An important country of Asia above Persia, and bounded on the north by the Araxes, on the west and southwest by the range of mountains called Zagros and Parachoatras (Mountains of Kurdistan and Louristan), which divided it from the Tigris and Euphrates valley, on the east by the Desert, and on the northeast by the Caspii Montes (Elburz Mountains). It was a fertile country, well peopled, and one of the most important provinces of the ancient Persian Empire. After the Macedonian conquest it was divided into two parts--Great Media and Atropatené. See Atropatené.

The earliest history of Media is involved in much obscurity. Herodotus reckons only four kings of Media, namely:

(1) Deioces, B.C. 710-657;
(2) Phraortes, 657-635;
(3) Cyaxares, 635-595;
(4) Astyages, 595-560.

The last king was dethroned by a revolution, which transferred the supremacy to the Persians, who had formerly been the subordinate people in the united Medo-Persian Empire. (See Cyrus.) The Medes made more than one attempt to regain their supremacy; the usurpation of the Magian pseudo-Smerdis was no doubt such an attempt (see Smerdis); and another occurred in the reign of Darius II., when the Medes revolted, but were soon subdued (B.C. 408). With the rest of the Persian Empire, Media fell under the power of Alexander; it next formed a part of the kingdom of the Seleucidae, from whom it was conquered by the Parthians in the second century B.C., from which time it belonged to the Parthian, and then to the later Persian Empire. See Persia, with bibliography there given.

It is important to notice the use of the names Medus and Medi by the Roman poets for the nations of Asia east of the Tigris in general and for the Parthians in particular. (Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, 1898)

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