32. From Madai came the Medes, whose country lay immediately southeast of the Caspian Sea; in whose subject cities were placed the captives of the ten tribes taken by Sargon, king of Assyria, about 720 B. C. who, joined with the Persians, destroyed the kingdom of Babylon, 538 B. C., and established the Medo-Persian Empire, that continued till 331 B. C., when it was destroyed by Alexander the Great. “That Madai is synonymous with the Medes is certain. He represents the great Iranian family which holds so important a place among the Japhetic and Arian populations.”—Lenormant. 12[Page 14] “Manual,” etc., book i, chap 3, sec, iii, par. 11. EB 14.2