Median Empire

The Median Empire was the first of the series of Persian empires that spanned from Turkey to China and from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea. The Medes declared independence from the Assyrians in 625 BC after a battle victory with the Babylonians. In 549 BC, it was renamed the Achaemenid Empire by Cyrus the Great.

Medes
The Medes (Greek, from an Old Persian Mādai; Assyrian Mādāyu) were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. This area is known as Media (also Medea; Greek, Old Persian Māda; the English adjective is Median, antiquated also Medean). They entered this region with the first wave of Iranian tribes, in the late second millennium BC (the Bronze Age collapse). By the 6th century BC, after having together with the Babylonians defeated the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Medes were able to establish their own empire, the largest of its day, lasting for about fifty years, from the sack of Nineveh in 612 BC until 549 BC when Cyrus the Great established the Achaemenid Empire by defeating his overlord and grandfather, Astyages, king of Media.