Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/317

 MEDIA. £;ivos little or no description of the country they in- habited, and perhaps all that could be inferred from his language is, that it must have been a moun- tainous district between the Halys in Asia Jlinor and Persia, fit for raising a warlike and indepen- dent race of men (i. 72). Again, during the wars of Alexander, Media had to a considerable extent taken the place of Persia, and was the great country E. of Mesopotamia, and extending indefinitely along the Caspian sea eastwards to Ariana and Bactriana. Still later, at the close of the Roman Republic and under the earlier emperors, Media was restricted by the encroachments of the Parthian empire to its most mountainous parts, and to the Caspian coast westwards, — the province of Atropatene forming, in fact, all that could be strictly called Media. Indeed, its limitswere constantly changing at different periods. General consent, however, allows that Media was di- visible into three leading divisions, each of which from time to time was apparently held to be Media Proper. These were : — 1. A northern territory along the shores of the Caspian, extending more or less from Armenia on the W. to Hyrcania on the E., comprehending much of the country now known by the names of Mazanderan and Gildn; 2. Media Atropatene, a very mountainous district, to the west and south of the preceding [Atropatene] ; and 3. Media Magna, the most southern, extensive, and, his- torically, the most important, of the three divisions, with its capital Ecbatana (the present Hamaddn). Of the ancient geographers, Ptolemy gives this country the widest boundaries. Media, says he, is bounded on the N. by the Hyrcanian (i. e. the Cas- pian) sea, on the W. by Armenia and Assyria, on the S. by Persis and a line drawn from Assyria to Susiana, and on the E. by Hyrcania and Parthia (vi. 2. §§ 1, 3). It is clear from this, and still more so from the mention he makes of the tribes and towns in it, that he is speaking of Media in its most ex- tended sense: while, at the same time, he does not recognise the triple division noticed above, and speaks of Atropatene (or, as he calls it, Tropatene, vi. 2, 5) as one only of many tribes. Strabo, in the tolerably full account which he gives of ancient Media, is content ■with a twofold division, into Media Atropatene and Media Magna ; to these he gives nearly the same limits as Ptolemy, comprehending, however, under the former, the mountain tract near the Caspian (xi. pp. 522 — .526). Pliny, in stating that what was formerly 'he kingdom of the Persians, is now (in his time) under the Parthians, appears only to recognise Me- dia Magna as Media Proper (vi. 14. s. 17). Atro- patene, though subject to Ecbatana, the capital of Media Magna, he does not seem to consider has any thing to do with it (vi. 13. s. 16). We proceed now to describe Media Magna, the fii'st or most northern part of what was popularly called Media having been fully noticed under Atro- patene and Ecbatana. It is very difficult to dis- tinguish the classical accounts of the different divi- sions to which we have alluded, the name Media being used very indefinitely. It may, however, be stated generally, that Media Magna comprehended the whole of the rich and fertile plain-country which was shut in between the great chain of the Cardu- chian mountains and of Mt. Zagros in the W. and by Mt. Coronus on the N. It appears to have extended as far south as Elymais and Susiana, and to have bordered on the eastern side on Caramania and Ariana, or on what, in later times, was better known MEDIA. 301 by the name of Parthia. Some have attempted to prove that it derived its name from its lying in the middle part of Asia (Gesenius, Thes. ii. p. 768; cf. also Pulyb. v. 44, who states, 'H JiTjSia Kurat Trepl /j.ia7]u Tijy 'Aaiaf). The derivation, however, admits of doubt. On the Cuneiform In- scrii)tions the name is read Muda (Rawlinson, Beliis- tun Insc. As. Journ. vol. x.). Much of this land was of a high elevation above the sea, but it abounded in fertile valleys, famous for their rich- ness, and in meadow land in which a celebrated breed of horses, called the Nisaean horses, were raised. (Herod, vii. 40, iii. 106; Diod. xvii. 100 ; Strab. xi. p. 525 ; Aelian, Hist. Anhn. iii. 2 ; Ammian. xxiii. 6. ; cf. also the modern travellers, Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 216, Chardin, and Morier.) It is comprehended for the most part in the mo- dem province of Irak Ajem. The principal town of ]Iedia Magna was Ecba- tana (doubtless the present Ilcmiaddn), which, during the time of the wars of Alexander, as for many years before, was the capital of the whole country. [Ecbatana.] Besides Ecbatana, were other towns of importance, most of them situated in the NE. part of the country, on the edge of, if not within, Atrojaatene, as Ehagae and He- RACLEIA. It is equally difficult to determ.ine with accuracy what states or tribes belong to Media JIagna. It is probable, however, that the following may bo best comprehended in this division; — The Sagartii, who occupied the passes of Mt. Zagros ; Choro- mithrene, in the champaign country to the south of Ecbatana ; P^lymais, to the north of Choromi- threne — if indeed this name has not been erro- neously introduced here by Ptolemy and Polybius [Elymais] ; the Tapyri or Tapyrrhi, S. of IMt. Coronus as far as Parthia and the Caspian Gates; Rhagiana, with its capital Ehagae; Sigriane, Daritis, and, along the southern end of the Parachoatras, what was called Syromedia. (See these places under their respective names.) The Medi, or inhabitants of Media, are the same people as the JIadai of the Bible, from which Semitic word the Greek name is most likely derived. Madai is mentioned in Genesis, as one of the sons of Japhet (x. 2), in the first repeopling of the earth after the Flood ; and the same name occurs in more than one place, subsequently, indicating, as it would seem, an independent people, subject to the king of Nineveh (2 Kings, xvii. 6), or in connection with, if not subject to, the Persians, as in Ban. v. 28, vi. 15; i:sth. i. 3, 14. The first Greek author who gives any description of them is Herodotus. According to him, they were originally called AEn,but changed their name to that of Medi on the comingofMedeia from Athens (vii. 62). They were divided into six tribes, the Busae (Steph. Byz.), Paraetaceni (Strab. xi. p. 522, xvi. p. 739, &c. ; Arrian, iii. 19), Struchates, Arizanti, Budii (Steph. Byz.), and the Magi. Von Hammer has attemped to show that most, if not all, of these names occur under their Persian form in the Zend- avesta and Shuh-nameh (Wiene7 Jalirb. ix. pp. 11, 12), but it may be questioned whether tiie iden- tification can be considered as satisfactory. Some, however, of these names indicate the Eastern origin of the inhabitants of Jledia, as Arii and Arizanti [Ariana; Arizanti] ; though it may be doubted whether others of them, as the Jifarji, ought to lie considered as separate tribes. The general evidence