Astyages

Astyages
King
Reign	585–550 BCE (according to Herodotus)
Predecessor	Cyaxares the Great
Successor	Cyrus the Great
Born	Ecbatana
Consort	Aryenis of Lydia
Dynasty	Median Dynasty
Religion	Zoroastrianism

Astyages (spelled by Herodotus as Ἀστυάγης – Astyages; New Persian: ارشتی‌ویگَ - *Aršti-vaiga; by Ctesias as Astyigas; by Diodorus as Aspadas; Akkadian: Ištumegu) was the last king of the Median Empire, r. 585–550 BCE, the son of Cyaxares; he was dethroned in 550 BCE by Cyrus the Great. His name derives from the Old Iranian Rishti Vaiga, which means "swinging the spear, lance-hurler."

Astyages succeeded his father in 585 BCE, following the Battle of Halys, which ended a five-year war between the Lydians and the Medes. He inherited a large empire, ruled in alliance with his two brothers-in-law, Croesus of Lydia and Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whose wife, Amytis, Astyages' sister, was the queen for whom Nebuchadnezzar was said to have built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. but due to the recent evidence, the garden was likely built by the Assyrian King Sennacherib. Married to Aryenis, the sister of King Croesus of Lydia, to seal the treaty between the two empires, Astyages ascended to the Median throne upon his father's death later that year.

The ancient sources report almost nothing about Astyages’ reign, and a final judgment on his character is not possible, since Herodotus’ negative account (Astyages is represented as a cruel and despotic ruler) and Ctesias’ favorable one, are both biased. According to Cyropaedia of Xenophon, after thirty-two years of relative stability, Astyages lost the support of his nobles during the war against Cyrus, who Xenophon understands as being Astyages' grandson. This resulted in the founding of the Persian empire by Cyrus.

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