Editing Phraortes

{{Short description|King of the Medes from 675 to 653 BC<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Phraortes | title=Phraortes &#124; Persian Ruler, Median Empire, Achaemenid Dynasty &#124; Britannica }}</ref>}}
{{For|the genus of stick insects|Lonchodinae}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Phraortes
| title        = 
| image        = 
| image_size   = 
| alt          = 
| caption      = 
| succession   = King of the Medes
| reign        = 675 – 653 BC<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Phraortes | title=Phraortes &#124; Persian Ruler, Median Empire, Achaemenid Dynasty &#124; Britannica }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/phraortes/ | title=Phraortes }}</ref>
| coronation   = 
| predecessor  = [[Deioces]]
| successor    = [[Cyaxares]]
| birth_date   = 
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = 653 BC
| death_place  = 
| burial_place = 
| spouse       = 
| issue        = 
| full name    = 
| dynasty      = [[Median dynasty]]
| father       = [[Deioces]]
| mother       = 
| religion     = [[Ancient Iranian religion]]
}}
'''Phraortes''',{{efn|
*{{IPAc-en|f|r|ei|'|Or|t|i|z}} {{Respell|fray|OAR|teez}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=Pronouncing dictionary of proper names: pronunciations for more than 28,000 proper names, selected for currency, frequency, or difficulty of pronunciation |date=1998 |publisher=Omnigraphics |isbn=978-0-7808-0098-4 |editor-last=Bollard |editor-first=John K. |edition=2nd |location=Detroit, Mich |page=793}}</ref>
*{{langx|peo|[[wikt:𐎳𐎼𐎺𐎼𐎫𐎡𐏁|𐎳𐎼𐎺𐎼𐎫𐎡𐏁]]|translit=Fravartiš}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Akbarzadeh|first=D.|author2=A. Yahyanezhad|title=The Behistun Inscriptions (Old Persian Texts)|publisher=Khaneye-Farhikhtagan-e Honarhaye Sonati|year=2006|language=fa|isbn=964-8499-05-5|pages=87}}</ref><ref name="kent-p406">{{cite book|last=Kent|first=Ronald Grubb|others=translated into Persian by S. Oryan|title=Old Persian: Grammar, Text, Glossary|isbn=964-421-045-X|year=c. 2006 |language=fa|pages=406|publisher=Pizhūhishkadah-i Zabān va Gūyish bā hamkārī-i Idārah-i Kull-i Umūr-i Farhangī}}</ref>
*{{langx|grc|[[wikt:Φραόρτης|Φραόρτης]]|translit=Phraórtēs}}}} son of [[Deioces]], was the second king of the [[Median kingdom]].

Like his father Deioces, Phraortes started wars against [[Assyria]], but was defeated and killed by the Assyrian king, probably [[Ashurbanipal]] (r. 669-631 BC).

== Biography ==
All ancient information about him is from [[Herodotus]]. According to him (1.102), Phraortes was the son of Deioces and united all Median tribes into a single state. He also subjugated the [[Persians]] and [[Parthia]]ns and other nations of [[ancient Iran]]. He ruled for twenty-two years (c. 675 – c. 653 BC), however, some scholars {{who|date=April 2025}} assume that he ruled for fifty-three years, c. 678 – c. 625.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} Media was then ruled by Scythians, allies of Assyria, for 28 years before Phraortes's son, [[Cyaxeres]], overthrew Scythian domination and became king in 625.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Medvedskaya |first=I.|title=PHRAORTES|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/phraortes|date=20 July 2004|access-date=18 December 2012 }}</ref> Phraortes is commonly identified with [[Kashtariti]], a chieftain in Media, although some scholars consider such an identification doubtful. 

==Book of Judith==
Various scholars have identified Phraortes with the "Arphaxad, king of the Medes" in the [[Book of Judith]]. [[Fulcran Vigouroux]] identified the battle between "Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians" and "Arphaxad, the king of the Medes" as the battle that occurred between Ashurbanipal and Phraortes.<ref>Les Livres Saints et La Critique Rationaliste, iv, 4th ed.</ref> This battle occurred during the seventeenth year of Ashurbanipal's reign, and the book of Judith states that this battle occurred in the seventeenth year of "Nebuchadnezzar's" reign. [[Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet]] expressed a similar view regarding this.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e4gDAAAAQAAJ&q=laissa&pg=RA1-PA35 |title=Discours sur l'histoire universelle: Dessein général de l'ouvrage by Jacques Bénigne Bossuet, 1627 - 1704|year=1840 }}</ref> As argued by Vigouroux, the two battles mentioned in the [[Septuagint]] version of the Book of Judith are a reference to the clash of the two empires in 658–657 and to Phraortes' death in battle in 653, after which Ashurbanipal continued his military actions with a large campaign starting with the [[Battle of Ulai|Battle of the Ulai River]] the same year.

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Iran}}

{{Median and Achaemenid kings}}
{{Median topics}}

[[Category:Kings of Media]]
[[Category:7th-century BC monarchs in Asia]]
[[Category:7th-century BC Iranian people]]
[[Category:7th-century BC births]]
[[Category:650s BC deaths]]
[[Category:Monarchs killed in action]]
[[Category:Median dynasty]]