Diako was the founder of the Median Empire in 700 BC. Diako was also the first Mede king who ruled between 709 and 656 BC. Diako was able to bring together seven Median tribes and later became a judge by the tribes. After seven years of leadership, the Median tribes elected him as the king of Media.
Diako built an unprecedented fortress in Hegmatana, the famous capital of the Medes, with seven floors, each of different colors.
Diako and Media are mentioned a lot in Herodotus' history. Diako was supposedly the son of Huwaxtra, who was himself another name for the son of Diako, who was against the Assyrians and they somehow made him disappear.
In the fifth century BC, Herodotus rewrote the story of Diako, the founder of Media, as follows:
There was a wise man among the Medes named Diako, the son of Frortish. This Diako was a man of ability and power. Diako, precisely because he had long been in his village—the Medes were rural after all—had a good reputation, and was willingly and earnestly devoted to justice. This was despite the fact that unconstitutionality had spread throughout the Median country and he knew that injustice was the enemy of justice. The Medians of his village saw this attitude and elected Diako as their judge He gained such a reputation that the people of other villages, who had suffered injustice earlier and heard that Diako was the only one who made fair decisions, happily turned to him for justice They would seek refuge in him because they knew that his decision was just.
Herodotus goes on to explain that after Diako resigned from judgment for a while, injustice and oppression spread again. The Medes come together and say:
(... (If we continue like this, we will have no chance of living in this country. So let's appoint a king for ourselves to ensure the order of this country. Then we can go back to our affairs They promised each other that they would establish a kingdom.) Then, when the question arose as to whom they would choose as their king, they all proposed Diako and praised him earnestly.[1]