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The Medes. The Medes were an Iranian people of the northwestern Zagros plateau (modern western Iran) who built the first great Iranian empire. Mentioned in Assyrian records from the 9th century BCE as tribute-paying chiefs, they were welded into a kingdom - tradition says by Deioces, who founded the capital at Ecbatana (modern Hamadan) - as Assyria's grip on the Iranian highlands weakened in the 7th century BCE.
Under Cyaxares (r. 625-585 BCE) the Medes reorganized their army by weapon type, allied with Babylon, and in 614-612 BCE destroyed Assyria: Ashur fell in 614, and Nineveh itself was stormed and sacked in 612, an event that stunned the entire ancient world. The Medes took Assyria's northern and eastern provinces, fought Alyattes of Lydia to the 'Battle of the Eclipse' at the Halys in 585, and ruled an empire stretching from Anatolia across Iran toward Central Asia.
The empire was short-lived. Cyaxares' son Astyages ruled for about 35 years, but in 550 BCE his own vassal, Cyrus of the Persian kingdom of Anshan, rebelled; the Median army defected, Ecbatana was taken, and the Median Empire became the heartland of Cyrus' new Persian (Achaemenid) Empire. Median nobles kept high office under the Persians - the pair 'Medes and Persians' became a standard phrase - and two later Median revolts tried and failed to restore the kingdom. Ecbatana remained one of the Achaemenid summer capitals, and 'Median' dress and court customs visibly shaped Persian royal style.
Little Median writing survives, so the Medes are seen mostly through Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek and later Persian sources, and their archaeology (Ecbatana, Godin Tepe, Nush-i Jan) is still being worked out. But their historical role is clear: they broke Assyria, taught the Persians the arts of empire, and gave Iranian civilization its first imperial form.
World History Encyclopedia: Medes
Encyclopaedia Iranica: MEDIA
Humanities LibreTexts: 4.2: From Old Babylon to the Medes