MEDIA 



MEDICI 



113 



in ancient times, the name of the north- 

 western part of Iran or Persia, was bounded by the 

 Caspian Sea and Parthia on the E., and by Assyria 

 and Armenia on the W. It corresponded approxi- 

 mately to the modern Persian provinces of Azer- 

 bijan, Ghilan, and Irak-Ajemi, and the eastern 

 part of Kurdistan. The Medes were an Aryan 

 people like the Persians ; their state religion was 

 Zoroastrianism, and the Magi (q.v.) its priests. 

 They were at first a bold and warlike race, very 

 skilful with the bow, and noted horsemen. The 

 Median tril>es who seem to have been in part 

 subject to the king of Assyria, began towards 700 

 B.C. to be cemented together under a chief named 

 Deioces (Dajaukku), who chose as his capital 

 Ecbatana (q.v.), identified with the modern 

 Hamadau. Their power grew stronger under his 

 son Phraortes, who sulidued the Persians, lint 

 perished in war with the Assyrians. Cyaxares, the 

 son of Phraortes, renewed the war against Assyria, 

 but it was interrupted by an invasion of Media by 

 the Scythians. Having treacherously murdered 

 their chiefs, he expelled their warriors. Then, in 

 alliance with Nal>o|x>lassar, king of Babylon, he 

 overthrew the Assyrian empire by capturing 

 Nineveh about 607 H.c. Having annexed the north- 

 ern provinces of the Assyrian empire, he liegan 

 Ji war against Lvdia ; but the eclipse of 28th May 

 585, the same wiiicli had been foretold by Thales, 

 terrified both parties into peace. Cyaxares was 



SIH-I ded by his son Astyages. Against him the 



Persians, under their prince Cyrus, revolted alumt 

 550 B.C., and, lieing joined by a portion of the 

 Median army under a chief named Harpagus, they 

 took Ecbatana and demised the Median king. 

 From tliis time the two nations are spoken of as 

 one people. Ecbatana became the summer resi- 

 dence of the Persian kings. After the death of 

 Alexander the <!reat (324 B.C.), the north-western 

 portion (Atropatene) of Media lieruine a separate 

 kingdom, which existed till the time of Augustus. 

 The other portion, under the name of Great Madia, 

 formed a part of the Syrian monarchy. In 147 H.c. 

 Mithridates I. took Great Media from the king of 

 Syria, and annexed it to the Parthian empire. 

 Alxmt 36 B.C. it had a king of its own, named 

 Artavasdes, against whom and his ally, Phraates 

 IV. of Parthia, Mark Antony engaged in a (lisas 

 trous campaign. Under the S;i";mian dynasty 

 the whole of Media was united to Persia (q.v.). 



See G. Rawlinson, Fire Great Monarchic* of the 

 Ancient Kattern World 13 vols. 1879); Duncker, ffistor/i 

 of Antiquity (6 vols. ; Eng. trans. 1877-83) ; Lennrmant, 

 .Sur la Monarchie dct Medei ( 1871 ) ; Oppert, La Pfu/>le 

 et la Lanffue dci Mlilc* (1879); A. von Gntsclimid, 

 ffeiie Britrarfc zur Oetchichte tie* alien Orient* (1*76); 

 and the popular Media, Babylon, and Persia, by Miss 

 lia^nzin ( INS'.I ; '.Stories of the Nation' series). 



Mediatisation. See GERMANY, Vol. V. p. 177. 

 _ Medical Jurisprudence, also called 



l-'oreri-ii- Medicine, is the branch of medicine which 

 brings medical science to l>ear on legal questions, 

 in determining criminal and civil responsibility. 

 It has regard mainly either to civil rights or to 

 injuries to the person. Among subjects in its 

 province are those connected with birth, pregnancy, 

 murder, natural death, rape, insanity, monstrosity, 

 accidental or intentional injuries, " the action of 

 drugs, &c., all of which are dealt with in their 

 several places. As specially lielonging to this 

 subject may be noted the articles on BUIOD STAINS 

 and PononMO. Good general handbooks are Dr 

 Taylor*! Manual and Prtnrifi/i.-, mul Practice, and 

 Ir ('. M Tidy's Legal Medicine (2 vols. 1882-83). 

 Medical Staff t'orps. See ARMY, I. 438. 



Jled'iel, a distinguished Florentine family which 

 attained to sovereign power in the 15th century, 



M 



owed its earliest distinction to the success with 

 which its members pursued various branches of com- 

 merce, and the liberality which they showed in 

 devoting their wealth to the public good. Their 

 well-known arms, representing six balls (from 

 whence their war-cry of 'Palle'), were popularly 

 but without reason believed to represent pills, as 

 their name to show that they had l>een originally 

 apothecaries. In 1465 Louis XI. of France honoured 

 the Medici by conferring on them the right to wear 

 the French fleur-de-lis on one of the balls. From 

 the beginning of the 13th century the Medici took 

 part in the government of their native republic, 

 and from the period (1378) when Salvestro de' 

 Medici was elected gonfaloniere the family rose 

 rapidly in greatness. It was, however, Giovanni 

 (born 1360) who amassed the immense fortune, and 

 by his generosity and affability gained the position 

 of influence hitherto unparalleled in the republic, 

 to which his sons Cosimo and Lorenzo succeeded. 

 With Cosimo (1389-1464), snrnamed H Vecchio 

 ('the Ancient") and 'Pater Patrice,' began the 

 glorious epoch of the family : while from his 

 brother Lorenzo was descended the collateral branch 

 of the Medici which in the 16th century obtained 

 absolute rule over Tuscany. 



Cosimo's life, except during the brief period when 

 the Albizzi and other rival families succeeded in 

 successfully opposing the Medici influence in the 

 government and exiling him from Florence, was 

 one uninterrupted course of prosperity. He was 

 successful in his political alliances, and procured 

 for Florence security abroad and peace from civil 

 dissensions within her walls. He employed his 

 great wealth in encouraging art and literature. 

 He made Florence the most brilliant centre of the 

 revival of classic learning which distinguishes the 

 15th century, he enriched her with splendid build- 

 ings, and gave unrivalled treasures to the great 

 libraries which he founded. Although his all- 

 powerful influence was not explicitly recognised in 

 the state, and the form of government remained 

 republican, Cosimo in reality was entirely master 

 of the town, and filled the public offices with his 

 partisans. He was succeeded by his son Pietro I., 

 surnamed II Gottoso( 'Gouty '), who, feeble in health 

 and in character, was assisted in the government 

 by the precocious talents of his son Lorenzo ( 1448- 

 92), afterwards famous in history as Lorenzo il 

 Magnifico. 



On his father's death (1469) Lorenzo and his 

 brother Giuliano were recognised as ' principi dello 

 stato.' The growing power of the Medici had 

 roused much envy amongst other great Florentine 

 families ; and in 1478 these malcontents, headed by 

 the Pazzi and in league with the pope, Sixtus IV. 

 (Delia Rovere), who saw in the Medici a powerful 

 olwtacle to his schemes of temporal aggrandise- 

 ment, formed a plot to overthrow their power, 

 known as the conspiracy of the Pazzi. Only 

 Giuliano was victim of the assassins who were to 

 have killed both brothers during service in the 

 cathedral, and the popularity of Lorenzo was in- 

 creased by the courage and judgment shown by 

 him in this crisis. Lorenzo was a worthy descend 

 ant of his famous grandfather, just in his govern- 

 ment, magnanimous to his enemies, and not only a 

 munificent patron of art and literature, but himself 

 a man of wide culture and a distinguished lyric poet. 

 To enlarge on the institutions, universities, and 

 schools founded by him, and on the famous names 

 of painters, sculptors, architects, philosophers, and 

 poets who surrounded him would be to write the 

 history of the Renaissance. He was one of the 

 most zealous promoters of the art of printing, 

 and established under Cennini a printing-press 

 in Florence. Although he used his power in 

 the state well, yet he sapped the existing forms 



