Media Medes
Holman Bible Dictionary [1]
Before 1500 B.C. the region was part of the Mitanni kingdom. Later the Elamites controlled the region and its nomadic inhabitants. The people known as the Medes entered the area over a long period between 1400,1000 B.C.
The Medes were first reported in history by the Assyrian Shalmaneser III about 850 B.C. They were a group of nomadic tribes rather than a state or kingdom. The Assyrians controlled them or sought to for more than 200 years, though the Medes enjoyed some periods of freedom before the Scythians conquered them in 653 B.C.. Sometime before this, Deioces were united and organized the Medes. Despite the Scythians' invasion, the Medes continued to develop as a kingdom.
The greatest Median king was Cyaxares (625-585 B.C.). He was the third ruler of the united Medes and was able to defeat the Scythians. Afterwards, Cyaxares turned his attention to the Assyrians, attacking Nineveh, the Assyrian capital. Before Nineveh fell in 612 B.C., Cyaxares conquered Asshur, the ancient center of the Assyrian Empire. Then, with the aid of the Scythians and Babylonians and others, Nineveh was taken. The end of the Assyrian Empire was near.
Babylon and Media divided the Assyrian Empire with Media taking the land east and north of the Tigris River. Nebuchadnezzar II and Cyaxares' grandaughter wed to seal the pact. The Medes turned their attention to the north and toward Asia Minor. After a five-year war with Lydia, Cyaxares concluded a peace in 584 B.C., again sealing it with a marriage. His son Astyages married the daughter of the Lydian king. Astyages became king of the Medes when Cyaxares died.
The end of the Median kingdom came with the rise of Cyrus II, founder of the Persian Empire. Cyrus was king of Anshan and a vassal to Astyages. Indeed, Cyrus' mother was Astyages' daughter. About 550 B.C., encouraged by Babylon, Cyrus rebelled against the Medes. His rebellion led to the defeat of Astyages. The kingdom of the Medes was replaced by the kingdom of the Persians. See Persia; Cyrus .
Though conquered by the Persians, the Medes continued to hold a place of honor in the Persian Empire. Media was the second-most important portion of the Empire after Persia itself. Biblical references frequently combine “the Medes and the Persians” ( Daniel 5:28; compare Esther 1:19; Esther 10:2 ). The kings of the Persian Empire are called “the kings of Media and Persia” ( Daniel 8:20 ). The most famous Mede in Scripture is Darius the Mede ( Daniel 5:31; Daniel 9:1 ). See Isaiah 13:17; Isaiah 21:2; Jeremiah 51:11 ,Jeremiah 51:11, 51:28 ); but the Medes also had to drink the cup of God's judgment ( Jeremiah 25:25 ). Their final appearance in Scripture is the presence of Jews or Jewish converts from there at Pentecost ( Acts 2:9 ). See Babylonia; Elam; Assyria.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [2]
MEDES, MEDIA. A people and country called by the same word, Madai in Hebrew and Assyrian. The Medes were the first of the Iranian immigrants to form a settled government on the borders of the old Semitic realm. As early as the 9th cent. b.c. they began to occupy the mountainous country south and south-east of the Caspian Sea, and by the middle of the 7th cent. their territory extended southward to the borders of Elam. Their chief city was Ecbatana, the Achmetha of Ezra 6:2 and the modern Hamadân . The Assyrians opposed them, and finally subdued them under Tiglath-pileser iii. and Sargon, and the latter deported (b.c. 721) some of them as captives to Samaria ( 2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:11 ). In the later years of the Assyrian empire they regained their independence, and under their king, Cyaxares, who had formed an alliance with the rising Chaldæan power, they destroyed the city of Nineveh (b.c. 607), and therewith the Assyrian dominion itself. By agreement with the Chaldæans, who restricted themselves to the lowlands, they speedily occupied the northern highlands as far as Cappadocia. Meanwhile the southern immigration from eastern Iran had settled to the east of the Persian Gulf and founded the Persian community. The southern portion of Elam soon fell to them, but they became vassals of their Median kindred. Under Cyrus the Great, Astyages, king of the Medes, yielded his throne to the Persians (b.c. 550), who henceforth held the hegemony of the Iranian race.
Among the Semitic peoples, however, the name of the Medes continued long to be more familiar than that of the Persians, partly by reason of their greater antiquity, and partly because the Medes formed the principal portion of the Iranian population. Hence the word is more frequent than ‘Persia,’ except in the later books of the OT. Madai is mentioned in Genesis 10:2 among the sons of Japheth, with no allusion to the Persians. So the Medes and not the Persians are mentioned in prophecy as the prospective destroyers of Babylon ( Isaiah 13:17; Isaiah 21:2 , Jeremiah 25:25; Jeremiah 51:11; cf. Elam, p. 211 b ). in Acts 2:9 the Medes are vaguely mentioned, where the reference is to Jews or proselytes living in Media and using the language of the country. Media was of great importance in the history of religion, since it was there, probably in the early years of the 7th cent. b.c., that Zoroaster lived and taught.
J. F. M‘Curdy.
Morrish Bible Dictionary [3]
The Hebrew is the same for the two words. This powerful race is traced back to Madai the son of Japheth. Genesis 10:2 . They occupied a large district, having the Caspian Sea on the north-east; Armenia on the north-west; Parthia on the east; Persia on the south; and Assyria on the west. The boundaries no doubt varied at different times owing to the conflicts of the Medes with their neighbours.
The first mention of them is when Shalmaneser took Samaria and carried away the Israelites, placing some of them 'in the cities of the Medes.' 2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:11 . Under Cyaxares (about B.C. 634) a Median empire was founded. He is called Ahasuerus in Daniel 9:1 . He pushed his conquests westward, and was able to overthrow the Assyrian empire. Astyages succeeded Cyaxares, but Cyrus the Persian was rising in power and subdued Astyages, but allowed him to reign as king, and he was probably Darius the Mede of Daniel. The kingdom was called at first that of the 'Medes and Persians,' as in Daniel 5:28; Daniel 6:8,12,15; but, at a later period, the Persians had the pre-eminence (cf. Daniel 8:3 ), and are mentioned first. Esther 1:3,14,18 . They conquered Babylon and Asia Minor. On the death of Astyages, Cyrus reigned alone. It became the second great empire of the Gentiles. See DANIEL.There were some bearing the name of Medes present at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. The Medes and Persians are considered to have been branches of the Aryan race and were one in origin, language, religion, etc. Esther 10:2; Isaiah 13:17; Isaiah 21:2; Jeremiah 25:25; Jeremiah 51:11,28; Daniel 8:20; Acts 2:9 . Darius in Daniel 5:31 is called the MEDIAN.
