امپراتوری ماد — نخستین امپراتوری ایران (۶۷۸–۵۵۰ پیش از میلاد)
The Median Empire (c. 678–550 BC) was the first Iranian empire, formed from the unification of Iranian tribes in the northwestern Iranian plateau. Founded by Deioces, who established the capital at Ecbatana (modern Hamadan), the Medes rose to challenge the dominant Assyrian Empire.
Under Cyaxares (r. 625–585 BC), the Medes allied with the Babylonians and destroyed Nineveh — the Assyrian capital — in 612 BC, one of the ancient world's most dramatic reversals of power. The Assyrian Empire, which had dominated the Near East for centuries, collapsed within a decade.
The Median Empire became a major power controlling Iran, parts of Anatolia, and Central Asia. In 550 BC, Cyrus the Great — a Persian vassal king of the Medes — overthrew the last Median king Astyages and incorporated the Median realm into the Achaemenid Empire. Many Median nobles became key administrators in the new empire.
The Medes were Iranian tribes from northwestern Iran who founded the first Iranian empire around 678 BC. They allied with Babylon to destroy the Assyrian Empire in 612 BC before being absorbed into the Achaemenid Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC.
Ecbatana (modern Hamadan in western Iran) was the Median capital. After the Achaemenid conquest, it became one of the Persian Empire's royal capitals and summer residences for Achaemenid kings.