
• Henrickson, R. C. (1988), "Baba Jan Teppe", Encyclopaedia Iranica, 2, Routledge & Kegan Paul, ISBN 9780933273672, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baba-jan-tepe 
• Tavernier, Jan (2007), Iranica in the Achaemenid Period (ca. 550-330 B.C.): Linguistic Study of Old Iranian Proper Names and Loanwords, Attested in Non-Iranian Texts, Peeters Publishers, ISBN 9042918330 
• Dandamaev, M. A.; Lukonin, V. G.; Kohl, Philip L.; Dadson, D. J. (2004), The Culture and Social Institutions of Ancient Iran, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, pp. 480, ISBN 9780521611916 
• Diakonoff, I. M. (1985), "Media", The Cambridge History of Iran, 2 (Edited by Ilya Gershevitch ed.), Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, pp. 36–148, ISBN 0521200911 
• Gershevitch, I. (1968), "Old Iranian Literature", Iranian Studies, Hanbuch Der Orientalistik - Abeteilung - Der Nahe Und Der Mittlere Osten, 1, 1-30: Brill, ISBN 9789004008571 
• Levine, Louis D. (1973-01-01), "Geographical Studies in the Neo-Assyrian Zagros: I", Iran 11: 1–27, doi:10.2307/4300482, ISSN 05786967, JSTOR 4300482 
• Levine, Louis D. (1974-01-01), "Geographical Studies in the Neo-Assyrian Zagros-II", Iran 12: 99–124, doi:10.2307/4300506, ISSN 05786967, JSTOR 4300506 
• Soudavar, Abolala (2003), The aura of kings: legitimacy and divine sanction in Iranian kingship, Mazda Publishers, ISBN 9781568591094 
• Young, T. Cuyler, Jr. (1988), "The early history of the Medes and the Persians and the Achaemenid empire to the death of Cambyses", in Boardman, M.; Hammond, N. G. L.; Lewis, D. M. et al., The Cambridge Ancient History, 4, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–52, doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521228046.002, http://histories.cambridge.org/extract?id=chol9780521228046_CHOL9780521228046A002 
• Young, T. Cuyler (1997), "Medes", in Meyers, Eric M., The Oxford encyclopedia of archaeology in the Near East, 3, Oxford University Press, pp. 448–450, ISBN 9780195112177 
• Zadok, Ran (2002), "The Ethno-Linguistic Character of Northwestern Iran and Kurdistan in the Neo-Assyrian Period", Iran 40: 89–151, doi:10.2307/4300620, ISSN 05786967, JSTOR 4300620 
• Schmitt, Rüdiger (2008), "Old Persian", in Woodard, Roger D., The Ancient Languages of Asia and the Americas, Cambridge University Press, pp. 76–100, ISBN 9780521684941 
• Stronach, David (1968), "Tepe Nush-i Jan: A Mound in Media", The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series 27 (3): 177–186, doi:10.2307/3258384, ISSN 0026-1521, JSTOR 3258384 
• Stronach, David (1982), "Archeology ii. Median and Achaemenid", in Yarshater, E., Encyclopaedia Iranica, 2, Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 288–96, ISBN 9780933273672 
• Windfuhr, Gernot L. (1991), "Central dialects", in Yarshater, E., Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 242–51, ISBN 9780939214792 

Further reading

• "Mede." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 16 January 2008.
• Dandamayev, M.; Medvedskaya, I. (2006), "Media", Encyclopaedia Iranica Online Edition, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/media 
• Gershevitch, Ilya (1985), The Cambridge History of Iran, 2, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521200911 
• Dandamaev, M. A.; Lukonin, V. G.; Kohl, Philip L.; Dadson, D. J. (2004), The Culture and Social Institutions of Ancient Iran, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, pp. 480, ISBN 9780521611916 
• Young, T. Cuyler, Jr. (1988), "The early history of the Medes and the Persians and the Achaemenid empire to the death of Cambyses", in Boardman, M.; Hammond, N. G. L.; Lewis, D. M. et al., Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean C. 525 to 479 B.C (Cambridge Histories Online ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–52, doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521228046.002, http://histories.cambridge.org/extract?id=chol9780521228046_CHOL9780521228046A002