Astyages

Astyages was the last king of the Median Empire, reigning from 585 to 550 BC. The son of Cyaxares, he was dethroned by his grandson, Cyrus the Great. Reign Astyages succeeded his father in 585 BCE, following the Battle of Halys, which ended a five-year war between the Lydians and the Medes. He inherited a large empire, ruled in alliance with his two brothers-in-law, Croesus of Lydia and Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whose wife, Amytis, Astyages' sister, was the queen for whom Nebuchadnezzar was said to have built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, though this legend remains unsolved. Married to Aryenis, the sister of King Croesus of Lydia, to seal the treaty between the two empires, Astyages ascended to the Median throne upon his father's death later that year. The ancient sources report almost nothing about Astyages’ reign, and a final judgment on his character is not possible, since Herodotus’ negative account (Astyages is represented as a cruel and despotic ruler) and Ctesias’ favorable one, are both biased. Xenophon's Cyropaedia depicts him as a kindly old gentleman devoted to his grandson Cyrus, but the work is widely regarded as fiction and contains numerous historical inaccuracies which make it an unreliable source.