The Median Empire and the Ancient Near East, c. 600 BCE

A map illustrating the rise and expansion of the Median Empire in the wake of the Bronze Age Collapse and the disintegration of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (c. 609 BCE). While the Neo-Babylonian Empire engulfed the Fertile Crescent from the Levantine coast to the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, the Median influence stretched far north towards the Black and Caspian Seas, as far east as the Indus River, and into the vast uplands of Asia Minor.