Editing Medes (section)

=== Rise and fall ===
{{Main|Median kingdom}}
[[File:Pre-Achaemenid Era.gif|thumb|Timeline of Pre-Achaemenid era.]]

From the 10th to the late 7th centuries BCE, the western parts of Media fell under the domination of the vast [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]], which stretched from [[Cyprus]] in the west, to parts of western Iran in the east, and [[ancient Egypt|Egypt]] and the north of the [[Arabian Peninsula]].<ref>[[Georges Roux]], ''Ancient Iraq'', 1992{{full citation needed|date=June 2014}}</ref> During the reign of [[Sinsharishkun]] (622–612 BCE), the Assyrian empire, which had been in a state of constant civil war since 626 BCE, began to unravel. Subject peoples, such as the Babylonians, Egyptians, Scythians, Cimmerians, and [[Arameans]] quietly ceased to pay tribute to Assyria.

Assyrian dominance over the Medes came to an end during the reign of Median king [[Cyaxares]], who, in alliance with the Babylonian king [[Nabopolassar]], attacked and destroyed the strife-riven Neo-Assyrian Empire between 616 and 609 BCE.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/place/Assyria/ Encyclopaedia Britannica] "The last great Assyrian ruler was Ashurbanipal, but his last years and the period following his death, in 627 BCE, are obscure. The state was finally destroyed by a Chaldean-Median coalition in 612–609 bce."</ref> After the fall of Assyria, a unified [[Median state]] became one of the four major powers of the [[ancient Near East]] together with Babylonia, [[Lydia]], and [[ancient Egypt|Egypt]]. 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]].<ref name=":3" />

Cyaxares was succeeded by his son [[Astyages]]. In 553 BCE, [[Cyrus the Great]], the King of Persia, a Median vassal, [[Medo-Persian conflict|revolted]] against the Median king. In 550 BCE, Cyrus finally won a decisive victory resulting in Astyages' capture by his own dissatisfied nobles, who promptly turned him over to the triumphant Cyrus.<ref name=":3">{{cite book|title=From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire|first= Pierre|last= Briant|publisher= Eisenbrauns|year= 2006|page= 31}}</ref>

==== Median dynasty ====
{{Main|Median dynasty}}

In Herodotus (I, 95–130), [[Deioces]] is introduced as the founder of a centralized Median state. He had been known to the Median people as "a just and incorruptible man" and when asked by the Median people to solve their possible disputes he agreed and put forward the condition that they make him "king" and build a great city at Ecbatana as the capital of the Median state.<ref>{{Harvnb|Young|1988|p=16}}</ref> Judging from the contemporary sources of the region, and disregarding<ref>{{Harvnb|Young|1988|p=19}}</ref> the account of Herodotus, puts the formation of a unified Median state during the reign of [[Cyaxares]] or later.<ref>{{Harvnb|Young|1988|p=21}}</ref>

The list of Median rulers and their period of reign is compiled according to two sources. Firstly, Herodotus who calls them "kings" and associates them with the same family. Secondly, the [[Babylonian Chronicles]] which in "Gadd's Chronicle on the Fall of Nineveh" gives its own list. A combined list stretching over 150 years is thus:

* [[Deioces]] (700s–675 BC)
* [[Phraortes]] (675–653 BC)
* [[Scythians|Scythian]] rule (652–624 BC)
* [[Cyaxares]] (624–585 BC)
* [[Astyages]] (585–550 BC)<ref name="Diakonoff1985">{{Harvnb|Diakonoff|1985|p=112}}</ref>

However, not all of these dates and personalities given by Herodotus match the other near eastern sources.<ref name="Diakonoff1985" />