Medes

The Medes were an Iranian people of the Iron Age who spoke the Median language and lived in a region called Media, located between western and northern Iran. By around the 11th century BC, they had settled the mountainous areas of northwestern Iran and parts of northeastern and eastern Mesopotamia, close to the city of Ecbatana (modern-day Hamadan). They are thought to have consolidated their power in Iran during the 8th century BC. By the 7th century BC, the Medes controlled all of western Iran and some additional territories, though the full extent of their domain is not known.

Despite being recognized as a significant force in the ancient Near East, the Medes left behind no written records of their own. What is known about them comes entirely from outside sources—Assyrian, Babylonian, Armenian, and Greek accounts—along with a handful of Iranian archaeological sites believed to have been Median. The Greek historian Herodotus described them as a powerful people who formed an empire early in the 7th century BC, lasting until the 550s BC. According to these accounts, they played a key role in the fall of the Assyrian Empire and rivaled the kingdoms of Lydia and Babylonia.

However, the nature of the Median state is hard to pin down from the available evidence, leaving many questions about its size and structure. Recent re-evaluations of contemporary sources have changed scholars' views, with some even arguing that a strong Median kingdom may never have existed. What seems clear is that after the last Median king was defeated by the Persian king Cyrus the Great, Media became an important province, valued by the successive empires that ruled it—the Achaemenids, Seleucids, Parthians, and Sasanids.

**Etymology**

The name "Mede" comes from an Old Iranian geographical term, attested in Old Persian as "Māda-" (masculine singular). Its exact meaning is uncertain. Linguist W. Skalmowski has suggested a link to the Proto-Indo-European root "med(h)-", meaning "central" or "suited in the middle," pointing to similar words in Old Indic ("madhya-") and Old Iranian ("maidiia-"). The Latin "medium," Greek "méso," Armenian "mej," and English "mid" all derive from the same root.

Herodotus claimed that Greek legends could explain the origin of the name, especially when similarities between Greek names and those used by foreign peoples were noticed. In his *Histories* (around 440 BC), he wrote:

"The Medes were formerly called by everyone Arians, but when the Colchian woman Medea came from Athens to the Arians, they changed their name, like the Persians [did after Perses, son of Perseus and Andromeda]. This is the Medes' own account of themselves."

**Archaeology**

The discovery of Median archaeological sites in Iran only began after the 1960s. Before that, searches focused on an area known as the "Median triangle," roughly bounded by Hamadan, Malayer (both in Hamadan province), and Kangavar (in Kermanshah province). Three major sites from central western Iran, dating to the Iron Age III period (850–500 BC), have been studied:

- **Tepe Nush-i Jan**, a primarily religious site from the Median period, located 14 km west of Malāyer in Hamadan province. Excavations began in 1967 under David Stronach. The remains include four main buildings: the central temple, the western temple, the fort, and the columned hall. Stronach believed they were built in that order and predate the site's later occupation in the first half of the 6th century BC. He described the central temple's stark design as "a notable, if mute, expression of religious belief and practice." Ceramics from the Median levels, dating to the second half of the 7th century BC, show four types of ware: "common ware" (buff, cream, or light red with gold or silver mica temper), including jars of various sizes, the largest being ribbed pithoi; "grey ware" (smaller, more elaborate vessels with smoothed and burnished surfaces); "cooking ware"; and "crumbly ware," each represented by handmade products.

- **Godin Tepe** (Level II), a fortified palace of a Median king or tribal chief, located 13 km east of Kangāvar city on the left bank of the Gamas Āb river. Excavations began in 1965 under T. C. Young, Jr. David Stronach noted that the site shows an important Bronze Age construction that was reoccupied sometime before the start of the Iron III period. Young's work revealed the remains of a single residence of a local ruler, which later became quite large—similar to structures often mentioned in Assyrian sources.

- **Babajan**, likely the seat of a lesser tribal ruler of Media, located in northeastern Lorestan, about 10 km from Nūrābād in Lorestan province. Excavations were conducted by C. Goff from 1966 to 1969. The second level of this site probably dates to the 7th century BC.

These sites share some cultural characteristics but also show differences, likely due to their different functions and the diversity among Median tribes. The architecture from these Median-period sites suggests a link between the tradition of columned audience halls seen later in the Achaemenid Empire (such as at Persepolis) and in Safavid Iran (like the 17th-century Chehel Sotoun), and what is found in Median buildings.