Page:Herodotus and the Empires of the East.djvu/65

Rh the neighboring tribes, and attacked the Assyrians who dwelt at Nineveh; but he fell in battle, with the loss of most of his army. His son, Cyaxares (624–584), succeeded him. He waged war with the Lydians, and extended his power on the northwest as far as the river Halys. To avenge his father he marched against Nineveh. Scarcely had he laid siege to the town when the Scythians, under their king, Madyes, fell upon the Median kingdom, and in a battle the Mecles were defeated and " their supremacy over Asia was lost." The Scythians ruled over Western Asia for twenty-eight years, but were treacherously robbed of their power in the following manner. Cyaxares invited them to a banquet, and, when they were drunk, the Medes fell upon them and slew them. In this way the Medes recovered their former power, and conquered the Assyrian empire, with the exception of Babylonia. After the death of Cyaxares, his "son," Astyages, came to the throne. On the advice of the Magi, he gave his daughter, Mandane, in marriage to a Persian. Of this union was born Cyrus, who freed the Persians from the power of the Medes, conquered Media and Lydia, and finally brought to an end the Babylonian empire. These are, in brief, the statements of Herodotus concerning the history of the Median kingdom, which is said to have existed, in all, one hundred and twenty-eight years. (I., 99–131.) The Assyrian inscriptions make it possible, in part, to confirm the record of Herodotus, but in several essential points to correct and supplement it. Let us review briefly the founding of the Median empire and its history up to the Scythian invasion.

Media is called in the Assyrian documents $Mât$ Mada-a-a (in Ramman-nirari III., Tiglath-Pileser III.,