The word Mad as it is pronounced in Iran, means Medes. The Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the central portions of present-day Iran. This area is known as Media. They entered this region with the first wave of Iranian tribes, in the late second millennium BC. By the 6th century BC, after having together with the Babylonians defeated the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Medes were able to establish their authority, lasting for about sixty years, from the sack of Nineveh in 612 BC until 549 BC when Cyrus the Great established the Achaemenid Empire by defeating Astyages, king of Media.
