Medes

The Medes (aka the Medians) are considered the founding fathers of dynastic, political leadership in the Irano-Persian ancient history and at the same time among the mistiest ethnic identities that migrated westwards from Central Asia sometime in the late third or early second millennia BC. Our two bulks of resources about the Medes, namely archaeological texts and materials in and out of their locality and the ancient Greek writings about them mainly following centuries-old insider and outsider traditions, come in and out of conflict with each other whilst cross-referencing. My article about the Medes in the World History Encyclopedia is a representative introduction to this crucial part of pre-Achaemenid history and the way it was, and is now, looked at and questioned.