CHAPTER XVII.
The Medes.
The Medes belonged to the Indo-European branch of the Aryan race. It is supposed that they came into Europe from the far east, and thence migrated to Asia, some time previous to 1000 B.C. They settled a mountainous tract to the east of Assyria, occupying a district rather larger than Babylonia and Assyria together. Because of its rugged mountains, narrow passes, and inclement winter weather, their country was easily defended against invaders. In the days of Assyrian dominance, the people of Media maintained uniform independence, notwithstanding the fact that military kings were annexing territories far and near with almost irresistible force. And so today, those who live in this district, remain comparatively free from the government which seeks to rule them.
For the history of this ancient nation we are thrown almost wholly upon the writings of Herodotus, Xenophon and other Greek travellers, for as yet no antiquarian has attempted to recover Median past from mounds of buried ruins. Indeed the country has never been left desolate like Babylonia, but its cities fell to the share of others, and later generations, finding material for new buildings in the structures of their predecessors, have left no mounds to allure the historian and archæologist. Since rich finds in other lands have in recent years thrown unexpected light upon the past, it has been surmised that beneath the present cities, in this land of ancient Media, might be recovered monuments of her early life. So far, however, other fields have proven more inviting to the explorer and the excavator.
In spite of the faults of credulence and exaggeration so characteristic of Herodotus, we must nevertheless turn to his writings and to those of Xenophon for Median history.
We have noted that during the eighth century, Assyria made a raid into Media. The independence of the people was not disturbed however. This verifies the statement of Herodotus that the Medians made good soldiers, hardy and well able to defend their land. They were trained to a life of physical activity, inured to the hardships of a rigorous climate. Charging on horseback at full speed, they made a formidable defense.
In their early conflicts they seem to have displayed excessive cruelty in war, showing no mercy to helpless women or innocent children. As for plunder, they cared little for it, and Isaiah refers to them as "the Medes who care not for silver, and as for gold, have no delight in it."[1]
By frequent plundering raids into their territory, the Assyrians incurred the lasting hatred of the Medes, who, urged on by a spirit of revenge, united in 606 B.C. under a Median prince to aid the king of Babylonia against the Assyrian monarch. Having defeated the army, the Medes pursued, and shut the Assyrian force within the walls of Nineveh. Thereupon they made an assault upon the defenses of the city and carried the day. The capital of Assyria and all the wealthy cities of the realm were overrun, plundered and burned, while the surviving inhabitants were so widely scattered that we hear no more about them.
Before this the Medes had cared little for luxury and ease, although they always delighted in a certain barbaric splendor. With the vast treasure of Nineveh their king now built a palace of extensive proportions. Its halls and pillars were of woods, its courts wide and the whole structure magnificent. No wood was left visible, all being concealed by a coating of silver tiles. Herodotus wrote thus of the palace walls:
"The walls enclose the palace, rising in circles, one within the other. The plan of the place is that each of the walls should out-top the one beyond it by the battlements. The nature of the ground, which is a gentle slope, favors this arrangement in some degree, but it was mainly effected by art. The number of the circles is seven, the royal palace and the treasuries standing within the last. Of the outer wall, the battlements are white; of the next, black; of the third, scarlet; of the fourth, blue; of the fifth, orange; all these are covered with paint. The last two have their battlements coated respectively with silver and gold."