a country in the western part of Asia, was bounded, according to Ptolemy, on the N. by part of the Caspian Sea; on the S. by Persia proper, Susiana, and Assyria; on the E. by Parthia and Hyrcania; and on the W. by Armenia and Assyria. It was anciently divided into the provinces of Tropatene, Charonithrene, Darites, Marciæne, Amariace, and Syro-Media. In a later division, however, all these were reduced to two—Media Magna, and Media Atropatene, or Atropatene. Media Magna was bounded by Susiana, Parthia, Hyrcania, the Caspian Sea, and Atropatene, and contained the cities of Echataena, Hannadan, Laodicea, Ragae, &c. The greater part of Media Magna is lofty and mountainous, with a cold climate, especially in the northern parts. The southern region, however, consisting of plains and valleys, was in the time of Media productive of all sorts of vegetables, except the olive. This region was also celebrated for its pasturage and for its horses; the Nisean plain especially being devoted to the rearing of those animals, and containing the royal herds of the Persian monarchs, amounting, it was said, to no less than 50,000 in number. This country, in addition to the money tribute, supplied to the Persian empire 30,000 horses, 40,000 mules, and 100,000 sheep; so great at that time were its pastoral riches. (Strabo, xi. p. 525.) Media Atropia, or Atropatene, lay between the Caspian Mountains and the Caspian Sea. Media derived its name from Madai, the third son of Japhet; as is plain from Scripture, where the Medes were constantly called Medai. Amongst profane authors, Strabo derives the name from Medus, the son of Jason and Medea, others from Medea herself, and some from the medial position of the country. Sextus Rufus tells us that in his time it was called Medena; and from Herodotus we learn that its inhabitants were called Arii.

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 a foreign yoke by Pul, said to have been the founder of the Assyrian 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. It was accordingly 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. No sooner had he been vested with the supreme power, than he threw off the mask and became a tyrant. Ecbatana was built and chosen for the royal residence, and a stately palace was erected. 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. Nebuchodonosor, however, at that time king of Assyria, met him in the plain of Rhagae, 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, following up his success, reduced several cities of Media, and almost utterly destroyed Ecbatana. Dejoces was succeeded by his son Phraotes 647 B.C. This prince, not satisfied with the kingdom of Media, invaded Persia, and is said to have brought that nation under subjection. 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. He fell before that city in the twenty-third year of his reign.

His son Cyaxares 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 Phraortes, he not only drove the conquerors out of Media, but obliged Chymnidan 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 afterwards encountered the Lydians; and during the engagement there happened a total eclipse of the sun, which is said to have been foretold by Thales the Miletian. Both nations were terrified, and soon afterwards concluded a peace by the mediation of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and Syennesis, King of Cilicia. This peace was confirmed by the marriage of Aryenis, the daughter of Hylaiates, and Astyages, the eldest son of Cyaxares; and of this marriage was born in the ensuing year Cyaxares II., who, in the book of Daniel, ch. vi. 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 (606 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, defeated him near the Euphrates, and compelled him to resign what he had formerly taken from the Assyrians. After this victory they reduced all Coeserya and Phenicia; they then 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 II., the kingdom fell to Cyrus, by whom the seat of the empire was transferred to Persia. After the time of Cyrus, the union between the Medes and Persians became so close that many of the customs of the latter are believed to have been derived from Media; and the name by which the Persians were known to the Greeks was that of Medes, while in sacred history they are always called Medes and Persians. On the dismemberment of the Persian empire they came under the dominion of the Seleucidae, and subsequently of the Parthians.

The Medes were fond of equestrian exercises, and were great adepts in archery. The priests of the Median religion were called Magi; and the principal objects of worship were the sun, moon, and five planets. The seven concentric walls of Ecbatana, the capital, were, according to Herodotus, decorated with various colours, which were probably symbolical of these objects of adoration; and the correctness of this description has been recently confirmed by the discovery of similarly coloured terraces at Birs Nimroud, near the ruins of Babylon.