ally known of the general
history of this epoch.

The Medes soon recovered from their disaster, but before engaging their
foes in open conflict, they desired to rid themselves of the prince
who had conquered them, and on whom the fortunes of the whole Scythian
nation depended. Cyaxares, therefore, invited Madyes and his officers
to a banquet, and after plying them to excess with meat and drink, he
caused them all to be slain.*

* This episode is regarded as legendary by many modern
historians. Winckler even goes so far as to deny the defeat
of the Scythians: according to his view, they held
possession of Media till their chief, Astyages, was
overthrown by Cyrus; Rost has gone even further, deeming
even Cyaxares himself to have been a Scythian. For my part,
I see no reason to reject the tradition of the fatal
banquet. Without referring to more ancient illustrations,
Noldeke recalls the fact that in a period of only ten years,
from 1030 to 1040 a.d., the princes reigning over the
Iranian lands rid themselves by similar methods of the
Turcoman bands which harassed them. Such a proceeding has
never been repugnant to Oriental morality, and it is of a
kind to fix itself in the popular mind: far from wishing to
suppress it, I should be inclined to see in it the nucleus
of the whole tradition.

The barbarians made a brave resistance, in spite of the treason which
had deprived them of their leaders: they yielded only after a long and
bloody campaign, the details of which are unknown to us. Iranian
legends wove into the theme of their expulsion all kinds of fantastic or
romantic incidents. They related, for instance, how, in combination
with the Parthians, the Scythians, under the leadership of their queen
Zarinsea, several times defeated the Medes: she consented at last to
conclude a treaty on equal terms, and peace having been signed, she
retired to her capital of Boxanake, there to end her days. One body
of the survivors re-entered Europe through the Caspian Gates, another
wandered for some time between the Araxes and the Halys, seeking a
country adapted to their native instincts and customs.* Cyaxares,
relieved from the pressure put upon him by the Scythians, immediately
resumed his efforts against Assyria, and was henceforward able to carry
his plans to completion without encountering any serious obstacle. It
would be incorrect to say t