Median kingdom

Mādai
678 BC–549 BC
A map of the Median Empire; based on Herodotus
Capital		Ecbatana
Languages		Median
Religion		Old Iranian religion (related to Mithraism, early Zoroastrianism)
Government		Monarchy
King
•	678–665 BC	Deioces or Kashtariti
•	665–633 BC	Phraortes
•	625–585 BC	Cyaxares
•	589–549 BC	Astyages
Historical era		Iron Age
•	Established	678 BC
•	Conquered by Cyrus the Great	549 BC
Area
•	585 BC	2,800,000 km2 (1,100,000 sq mi)
Preceded by Succeeded by Neo-Assyrian Empire Urartu Achaemenid Empire

The Medes (/miːdz/, Old Persian Māda-, Ancient Greek: Μῆδοι, Hebrew: מָדַי‎) were an ancient Iranian people who lived in an area known as Media (northwestern Iran) and who spoke the Median language. At around 1100 to 1000 BC, they inhabited the mountainous area of northwestern Iran and the northeastern and eastern region of Mesopotamia and located in the Kermanshah-Hamadan (Ecbatana) region. Their emergence in Iran is thought to have occurred between 800 BC to around 700 BC and in the 7th century the whole of western Iran and some other territories were under Median rule. Its precise geographical extension remains unknown.

A few archaeological sites (discovered in the "Median triangle" in western Iran) and textual sources (from contemporary Assyrians and also ancient Greeks in later centuries) provide a brief documentation of the history and culture of the Median state. Apart from a few personal names, the language of the Medes is unknown. The Medes had an ancient Iranian religion (a form of pre-Zoroastrian Mazdaism or Mithra worshipping) with a priesthood named as "Magi". Later during the reigns of the last Median kings, the reforms of Zoroaster spread into western Iran.