Editing Medes (section)

=== Language ===
{{Main|Median language}}
Median people spoke the Median language, which was an Old Iranian language. [[Strabo]]'s ''[[Geographica]]'' (finished in the early first century) 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 [[Bactria]]ns and [[Sogdia]]ns on the north; for these speak approximately the same language, but with slight variations".<ref>Geography, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239%3Abook%3D15%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D8 Strab. 15.2.8]</ref>

No original deciphered text has been proven to have been written in the Median language. It is suggested that similar to the later Iranian practice of keeping archives of written documents in Achaemenid Iran, there was also a maintenance of archives by the Median government in their capital Ecbatana. There are examples of "Median literature" found in later records. One is according to Herodotus that the Median king Deioces, appearing as a judge, made judgement on causes submitted in writing. There is also a report by [[Dinon]] on the existence of "Median court poets".<ref>{{Harvnb|Gershevitch|1968|p=2}}</ref> Median literature is part of the "Old Iranian literature" (including also [[Saka language|Saka]], [[Old Persian]], [[Avestan]]) as this Iranian affiliation of them is explicit also in ancient texts, such as Herodotus's account<ref name="Herodotus-vii-62"/> that many peoples including Medes were "universally called Iranian".<ref>{{Harvnb|Gershevitch|1968|p=1}}</ref>

No documents dated from the Median period have been preserved. Only one bronze plate dating from the pre-Achaemenid period has been found in Median territory, bearing a cuneiform inscription in Akkadian dating back to the 8th century BCE, but it does not mention any Median names. A cuneiform inscription on a piece of silver was excavated at Tepe Nush-i Jan, but only the end of one sign and the beginning of the next were preserved.{{sfn|Dandamayev|Medvedskaya|2006}} If writing was employed by the Medes, it likely utilized a script similar to Aramaic that was written on perishable materials since no historical accounts, literary texts, bureaucratic records, or even commercial transaction records survived. Some small elements of the Median language have been reconstructed from place names, personal names, and some suggested Median linguistic remnants in [[Old Persian]].<ref name=":1" /> Numerous non-Persian words in Old Persian texts are commonly assumed to be Median, and other Median forms are preserved in Akkadian versions of Achaemenid inscriptions and elsewhere.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-vi2-documentation | title=Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica }}</ref> The Median words in Old Persian texts, whose Median origin can be established by "phonetic criteria",<ref name=Schmitt2008-p98/> appear more frequently among royal titles and among terms of the chancellery, military, and judicial affairs according to [[Rüdiger Schmitt]].<ref name=Schmitt2008-p98>{{Harvnb|Schmitt|2008|p=98}}</ref> It's likely that the Median language differed only dialectically from Old Persian.<ref>{{cite web |access-date=2023-09-17 |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Media and Medes |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10117a.htm |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref>