Editing Medes (section)

=== Origins ===
At the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the Iranian tribes emerged in the region of northwest Iran. These tribes expanded their control over larger areas.<ref>{{Harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|pp=36–41}}</ref> [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] tribes were present in western and northwestern Iran from at least the 12th or 11th centuries BC. But the significance of Iranian elements in these regions were established from the beginning of the second half of the 8th century BC.<ref name=dandamaev-lukonin-2-3>{{Harvnb|Dandamaev|Lukonin|Kohl|Dadson|2004|pp=2–3}}</ref> By this time the Iranian tribes were the majority in what later become the territory of the Median Kingdom and also the west of [[Media (region)|Media proper]].<ref name=dandamaev-lukonin-2-3/> A study of textual sources from the region shows that in the Neo-Assyrian period, the regions of Media, and further to the west and the northwest, had a population with Iranian speaking people as the majority.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zadok|2002|p=140}}</ref>

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]].<ref name="dandamaev-lukonin-2-3" /> There are various and updated opinions on the positions and activities of Iranian tribes in these societies prior to the "major Iranian state formations" in the late 7th century BC.<ref name="dandamaev-lukonin-2-3" /> One opinion (of Herzfeld, ''et al.'') is that the ruling class were "Iranian migrants" but the society was "autonomous" while another opinion (of Grantovsky, ''et al.'') holds that both the ruling class and basic elements of the population were Iranian.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dandamaev|Lukonin|Kohl|Dadson|2004|p=3}}</ref>

The Medes first appear on the historical scene in the 9th century BCE, when they are mentioned in contemporary Assyrian texts. By this time, it is highly likely that Indo-Iranian-speaking peoples had already settled in Western Iran at least some 500 years — if not 1,000 years — prior to this period. 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. These pastoralist groups gave rise to diverse cultural and linguistic groups, with one such group eventually coalescing into the people referred to by the Assyrians as the Medes.<ref name=":1" /> From the 9th century BCE onwards the Medes were well established in Western Iran and frequently clashed with the Assyrians, their powerful neighbors to the west.