Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

MEDES, MEDIA, MEDIAN*

Indo-European-speaking people appearing in the highland area of the ancient Asian country called Media. They were closely related to the Persians, with whom they are often identified or confused by writers who referred to the people of the area by the almost generic term “Medes.” In fact, the Medes inhabited a defined area in the Zagros Mountains positioned between 3,000 and 5,000 feet (914.4 and 1,524 meters) above sea level in a mountainous region divided by valleys. The capital, Ecbatana (now Hamadan), was on the major trade route from Mesopotamia. The elevation provided a temperate summer climate that encouraged the use of Ecbatana as a summer retreat for Persian kings.

As no texts are extant in the Median language recording the history and culture of the Medes, information must be obtained from references to them in contemporary writings of the Greeks, Neo-Babylonians, and Assyrians. As the Medes and Chaldeans were instrumental in bringing down the Assyrian Empire, it is understandable that they should figure prominently in the Neo-Babylonian texts. Valuable additional information is available from Herodotus, possibly from cuneiform sources.

The Assyrian king Shalmaneser III recorded the activity of the Medes in the area around Ecbatana in the ninth century BC, but historians are uncertain exactly how long before that date they had migrated into the region.

Shalmaneser organized a raid into the plains controlled by the Medes in order to steal herds of carefully bred horses, the reputation for whose excellence was already deservedly high. Over generations, Assyrian kings continued this type of raid, not only for the purpose of obtaining fresh supplies of horses but also to ensure the free passage of traders on this major route. During the eighth century BC, Assyrian kings such as Adad-nirari (810–781 BC), Tiglath-pileser III (743 BC), and Sargon II (716 BC), all claim to have conquered Media. The OT records that the Israelites were transported there at the time of Sargon’s incursions (2 Kgs 17:6; 18:11).

When Esar-haddon was king of Assyria (681–669 BC), he expected the Medians to acknowledge his overlordship and pay tribute according to their treaty, but taking advantage of the declining strength of Assyria, the Medians joined forces with the Scythians and Cimmerians in 631 BC. The ebbing strength of the Assyrians was further eroded under a series of attacks led by Phraortes culminating in the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC and of Haran in 610 BC. Under the leadership of Cyaxares of Media, who organized a strong, disciplined army, the Median forces and their allies, having gained control of the major cities, extended their sphere of influence to the northern part of Assyria, negotiating peace with Lydia in 585 BC.

The Elamites, also a people involved in the ebb and flow of the power struggle in the region over the centuries, came into the ascendency in 550 BC when Cyrus of Anshan overcame Astyages. Cyrus was of half-Persian, half-Median ancestry. Ecbatana, capital of Media, was captured, and the entire area was controlled by Elam. Cyrus took on the additional title “king of the Medes.” The laws and the heritage of the Medes were incorporated with those of the Persians (Dn 6:8, 15). Medes were entrusted with high office in the administration. The Medes and the Persians were referred to in almost synonymous terms (Est 1:19; Dn 8:20). They were also involved in the capture of Babylon (Is 13:17; Jer 51:11, 28; Dn 5:28). Being of Median heritage (Dn 9:1), Darius, son of Ahasuerus, was referred to as “the Mede” (Dn 11:1) from the time he took over as ruler of Babylon. His administration was not altogether peaceful, however, and restlessness led to outright rebellion both in his reign and during that of Darius II (409 BC).

A description of the sumptuous feasting and luxurious appointments of the court apartments are described in the book of Esther (Est 1:3-7). The Medians subsequently were subjected to the control of the Syrians (Seleucids) and the Parthians. In the NT there is a single combined reference to Parthians, Medes, and Elamites (Acts 2:9), but thereafter Media seems to have become only a geographical term, the people no longer appearing in history as a group in their own right.