THE MEDIAN EMPIRE
Zarathushtra preached his religion at the end of the mythical Kyanian dynasty in the reign of King Vistashpa. Modern scholars put the date of Zarathushtra around 1200 BCE. Soon after the death of Vishtaspa the Kyanian kingdom seems to have disintegrated, or even the mythical records are absent. However the religion of Zarathushtra flourished among the Iranian people of north eastern Iran, even without the support of the Kyanian dynasty. Some of the customs and beliefs of the religions with which the Zoroastrian Iranians came in contact with, were adopted into the religion as well as some of the pre-Zoroastrian traditions and beliefs.
The first mention of the Iranian people in recorded history is 869 BC, in Assyrian documents. The history of the Iranian people between 1200 and 869 BCE remains a mystery, and we can only guess what happened. It seems that the Iranians were migrating along the mountains of Iran. They started migrating west from Bactria (Afghanistan) towards Mazinderan (Caspian Sea area) along the Elburz mountains and the south and east along the Zagros range between the desert of Iran and the Persian Gulf.
About 850 BCE we know that the Iranians were divided into two large groups. One living in Media and the other in Parsua (Persia). Media is the region southwest of the Caspian Sea and east of the Tigris river, and Parsua is south and east of Media. At this time the Medians and the Parsuans were under the nominal rule of the Assyrian empire and paid tribute to the Assyrian empire when forced to do so by Assyrian invaders. Between invasions they were left very much on their own and even had their own kings.
The first Median king in recorded history is Deioces (known to Assyrians as Daiaukku) who in 670 BCE overthrew the Assyrian ruler of Media and set up a free Median kingdom. His capital city was Ecbatana (today known as Hamadan).
His son was Froartes (Median name Fravartish) who ruled for twenty years. He tried to take over Assyria but was defeated. He conquered Parsua and made it a vassal state of Media.
Fravartish was succeeded by his son Cyarxes I. In 614 BCE he made an alliance with Babylonia and attacked Assyria and captured the capital Nineveh. He then tried to expand his empire into Lydia (modern Turkey). A long war with Lydia ended when the total solar eclipse of May 28, 585 BCE frightened the two armies into making peace. This exact date of the end of the war is available to us because eclipses of the sun and moon can be calculated exactly both backward and forward in time.
Astyages was the next king of Media. He ruled for a very long time until he was overthrown by Cyrus the Great who established the first Persian empire.
From the time of Fravartish the Parsuans(Persians) were under Median rule but had their own kings. Hakhamanish (700-675 BCE) was the first Persian king . His son was Teispis (also known as Chispish) who ruled from 675 to 640 BCE. He divided his kingdom between his two sons and from that time on to 659 BCE, there were two kingdoms in Persia. One of Chispishs’ son was Cyrus I (640 to 600 BCE) his rule was followed by his son Cambyses I (590-559 BCE), whose son Cyrus II known in history as Cyrus the Great founded the Hakhamanian empire named after the first Persian king Hakhamanish.
The other son of Chispish was Ariamnes (640 to 615 BCE). His son Arsamnes ruled to about 590 BCE and was followed by Hystaspes (Persian name Vishtashpa, not to be confused with the Kyanian king Vishtashpa). His son Darius I, became the Persian emperor after Cambyses II the son of Cyrus the Great.