hose far more authentic ones
which have reached us through the Assyrian contemporary records, we are
struck by a repetition of the same device which came under our notice
more than a century earlier--the device of covering up the nation's
disgraces at a particular period by assigning to that very date certain
great and striking successes. As Ctesias's revolt of the Medes under
Arbaces and conquest of Nineveh synchronizes nearly with the first known
ravages of Assyria within the territories of the Medes, so Herodotus's
revolt of the same people and commencement of their monarchy under
Deioces falls almost exactly at the date when they entirely lose their
independence. As there is no reason to suspect Herodotus either of
partiality toward the Medes or of any wilful departure from the truth,
we must regard him as imposed upon by his informants, who were probably
either Medes or Persians. These mendacious patriots found little
difficulty in palming their false tale upon the simple Halicarnassian,
thereby at once extending the antiquity of their empire and concealing
its shame behind a halo of fictitious glory.

After their subjugation by Sargon the Medes of Media Magna appear to
have remained the faithful subjects of Assyria for sixty or seventy
years. During this period we find no notices of the great mass of the
nation in the Assyrian records: only here and there indications occur
that Assyria is stretching out her arms towards the more distant and
outlying tribes, especially those of Azerbijan, and compelling them to
acknowledge her as mistress. Sennacherib boasts that early in his
reign, about B.C. 702, he received an embassy from the remoter parts of
Media--"parts of which the kings his fathers had not even heard"--which
brought him presents in sign of submission, and patiently accepted his
yoke. His son, Esar-haddon, relates that, about his tenth year (B.C.
671) he invaded Bikni or Bikan, a distant province of Media, "whereof
the kings his fathers had never heard the name;" and, attacking the
cities of the region one after another, forced them to acknowledge his
authority. The country was held by a number of independent chiefs, each
bearing sway in his own city and adjacent territory. These chiefs have
unmistakably Arian names, as Sitriparna or Sitraphernes, Eparna or
Orphernes, Zanasana or Zanasanes, and Eamatiya or Ramates. Esar-haddon
says that, having entered the country with his army, he seized two of
the chiefs