Medes
Economy

The basic economic resource in the region was pastoralism, as indicated in the records of Assyrian raids and tributes. A primary factor for economic development was the breeding of valuable breeds, such as horses for military use and Bactrian camels for commercial transport. The proximity to the Assyrian Empire, as well as to Urartu, Elam, and Babylon, made the breeding of these animals highly profitable. However, the most crucial economic factor was the strategic location of the Medes along the main trade route, the Silk Road, connecting Mesopotamia to Central Asia.

Assyrian palace reliefs depict inhabitants of the eastern mountain regions wearing the same tunics, sheepskin coats, lace-up boot, and hairstyles. This visual evidence suggests a similarity in the lifeways of the Western Iranian peoples, with no apparent significant distinctions among the Medes and their neighbors. The only direct references to the Median lifestyle occur in a literary text from the 7th century BCE, known as the "Sargon Geography", mentioning one Median chiefdom, Karzinu, reached by Assyrian forces in 716 BCE. As usual, non-Mesopotamian foreigners are characterized negatively, by listing the Assyrian cultural elements that the foreigners supposedly lacked. The description of the people of Karzinu makes it clear that they differed in quite a number of respects, including hairstyle, funerary practices, and diet, from the cultural habits of the western parts of the Assyrian Empire.

Median livestock breeders probably practiced transhumance, inhabiting their settlements in winter and spending the summer on pastures high in the mountains. The information gleaned from the Sargon campaign provides a rare reference to Median farming, suggesting a robust rural economy combining livestock breeding and farming, albeit lacking notable crafts or industries worth mentioning. The degree to which the Medes participated in the trade that passed through their territories between Mesopotamia and the lands further east is unknown. Assyrians received various goods from the Medes, including horses, mules, Bactrian camels, oxen, sheep, and goats. However, there is an absence of sophisticated finished products like precious textiles, metalwork, or furniture, and no luxury goods except for lapis lazuli.

The Medes were defined by their life in the Zagros Mountains. They sowed grain in the broad valleys and pastured their animals on the hillsides, moving from summer to winter pastures as the weather demanded. The Medes raised sheep, goat, and cattle for meat, milk, and wool, but it was the Median horses that were considered their most treasured resource. The Medes were known for their horsemanship, and when the Assyrians demanded tribute from them it was almost always in the form of horses trained for riding.
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