Listed 2 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "MIDIA Ancient country IRAN".
An important country of Asia above Persia, and bounded on the
north by the Araxes, on the west and southwest by the range of mountains called
Zagros and Parachoatras (Mountains of Kurdistan and Louristan), which divided
it from the Tigris and Euphrates valley, on the east by the Desert, and on the
northeast by the Caspii Montes (Elburz Mountains). It was a fertile country, well
peopled, and one of the most important provinces of the ancient Persian Empire.
After the Macedonian conquest it was divided into two parts--Great Media and Atropatene.
The earliest history of Media is involved in much obscurity.
Herodotus reckons only four kings of Media, namely: (1) Deioces, B.C. 710-657;
(2) Phraortes, 657-635; (3) Cyaxares, 635-595; (4) Astyages, 595-560. The last
king was dethroned by a revolution, which transferred the supremacy to the Persians,
who had formerly been the subordinate people in the united Medo-Persian Empire.
The Medes made more than one attempt to regain their supremacy; the usurpation
of the Magian pseudo-Smerdis was no doubt such an attempt; and another occurred
in the reign of Darius II., when the Medes revolted, but were soon subdued (B.C.
408). With the rest of the Persian Empire, Media fell under the power of Alexander;
it next formed a part of the kingdom of the Seleucidae, from whom it was conquered
by the Parthians in the second century B.C., from which time it belonged to the
Parthian, and then to the later Persian Empire. See Persia, with bibliography
there given.
It is important to notice the use of the names Medus and Medi
by the Roman poets for the nations of Asia east of the Tigris in general and for
the Parthians in particular.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Media (he Media: Eth. Medos: Adj. Medikos), a country of considerable
extent and importance, in the western part of Asia, between the Caspian Sea on
the N. and the great rivers of Mesopotamia on the W. It is by no means easy to
determine what were its precise boundaries, or how much was comprehended under
the name of Media. Thus Herodotus, who speaks repeatedly of the Medes, gives little
or no description of the country they inhabited, and perhaps all that could be
inferred from his language is, that it must have been a mountainous district between
the Halys in Asia Minor and Persia, fit for raising a warlike and independent
race of men (i. 72). Again, during the wars of Alexander, Media had to a considerable
extent taken the place of Persia, and was the great country E. of Mesopotamia,
and extending indefinitely along the Caspian sea eastwards to Ariana and Bactriana.
Still later, at the close of the Roman Republic and under the earlier emperors,
Media was restricted by the encroachments of the Parthian empire to its most mountainous
parts, and to the Caspian coast westwards,- the province of Atropatene forming,
in fact, all that could be strictly called Media. Indeed, its limits were constantly
changing at different periods. General consent, however, allows that Media was
divisible into three leading divisions, each of which from time to time was apparently
held to be Media Proper. These were: - 1. A northern territory along the shores
of the Caspian, extending more or less from Armenia on the W. to Hyrcania on the
E., comprehending much of the country now known by the names of Mazanderan and
Gilan; 2. Media Atropatene, a very mountainous district, to the west and south
of the preceding; and 3. Media Magna, the most southern, extensive, and, historically,
the most important, of the three divisions, with its capital Ecbatana (the present
Hamadan).
Of the ancient geographers, Ptolemy gives this country the widest
boundaries. Media, says he, is bounded on the N. by the Hyrcanian (i. e. the Caspian)
sea, on the W. by Armenia and Assyria, on the S. by Persis and a line drawn from
Assyria to Susiana, and on the E. by Hyrcania and Parthia (vi. 2. § § 1, 3). It
is clear from this, and still more so from the mention he makes of the tribes
and towns in it, that he is speaking of Media in its most extended sense: while,
at the same time, he does not recognise the triple division noticed above, and
speaks of Atropatene (or, as he calls it, Tropatene, vi. 2, 5) as one only of
many tribes.
Strabo, in the tolerably full account which he gives of ancient Media,
is content with a twofold division, into Media Atropatene and Media Magna; to
these he gives nearly the same limits as Ptolemy, comprehending, however, under
the former, the mountain tract near the Caspian (xi. pp. 522-526). Pliny, in stating
that what was formerly the kingdom of the Persians, is now (in his time) under
the Parthians, appears only to recognise Media Magna as Media Proper (vi. 14.
s. 17). Atropatene, though subject to Ecbatana, the capital of Media Magna, he
does not seem to consider has any thing to do with it (vi. 13. s. 16).
We proceed now to describe Media Magna, the first or most northern
part of what was popularly called Media having been fully noticed under Atropatene
and Ecbatana. It is very difficult to distinguish the classical accounts of the
different divisions to which we have alluded, the name Media being used very indefinitely.
It may, however, be stated generally, that Media Magna comprehended the whole
of the rich and fertile plain-country which was shut in between the great chain
of the Carduchian mountains and of Mt. Zagros in the W. and by Mt. Coronus on
the N. It appears to have extended as far south as Elymais and Susiana, and to
have bordered on the eastern side on Caramania and Ariana, or on what, in later
times, was better known by the name of Parthia. Some have attempted to prove that
it derived its name from its lying in the middle part of Asia (Gesenius, Thes.
ii. p. 768; cf. also Polyb. v. 44, who states, He Media keitai peri mesen ten
Asian). The derivation, however, admits of doubt. On the Cuneiform Inscriptions
the name is read Mada (Rawlinson, Behistun Inse. As. Journ. vol. x.). Much of
this land was of a high elevation above the sea, but it abounded in fertile valleys,
famous for their richness, and in meadow land in which a celebrated breed of horses,
called the Nisaean horses, were raised. (Herod. vii. 40, iii. 106; Diod. xvii.
100 ; Strab. xi. p. 525 ; Aelian, Hist. Anim. iii. 2 ; Ammian. xxiii. 6.; cf.
also the modern travellers, Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 216, Chardin, and Morier.)
It is comprehended for the most part in the modern province of Irak Ajem.
The principal town of Media Magna was Ecbatana (doubtless the present
Hamadan), which, during the time of the wars of Alexander, as for many years before,
was the capital of the whole country. Besides Ecbatana, were other towns of importance,
most of them situated in the NE. part of the country, on the edge of, if not within,
Atropatene, as Rhagae and Heracleia.
It is equally difficult to determine with accuracy what states or
tribes belong to Media Magna. It is probable, however, that the following may
be best comprehended in this division : - The Sagartii, who occupied the passes
of Mt. Zagros ; Choromithrene, in the champaign country to the south of Ecbatana;
Elymais, to the north of Choromithrene - if indeed this name has not been erroneously
introduced here by Ptolemy and Polybius; the Tapyri or Tapyrrhi, S. of Mt. Coronus
as far as Parthia and the Caspian Gates; Rhagiana, with its capital Rhagae; Sigriane,
Daritis, and, along the southern end of the Parachoatras, what was called Syromedia.
(See these places under their respective names.)
The Medi, or inhabitants of Media, are the same people as the Madai
of the Bible, from which Semitic word the Greek name is most likely derived. Madai
is mentioned in Genesis, as one of the sons of Japhet (x. 2), in the first repeopling
of the earth after the Flood; and the same name occurs in more than one place,
subsequently, indicating, as it would seem, an independent people, subject to
the king of Nineveh (2 Kings, xvii. 6), or in connection with, if not subject
to, the Persians, as in Dan. v. 28, vi. 15; Esth. i. 3, 14. The first Greek author
who gives any description of them is Herodotus. According to him, they were originally
called ARII, but changed their name to that of Medi on the coming of Medeia from
Athens (vii. 62). They were divided into six tribes, the Busae (Steph. Byz.),
Paraetaceni (Strab. xi. p. 522, xvi. p. 739, &c.; Arrian, iii. 19), Struchates,
Arizanti, Budii (Steph. Byz.), and the Magi. Von Hammer has attemped to show that
most, if not all, of these names occur under their Persian form in the Zendavesta
and Shah-nameh ( Wiener. Joahrb. ix. pp. 11, 12), but it may be questioned whether
the identification can be considered as satisfactory. Some, however, of these
names indicate the Eastern origin of the inhabitants of Media, as Arii and Arizanti;
though it may be doubted whether others of them, as the Magi, ought to be considered
as separate tribes. The general evidence is, that the Magi were a priest-class
among the Median people; not, like the Achaemenidae in Persia, a distinct or dominant
tribe. (Cf. Strab. xvi. p. 962; Cic. Divin. i. 41; Porphyr. Abstinent. 4. 16,
&c.) In other authors we find the following peoples counted among the inhabitants
of Media, though it may be doubted whether some of them do not more properly belong
to one or more of the adjacent nations: the Sagartii, Tapyri or Tapyrrhi, Matiani
Caspii, Cadusii, Gelae, and the Mardi or Amardi. Herodotus proceeds to state that
originally the Medes were a free people, who lived in separate villages, but that
at length they chose for themselves a king in the person of Deioces, who built
the celebrated city of Ecbatana, and was succeeded by Phraortes and Cyaxares (i.
95-103). The reign of the former was, he adds, terminated by a defeat which he
sustained (at Rhages, Judith, i. 15); while, during the commencement of that of
the latter, all Western Asia was overrun by a horde of Scythians (i. 103). There
can be no doubt that for awhile they were subject to, and formed a satrapy of,
the Assyrian empire, as stated by Diodorus (ii. 2); that then they threw off the
Assyrian yoke, as stated by Herodotus (i. 106), and were ruled over by a series
of kings of their own for a long period. (Cf. Strab. xi. p. 524.) The order and
the names of these rulers are differently stated; and it would be out of place
here to discuss at length one of the most difficult and disputed points of ancient
chronology. (Cf., however, Diod. ii. 24, 32; Herod. i. 95; and Euseb. Chron. Armen.
i. 101; Clinton, Fast. Hellen. vol. i. p. 257, app.) It may be remarked, that
in the Bible the first notice we find of the Medes, exhibits them as the subjects
of the Assyrian king Salmaneser (2 Kings, xvii. 6), who was contemporary with
the Jewish king Hoshea; while in the later times of Nebuchadnezzar, they appear
as a warlike nation, governed by their own rulers. (Isaiah, xiii. 17; Jerem. xxv.
25, li. 11, 28.) It is equally clear that the Medians were united to the Persians
by Cyrus, and formed one empire with them (Herod. i. 129; Diod. ii. 34; Justin,
i. 6), and hence are spoken of in the later books of the Bible as a people subject
to the same ruler as the Persians. (Dan. v. 28, viii. 20 ; Esth. i. 3, &c.) From
this time forward their fate was the same as that of the Persian monarchy; and
they became in succession subject to the Greeks, under Alexander the Great, to
the Syro-Macedonian rulers after his death, and lastly to the Parthian kings.
(Cf. 1 Macc. vi. 56, xiv. 2; Strab. xvi. p. 745; Joseph. Antiq. xx. 3. § 3.)
The consent of history shows that in early times the Medes were held to
be a very warlike race, who had a peculiar skill in the use of the bow. (Isaiah,
xiii. 18; Herod. vii. 62; Xen. Anab. ii. 1. 7; Strab. xi. p. 525,) They had also
great knowledge and practice in horsemanship, and were considered in this, as
in many other acquirements, to have been the masters of the Persians. (Strab.
xv. pp. 525, 526, 531.) Hence, in the armament of Xerxes, the Medes are described
as equipped similarly with the Persians, and Herodotus expressly states that their
dress and weapons were of Median, not Persian origin (l. c.). In later ages they
appear to have degenerated very much, and to have adopted a luxurious fashion
of life and dress (cf. Xen. Cyrop. i. 3. 2 ; Strab. l. c.; Ammian. xxiii. 6),
which passed from them to their Persian conquerors. The religion of the Medes
was a system of Starworship; their priests bearing, as we have remarked, the name
of Magi, which was common to them with the Persians, indeed was probably adopted
by the latter from the former. (Xen. Cyr. iv. 5 ; Strab. xv. pp. 727, 735;; Cic.
Div. i. 3. 3) The principal object of their adoration was the Sun, and then the
Moon and the five planets, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mercury, and Mars.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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