Mede

The Medes were an ancient Indo-European people descended from Madai, son of Japheth (Genesis 10:2), who established the Median kingdom in the region southeast of the Caspian Sea, corresponding to northwestern Iran. They rose to prominence by helping destroy Nineveh in 612 B.C., ending the Assyrian Empire. Israelite exiles were settled among the cities of the Medes (2 Kings 17:6; 18:11), and Daniel served under "Darius the Mede" after Babylon fell. The Persians and Medes are consistently paired in the Book of Esther and Daniel as the dual ruling power of the Achaemenid Empire — the laws of the Medes and Persians being irrevocable (Daniel 6:8; Esther 1:19).