now the province of Ghilan in Persia, once the seat of a powerful empire, was bounded, according to Ptolemy, on the north by part of the Caspian Sea; on the south by Persia, Susiana, and Assyria; on the east by Parthia and Hyrcania; and on the west by Armenia Major. It was anciently divided into the provinces of Tropatene, Charonithrene, Darites, Marciane, Amasriane, and Syro-Media. By a later division, however, all these were reduced to two; the one being called Media Magna, and the other Media Atropatene, or simply Atropatene. Media Magna was bounded by Persia, Parthia, Hyrcania, the Hyrcanian Sea, and Atropatene, and contained the cities of Ecbatana, Laodicea, Apamea, Raga, Rageia or Ragae, &c. Atropatene lay between the Caspian Mountains and the Caspian Sea. This country originally took its name from Madai, the third son of Japhet; as is plain from Scripture, where the Medes are constantly called Madai. Amongst profane authors, some derive the name of Media from one Medus the son of Jason and Medea, and others from a city called Media. Sextus Rufus tells us that in his time it was called Medeana, and from others we learn that it was also called Ariac.

The government of the various tribes into which the country was divided was originally monarchical, and they seem to have had their own kings even in the earliest times. They were first brought under the Assyrian yoke by Pul, said to have been the founder of that monarchy, or by his immediate successor Tiglath-pileser. From the time of Pul, or Tiglath-pileser, who succeeded his father in the year 740 B.C., they remained subject to the Assyrians till about the latter end of the reign of Sennacherib, 710 B.C., when, emancipating themselves from Assyrian bondage, they fell into a state of anarchy. This circumstance, as Herodotus informs us, gave Esar-Haddon, or Assar-Haddon, who succeeded Sennacherib, an opportunity of reducing a great part of Media, if not the whole country, under subjection. This anarchy is supposed to have lasted one year; for Dejoces, called Arphaxad in the book of Judith, was killed by Saoduchius or Nebuchadnosor, in the year 656. From the commencement of the Media. reign of Dejoces to the destruction of Nineveh, 601 B.C., Media may be properly styled a kingdom. From the destruction of Nineveh we may therefore date the rise of the empire of the Medes. Their empire lasted till the taking of Babylon; for we learn from Xenophon, that after the reduction of that city, Cyrus went to the king of the Medes at Ecbatana, and succeeded him in the kingdom. The empire of the Medes had lasted sixty-five years, at the period when the Persian empire took its rise under Cyrus. Passing over the fabulous history of the Medes, we shall begin with the reign of Dejoces, who was chosen by them as their judge, and who, aspiring to the sovereign power, performed that office with the strictest regard to justice. After his resignation of this office, licentiousness prevailed, and it was found necessary to appoint a king; upon which Dejoces was named to the sovereignty, and with universal applause placed upon the throne, 710 B.C. As soon as he had been elected king, and vested with the supreme power, he threw off the mask, and became a tyrant. Ecbatana was built and chosen for the royal residence, and a stately palace was erected for the sovereign. Dejoces, having enacted various laws for the government of the kingdom, and having, in a considerable degree, civilized his unpolished subjects, entertained thoughts of extending the limits of his new kingdom, and with this view he invaded Assyria. Nebuchadnezzar, however, at that time king of Assyria, met him in the plain of Ragau, and a battle ensued, in which the Medes were utterly defeated, and Dejoces was slain, after a reign, according to Herodotus, of fifty-three years. The Assyrian king availing himself of his success, reduced several cities of Media, and amongst the rest Ecbatana, which he almost utterly destroyed. Dejoces was succeeded by his son Phraortes, 647 B.C.; and, not satisfied with the kingdom of Media, he invaded Persia, and is said to have brought that nation under subjection to the Medes. Such is the account of Herodotus. Others, however, ascribe the conquest of Persia, not to Phraortes, but to his son and successor Cyaxares. Phraortes, however, subdued several neighbouring nations, and made himself master of almost all Upper Asia, lying between Mount Taurus and the river Halys. Emboldened by his success, he invaded Assyria, subdued a great part of the country, and even laid siege to Nineveh, the metropolis.

On the death of Phraortes, his son Cyaxares was placed on the throne. He was not less valiant and enterprising than his father, and had better success against the Assyrians. With the remains of that army which had been defeated under his father, he not only drove the conquerors out of Media, but obliged Chyniladan to shut himself up in Nineveh. To this place he immediately laid close siege; but was obliged to abandon the enterprise, on account of an irruption of the Scythians into his own country. Cyaxares engaged these new enemies with great resolution, but was utterly defeated; and the conquerors overran not only all Media, but the greater part of Upper Asia, extending their conquests into Syria, and as far as the confines of Egypt. They continued masters of this vast tract of country for twenty-eight years, till at last Media was delivered from their yoke by a general massacre, at the instigation of Cyaxares.

The Medes were afterwards engaged with the Lydians; Mediator, and during the engagement there happened a total eclipse of the sun, which is said to have been foretold by Thales the Milesian. Both parties were terrified, and soon afterwards concluded a peace by the mediation of Labynetus, that is, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and Syennesis, king of Cilicia. This peace was confirmed by the marriage of Aryenis, the daughter of Halyattes, and Astyages, the eldest son of Cyaxares; and of this marriage was born in the ensuing year Cyaxares, who, in the book of Daniel (ch. v. 31) is called Darius the Mede. Cyaxares, disengaged from the Lydian war, resumed the siege of Nineveh; and having formed a strict alliance with Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, they joined their forces, and took and destroyed the city (605 B.C.). With this prosperous event commenced the great successes of Nebuchadnezzar and Cyaxares; and thus was laid the foundation of the two collateral empires, as they may be called, of the Medes and Babylonians, which rose upon the ruins of the Assyrian monarchy. After the reduction of Nineveh, the two conquerors led the confederate army against Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt, who was defeated near the Euphrates, and compelled to resign what he had formerly taken from the Assyrians. After this victory they reduced all Coele-Syria and Phenecia; then they invaded and laid waste Samaria, Galilee, and Scythopolis; and at last besieged Jerusalem, and took Jehoiakim prisoner. Nebuchadnezzar afterwards pursued his conquests in the west, and Cyaxares subdued the Assyrian provinces of Armenia, Pontus, and Cappadocia. Again uniting their forces, they reduced Persia and Susiana, and accomplished the conquest of the Assyrian empire. The prophet Ezekiel (ch. xxxii. 22, &c.) enumerates the chief nations who were subdued and slaughtered by the two conquerors Cyaxares and Nebuchadnezzar.

After this victory the Babylonian and Median empires seem to have been united; but upon the death of Nebuchadnezzar, or rather towards the close of his life, a war ensued, which was only extinguished by the dissolution of the Babylonian empire. The Medes, under Astyages the son of Cyaxares I. withstood the power of the Babylonian monarchs, and, under Cyrus and Cyaxares II. utterly destroyed their empire by the taking of Babylon. After the death of Cyaxares, the kingdom fell to Cyrus, by whom the seat of the empire was transferred to Persia.