He also neglected the rise of powerful new enemies, first the Medes, then the Persians under Cyrus the Great.

The Medes under Khshathrita ( Phraortes ) had been the target of a campaign as well, the date of which is unclear ( possibly before 676 BC ).

The Greek historian Arrian mentions ( perhaps anachronistically ) the Caucasian Albanians for the first time in the battle of Gaugamela, where the Albanians, Medes, Cadussi and Sacae were under the command of Atropates.

Urfa was conquered repeatedly throughout history, and has been dominated by many civilizations, including the Ebla, Akkadians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Hittites, Armenians, Hurri-Mitannis ( Armeno-Aryans ), Assyrians, Chaldeans, Medes, Persians, Macedonians ( under Alexander the Great ), Seleucids, Arameans, Osrhoenes, Romans, Sassanids, Byzantines, and Crusaders.

Whether or not he survived the siege and sack of Nineveh by Chaldeans and Medes, Assyria was soon reduced to a rump state centered around its last capital city of Harran under its last king Ashur-uballit II and then destroyed by the Babylonians.

After the fall of Urartu ( 6th century BC ), most of the region south of the Kura river came under the domination of the Medes and Achaemenian Persians until 331 BC when Alexander the Great invaded the region, upsetting its balance of power.

His uncle Arsames, who had been the king of the city-state of Parsa under the Medes, therefore would have had to give up his throne.

Antiochus ' army was composed of 5, 000 light armed Daae, Carmanians and Cilicians under Byttacus the Macedonian, 10, 000 Phalangites ( the Argyraspides or Silver Shields ) under Theodotus the Aetolian, the man who had betrayed Ptolemy and handed much of Coele Syria and Phoenicia over to Antiochus, 20, 000 Phalangites under Nicarchus and Theodotus Hemiolius, 2, 000 Persian and Agrianian archers and slingers with 2, 000 Thracians under Menedemus of Alabanda, 5, 000 Medes, Cissians, Cadusii and Carmanians under the Aspasianus the Mede, 10, 000 Arabians under Zabdibelus, 5, 000 Greek mercenaries under Hippolochus the Thessalian, 1, 500 Cretans under Eurylochus and 1, 000 Neocretans under Zelys the Gortynian, 500 Lydian javelineers and 1, 000 Cardakes under Lysimachus the Gaul.

* The generals of Astyages, the last king of the Medes, mutinied at Pasargadae and the empire surrendered to the Persian Empire, which conquered Babylon in 539 BC under Cyrus the Great.

Naboplassar of Babylon joined forces with Cyaxares, king of the Medes, and laid siege for three months.

The Median Cyaxares had also recently taken advantage of the anarchy in the Assyrian Empire to free the Iranic peoples, the Medes and Persians, from Assyrian rule.

* 585 / 584 BC — Astyages succeeds Cyaxares as King of the Medes.

The stalemate ended in 616 BC, when Nabopolassar entered into alliance with Cyaxares, king of the Medes and Persians, ( who had also taken advantage of the anarchy in Assyria to free his peoples from the Assyrian yoke ) and also the Scythians and Cimmerians.

According to Berossus, some years before he became king of Babylon, he married Amytis of Media, the daughter or granddaughter of Cyaxares the Great, king of the Medes, and thus the Median and Babylonian dynasties were united.

The empire fell in 608 BCE with the death of Ashur-uballit II after a period of internal strife followed by an attack by a coalition of Babylonians, Medes, Scythians, Persians and Cimmerians led by Nabopolassar, the Chaldean ruler of Babylon and Cyaxares of Media / Persia.

Cyaxares the king of the Medes and Persians, entered into an alliance with Nabopolassar of Babylon and the Scythians and Cimmerians against Sin-shar-ishkun of Assyria.

They were both opposed by an alliance led by Cyaxares of the Medes ( 633 – 584 BC ) and Nabopolassar of Babylon ( 626 – 605 BC ).

:" A horde of the nomad Scythians at feud with the rest withdrew and sought refuge in the land of the Medes: and at this time the ruler of the Medes was Cyaxares the son of Phraortes, the son of Deïokes, who at first dealt well with these Scythians, being suppliants for his protection ; and esteeming them very highly he delivered boys to them to learn their speech and the art of shooting with the bow.

: After this, since Alyattes would not give up the Scythians when Cyaxares demanded them, there had arisen war between the Lydians and the Medes lasting five years ; in which years the Medes often discomfited the Lydians and the Lydians often discomfited the Medes ( and among others they fought also a battle by night ): and as they still carried on the war with equally balanced fortune, in the sixth year a battle took Halys riverplace in which it happened, when the fight had begun, that suddenly the day became night.

Another Arpachshad is referenced in the deuterocanonical Book of Judith as being the " king of the Medes " contemporary with Nebuchadnezzar II, but this is thought to be a corruption of the historical name Cyaxares ( Hvakhshathra ).

The Lebor Gabála Érenn synchronises his reign with those of Phraortes ( 665-633 BC ) and Cyaxares ( 625-585 ) of the Medes.

The Lebor Gabála synchronises his reign with that of Cyaxares of the Medes ( 625-585 BC ).

The Lebor Gabála Érenn synchronises his reign with those of Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon ( 605-562 ), Cambyses II of Persia ( died 522 BC ), and Cyaxares of the Medes ( 625-585 ).

The Median Empire during both Cyaxares | Cyaxares the Great, and Astyages Astyages succeeded his father in 585 BCE, following the Battle of Halys, which ended a five-year war between the Lydians and the Medes.

Nabopolassar's position, and the fate of Assyria was sealed when he entered into an alliance with another of Assyria's former vassals, the Medes, the now dominant people of what was to become Persia.

The Medes, Persians, Chaldean ruled Babylonians, together with the Scythians and Cimmerians attacked Assyria in 616 BC, and by 612 BC, after five years of bitter fighting, the alliance had sacked Nineveh, killing Sin-shar-ishkun in the process.

In around 627 BC after the death of its last great king Ashurbanipal, the Neo-Assyrian empire began to unravel due to a series of bitter civil wars, and Assyria was attacked by its former vassals, the Babylonians and Medes.

* 625 BC: Medes and Babylonians assert their independence from Assyria and attack Nineveh ( approximate date ).

* c. 601 BC: The Medes from Media ( western Iran ) and the Scythians from modern Russia and Ukraine invade the northern and eastern parts of Assyria.

* 625 BC — Medes and Babylonians assert their independence from Assyria and attack Nineveh ( approximate date ).

* 737 and 736 BC — King Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria invades Iran, conquering the Medes and Persians and slaughtering, enslaving or deporting many.

This and the fact that the Persians and Medes to the east were growing in power now that the might of Assyria that had held them in vassalage for centuries was gone, spelt the death knell for native Mesopotamian power.

However in 6th BC, Assyria was conquered by a union of Medes, remaining Hurrian-related tribes, and Babylonians.

The Iranic Medes and Persians who had been largely subject to Assyria since their arrival in the region circa 1000 BC, took full advantage of the anarchy in Assyria, and in 616 BC freed themselves from Assyrian rule.

Assyria, weakened by internal strife and ineffectual rule following the death of Ashurbanipal, was unable to resist the alliance of the Chaldeans and Medes, who combined to sack the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in 612 BC.

After the victory in Assyria, the Medes conquered Northern Mesopotamia, Armenia and the parts of Asia Minor east of the Halys River, which was the border established with Lydia after a decisive battle between Lydia and Media, the Battle of Halys ended with an eclipse on May 28, 585 BC.

The city was sacked and largely destroyed during the conquest of Assyria by the Medes, Babylonians and Scythians in 612 BC.

King Ahsheri's successor, Ualli, as a vassal of Assyria, took the side of the Assyrians against the Iranic Medes ( Madai ), who were at this point still based to the east along the southwest shore of the Caspian Sea and revolting against Assyrian domination.

The Medes and Persians were subjugated by Assyria.

The upheavals in Assyria allowed the Medes to free themselves from Assyrian vassalage and make themselves the major power in ancient Iran at the expense of the Persians, Manneans and the remnants of the indigenous Elamites whose kingdom had been destroyed by the Assyrians.

Christian apologists state that the prophecy in Isaiah chapters 13 and 21 could possibly have been directed originally against Assyria whose capital Nineveh was defeated in 612 BC by a combined onslaught of the Medes and Babylonians.