Kyaxares II.

The expansion of the Mederreich around 600 BC Chr.

Cyaxares II. ( Medo Ḫavachštra , Elamite Šattarrida , Assyrian Kaštarita , Babylonian Hašatritti ) was a Median ruler (presumably 625 / 624-584 v. Chr.). He was the son and successor of Phraortes and freed the Medes from the interim Scythian rule.

Life

Detachment from the Scythians

Kyaxares began his rule under unfavorable conditions. His father, Phraortes, had fallen in a campaign against the Assyrians along with most of his army, and the Scythians, allies of the Assyrians, had dominated the media.

According to the Greek historian Herodotus , Kyaxares used the time of the Scythian rule to calmly improve the situation of the Meder Empire. He carried out extensive reforms in the army. Independent infantry and archery associations were established, and the army presumably adopted tactics from the mobile Scythian forces. Presumably, elements of Scythian art were also adopted, as indicated by finds from Median treasures from that time.

Kyaxares expanded its power by annexing areas on Lake Urmia , which is believed to have caught the attention of the Scythians. In one battle, Kyaxares managed to defeat the Scythians and shake off their rule. The Scythians withdrew from the Mannaean territory, but remained a serious threat to the Meder Empire.

The end of the Assyrian Empire

In 614 BC Kyaxares tried to realize his father's plan and to eliminate the Assyrian threat for good. Unlike Phraortes, Kyaxares did not advance immediately to the capital Nineveh , but instead took the Assyrian provincial capital Tarbirsu on the Diyala in the month of Abu , which began on July 12 this year . From here he planned a major attack on Nineveh. The project was made easier for him by an advance of the Babylonians under Nabopolassar in the south, who, favored by the decline of Assyrian supremacy in the Near East , became very powerful and wanted to conquer Nineveh for their part. Kyaxares failed to storm Nineveh. Scythian allies of the Assyrians had arrived again. The Medes broke off the siege of Nineveh and moved on to Assyria . They destroyed and sacked the city, which was followed by a meeting between Kyaxares and Nabopolassar. An alliance between Medes and Babylonians was decided, which was sealed by the marriage of the Babylonian crown prince Nebuchadnezzar to the daughter of Kyaxares, Amyntis.

Immediately thereafter, Kyaxares took to the field against the Scythians and was able to defeat them. Now the Medes and Babylonians united their forces. On May 30, 612 BC The siege of Nineveh began, which ended with a victory of the Medes on July 28th. According to Nabopolassar, Nineveh was totally destroyed and a short time later turned into a ruin . The Medes marched back on September 7th. The Assyrian King Sîn-šarru-iškun was killed when he stormed Nineveh on July 28th. In 610 BC Despite Egyptian support for Aššur-uballiṭ II, the final defeat and thus the fall of the Assyrian Empire took place in Harran .

Around 590 BC The Medes had taken the Urartian capital Tushpa , which led to the downfall of the Urartian empire and secured the Medes their dominance in the mountains north of Mesopotamia.

Expansion to the west

In Asia Minor the rise of the Lydian Empire took place at that time , and the enormous wealth of the Lydians, which resulted from massive trade profits, had become known in the Near East. Kyaxares first advanced west, where he encountered the strong Lydian forces. A five-year war, which could not bring a decision, followed. According to Herodotus, this war broke out because of a request from Kyaxares to the Lydian king Alyattes II , to hand over Scythian criminals who had fled from the Median to the Lydian court. When Alyattes did not comply, Kyaxares declared war on the Lydian Empire.

On May 28, 585 BC A battle between Median and Lydian associations broke out on the Halys River (today Kizilirmak ) . A solar eclipse that day ended the battle, because according to a prophecy of the Valley of Miletus , the war would end when day suddenly turned into night. With the mediation of the later Babylonian king Nabonid and the Cilician king Syennesis a peace was made, which established the Halys as the border river between the two realms, which was sealed by the marriage between Kyaxares' son Astyages and the daughter of Alyattes.

Herodotus sets the conquest of Nineveh after the Battle of Halys, which, however, contradicts archaeological evidence. It is probable that the conquest of Nineveh and the western expansion of the Kyaxares ran at least temporarily in parallel. What is certain, however, is that the battle on Halys, which can be dated to the exact day, took place long after the fall of Nineveh.

Kyaxares died in 584 BC. According to Herodotus, after forty years of reign. He was succeeded by his son Astyages on the throne.

swell

Herodotus : histories .

literature

Elena Cassin , Jean Bottéro , Jean Vercoutter (eds.): The ancient oriental empires III. The first half of the 1st millennium (= Fischer Weltgeschichte . Volume 4). Fischer paperback, Frankfurt am Main 1967.
Roman Ghirshman : L'Iran, des origines à l'Islam. Payot, Paris 1951 ( Bibliothèque historique ), (English: Iran. From The Earliest Times To The Islamic Conquest. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth 1954).

Web links

Jona Lendering: Cyaxares . In: Livius.org (English)

Remarks

↑ The 9th Simanu fell in 612 BC. On June 6th and the beginning of spring on March 28th in the proleptic Julian calendar . The time difference to the Gregorian calendar is 7 days, which must be deducted from June 6th. Calculations according to Jean Meeus: Astronomical Algorithms - Applications for Ephemeris Tool 4,5 - , Barth, Leipzig 2000 and Ephemeris Tool 4,5 conversion program .
↑ The 9th Abu fell in 612 BC. On August 4th and the beginning of spring on March 28th in the proleptic Julian calendar. The time difference to the Gregorian calendar is 7 days, which must be deducted from August 4th. Calculations according to Jean Meeus: Astronomical Algorithms - Applications for Ephemeris Tool 4,5 - , Barth, Leipzig 2000 and Ephemeris Tool 4,5 conversion program .
↑ The 20th Ululu fell in 612 BC. On September 14th and the beginning of spring on March 28th in the proleptic Julian calendar. The time difference to the Gregorian calendar is 7 days, which must be deducted from September 14th. Calculations according to Jean Meeus: Astronomical Algorithms - Applications for Ephemeris Tool 4,5 - , Barth, Leipzig 2000 and Ephemeris Tool 4,5 conversion program .

personal data
SURNAME	Kyaxares II.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Ḫavachštra (medisch)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	median regent
DATE OF BIRTH	7th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	584 BC Chr.

[1] The 9th Simanu fell in 612 BC. On June 6th and the beginning of spring on March 28th in the proleptic Julian calendar . The time difference to the Gregorian calendar is 7 days, which must be deducted from June 6th. Calculations according to Jean Meeus: Astronomical Algorithms - Applications for Ephemeris Tool 4,5 - , Barth, Leipzig 2000 and Ephemeris Tool 4,5 conversion program .

[2] The 9th Abu fell in 612 BC. On August 4th and the beginning of spring on March 28th in the proleptic Julian calendar. The time difference to the Gregorian calendar is 7 days, which must be deducted from August 4th. Calculations according to Jean Meeus: Astronomical Algorithms - Applications for Ephemeris Tool 4,5 - , Barth, Leipzig 2000 and Ephemeris Tool 4,5 conversion program .

[3] The 20th Ululu fell in 612 BC. On September 14th and the beginning of spring on March 28th in the proleptic Julian calendar. The time difference to the Gregorian calendar is 7 days, which must be deducted from September 14th. Calculations according to Jean Meeus: Astronomical Algorithms - Applications for Ephemeris Tool 4,5 - , Barth, Leipzig 2000 and Ephemeris Tool 4,5 conversion program .