In tireat JleiHa lay the metropolis of the countr_y, the Ecbatana of that district (Pliny, Hist. Nat. vi, 17), as well as tlie province of Rhagiana and the city Rhaga?, with the above Nisasan plain, celebrated in the time of the Persian empire for its horses and horse-races (Herod, iii, 106; Arrian, vii, 13 ; Heeren,/(/ef?!,i, 1.305). This plain was near the city Nis«a, around which were fine pasture lands producing excellent clover {Uerha Medica). The horses were entirely white, and of extraordinary height and beauty, as well as speed. They constituted a part of the luxury of the great, and a tribute in kind was paid from them to the monarch, who, like all Eastern sovereigns, used to delight in equestrian display. Some idea of the opulence of the country may be had when it is known that, independently of imposts rendered in money. Media paid a yearty tribute of not less than 3000 horses, 4000 mules, and nearly 100,000 sheep. The breeds,
MEDIA
16
MEDIA
once celebrated through the world, appear to exist no I more; but Ker I'ortcr saw the shah ride on festival oc- [ casions a splendid horse of pure white. Cattle abound- \ ed, as did tlie richest fruits, as pines, citrons, oranges, all of peculiar excellence, growing as in their native land, j Here also was fomid the silphium (probably assafa'tida), which formed a considerable article in the commerce of the ancients, and was accounted worth its weight in gold.
1 1. History.— 1. Us Early Stages.— In Gen. x, 2 we are told that Madai was the third son of Japhet (comp. 1 Cliroii. i, o). The names in that invaluable ethnologi- cal summary were not merely those of individuals but ' of the nations which descended from them ; for the his- torian says, " By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lantls, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations" (ver. 5). For a period j of fifteen centuries the Mcdes are not again mentioned in Scripture. Then Isaiah, in pronomicing the pro- [ idu'iiu (loom of IJabylon, says, '• I will stir up the Medes against them' (xiii, 17). This prophecy was uttered alxjut 15.C.720. There is no direct evidence connecting IMadai, tlie son of Japhet, and the nation he founded, witli the iMcdes {.\fadai) of whom Isaiah speaks; but the names are identical in Hebrew; and the genealogi- cal tables of (iencsis appear to have been intended to show the origin of those nations which afterwards bore an important part in the history of God's people.
Berosus, the liabylonian priest and historian, states that at a very remote period (B.C. cir. 2000) the Jledes ruled in Babylon (Eusebius, Chron. i, 4). Though we may not be able to rely upon either his dates or his facts, yet we may infer from his words and references that the Jledes were one of the gresit primeval races which established themselves in Central Asia. Herod- otus gives a very graphic and circumstantial account of the early history of the Medes, and the establishment of the emi)ire : " The Medes were called anciently by all people .1 rians ; but when Medea, the Colchian, came to them from Athens, they changed their name. Such is the account wliich they themselves give" (vii, G2). This is ojiposed to wliat apjiears to be the opinion of the sacred writers ; but there can be no doubt that during the time of ascendency of Greek arms, literature, and art, Eastern nations were all anxious to claim some sort of connection with Greece, and this may account for Herodotus's story (comp. Kawlinson's Herod, iv, 61, 1st ed.).
Tlie Medes appear, however, to have been a branch of the Arian family, who probably had their primitive seat on the east bank of the Indus, and thence sent their colonics eastward into India, and westward to Jledia, I'ersia. ( Jreecc, etc. (Jlliller, Science o/Laiif/uoffe), There arc independent grounds for thinking that an Arian ele- ment existed in the population of the Mesopotamia!! valley, side by side with the Cushite and Shcmitic ele- ments, at a very early date. It is therefore not at all impossiljle that the Jledes may have been the predomi- naiit race there for a time, as Berosus states, and may afterwards liave been overpowered and driven to the motuitains, whence they may have spread themselves eastward, i!(»rlliward. aiid westward, so as to occupy a vast numlKT of localities from the baidis of the Indus to those of tlie middle Daitube. The term Arians, which was by the universal consent of their neighbors applied to the ^ledes in the lime of Herodotus (Herod, vii, &2), con!!ects them with the early Vedic settlers in 'Western HitKhistai!; the .l/(//(-e!ii of IMount Zagros. the Sauro- 3f(ttti' of the steppe-country between the Caspiaii and the Euxino, and the Mnta or Mieot(e of the Sea of Azov, mark their jmigress towards the north ; while the Mwdi or Midi of Thrace seem to indicate their spread westward ii!to Europe, which was directly at- tested by the native traditio!!s of the Sigynn.-e (Herod. V, 1'). it has been suiiposed by some that there was a Scythic tribe of ^ladai who conipiered ami held Bal)y- lonia long previous to the irruption of the Ariat! family.
and that it is to them Berosus alludes. There are no good grounds for this belief; and it is worthy of note as tendii!g to disprove the theory that the name " Mede" does not appear upon the Assyrian monuments before the year B.C. 880 (Hawliiison's Commentanj on A ssyrian Insci-iplions). To that date is assigned the i!!scription on the famous black obelisk, discovered by Layard at Nimrud, which contains a record of the victories of Te- men-bar, the Assyrian monarch. In the twenty-fourth year of his reign he invaded the territory of the Jledcs (Vaux, Xinereh and Persepolis, p. 203, where a transla- tion of the inscription is given). At that time the Medes were itidependent, occupying an extensive coun- try with many cities, and divided, like the Persians, into a tiumber of tribes having each a chief. Tiiis re- markable monument thus fixes the date of the first con- quest of the Medes by the Assyrians ; but it does not determine the date of the settlement of the former in jMedia. Sir H. Kawlinson thinks that the way in which the nations are grouped in that ii!scription seems to in- dicate that the Medes when attacked were in the act of migrating (Commentary). This, however, is very uncertain.