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There was among the Medes a clever man called Deioces… [He] was infatuated with sovereignty, and so he set about gaining it.
HERODOTUS, HISTORIES, 1.96; A. D. GODLEY TRANSLATION
Summary
After finishing his account of Croesus and the Lydian empire, Herodotus switches his focus to King Cyrus of Persia and how he ascended to the throne.
Herodotus starts with how the Median empire came about. After over five hundred years of Assyrian dominance, the Medes revolted against them and succeeded in gaining their independence. Soon after, other nations revolted against Assyria, crumbling their empire.
At first, the Medes lived without any rulers and their towns suffered some degree of lawlessness. In one particular town there was a man named Deioces. He craved power and devised a way to claim it. He began to practice and profess justice and eventually his town made him a judge. His rulings were considered so honest and just that he became popular. He reputation spread and soon people from other towns were coming to him for rulings.
One day, Deioces decided he had had enough because he was so busy judging cases that he no longer had time for his business. After Deioces quit, lawlessness became rampant again amongst the Medians. They decided right there that they needed a king to rule them and unanimously decided Deioces should be that king. Deioces agreed to be their king under two conditions: 1) the people would build a house for him, and 2) they would provide him a bodyguard fit for a king. The people readily did everything Deioces asked of them.
After this, Deioces ordered that a city be built for him which would be more fortified and cared for than all the other Median cities. The people agreed and built a city on a hill. It was fortified with seven circular walls, one taller than the next, with the innermost circle being where the palace and treasuries were. This city was named Ecbatana.
Deioces then ordered that no one was to live within the innermost wall except the king. In fact, no one was to stand in the presence of the king and all affairs would be conducted via messengers. Deioces did this because he didn’t want his peers, fellow noblemen who knew him before he was king, to believe they were his equal and eventually plot against him. Lastly, Deioces established a network of spies and eavesdroppers to look out for crime, especially violent crimes. In this way, Deioces united the different Median tribes together.
Deioces ruled 53 years and his son Phraortes took over. Phraortes was not content with just ruling the Medians and began to expand. He first subjugated the Persians, and with their strength combined with the Medians, he began conquering one nation after another. However, when he attacked Ninus, a prominent Assyrian city, him and most of his army perished. Phraortes had ruled for 22 years and his son Cyaxares1 took over.
Cyaxares was a competent military strategist. He restructured the Median army and put the spearmen, archers, and cavalry into their own companies (before, they had been mingled with each other). He also united most of Asia on his side of the river Halys (the Lydians controlled the other side).
Cyaxares then attacked Ninus to avenge his father. He defeated the Assyrian army, but while he was besieging the city, a large Scythian army came out of nowhere and attacked the Medians, defeating them. The Scythians then took over much of Asia, going as far as Egypt. The king of Egypt met them in Palestine, gave them gifts, and asked them to leave Egypt alone, which they obliged.
After 28 years of Scythian rule, the Medes under Cyaxares overthrew them. Cyaxares restored his rule over Asia, finally conquered Ninus, and went on to conquer all of the Assyrians except the city of Babylon.
Including the 28 years under the Scythians, Cyaxares ruled for 40 years and his son Astyages took over.
And the Cycle Begins Anew
We’re now beginning to see some patterns emerge between the Lydians and the Medians. Like the Lydians, the Medians got new rulers after overthrowing their previous rulers. Once they solidified their rule over the immediate area, they desired expansion and began conquering other areas. Later on, we’ll find out that the dynasty established by Deioces will be overthrown by Cyrus and he will establish a new dynasty. This is also like the Lydians, who were first ruled by the Heracleidae until their last ruler was overthrown by Gyges and a new dynasty was established.
The desire for empire building has been a recurring theme throughout history. An ambitious ruler gets into power and for some reason decides he wants to rule over more territory than what he already has. It may start with territory occupied by those of the same language or ethnicity, but eventually that ruler, or his successor, begins to conquer the territory of foreign peoples. This continues until the empire expands too far, it gets incompetent rulers, or a stronger power comes in and diminishes or conquers them.
The question is why a ruler would want to expand their rule into other parts—especially into territory occupied by foreign peoples who don’t speak the same language or have the same customs. None of these rulers seem to learn from history that one day their efforts will be undone. Maybe they don’t care because they’ll be gone by then. They got to enjoy the full benefits of their empire building and that’s all that matters. This is another theme of history: the previous generation leaving the current generation with the consequences of their actions because the previous generation won’t have to worry about it.
It’s the result of focusing too much on present thinking and too little on future thinking.
The Desire to be Ruled
This is another age old question: can people go without rulers? I suppose it depends on the people. We see in Herodotus’ account that, at long last, the Medians overthrew the rule of the Assyrians and became independent. However, their towns devolved into lawlessness. Eventually, one man, Deioces, emerged who began arbitrating cases justly and decreased the lawlessness. However, as soon as he stopped, the lawlessness skyrocketed again until they begged him to be their king.
In reality, all they had to do was carry on what Deioces had started: bring up more judges to arbitrate fairly. It should have started after Deioces started gaining prominence. Other towns should have looked at what Deioces was doing, made a record of his rulings, and either elevated or trained up other men to arbitrate the way Deioces was. Instead, they wholly relied on Deioces and became dependent on him.
Can people go without rulers? Do people want to go without rulers? These are questions I have been pondering after spending some time looking at libertarian and anarchist philosophies.
There are people who want to be left alone to live their lives. However, “left alone” seems to have as many definitions as the people who want it. Then, there are people who think rule by a person or group is necessary and/or inevitable. However, there is no consensus about what that rule should look like and how much power the ruler(s) should have. And then, there are the people who think they know exactly how rule should be conducted and how people should behave. These people will refuse to leave everyone else alone and will give them two choices: conform or be eliminated.
If you’re someone that wants to be left alone, whatever that means to you, how do you go about achieving it? If there are people who believe rule by others is inevitable, and you need to accept that, what do you do? If there are people who refuse to leave you alone and will use the power and force that comes with rule to bring you into their grasp, what do you do?
If you want to be left alone, do you have to use power and force to achieve that goal? If so, where are you going to get that power and force? How do you maintain that power and force to make sure you’ll be left alone in the future? How do you pass it on to future generations?
That's all for the Histories, Book 1.95-106.
May your days be filled with grace.
-Andronikos
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Thumbnail: Deioces Commands the Medes to Set Forth on Their Course of Conquest, an illustration based on a painting by Louis Boulanger, 1913?
1Recall that Cyaxares was the Median king the Lydians warred with concerning some intrigue with the Scythians. During one of the battles, a solar eclipse occurred which caused the armies to stop fighting and make peace with each other (1.73-74, 103).