() was, according to Herodotus, the second king of
Media, and the son of Deioces, whom he succeeded. He reigned twenty-two years (B. C. 656-634). He first conquered the
Persians, and then subdued the greater part of Asia, but was at length defeated and killed
while laying siege to Ninus (Nineveh), the capital of the Assyrian empire. He was succeeded by
his son Cyaxares. (Hdt. 1.73, 102.)
This Phraortes is slid to be the same as the
Truteno of the Zendavesta, and to
be called Feridun in the Shah-Nameh. (Hammer in Wien.
Jahrb. vol. ix. p. 13, &c.) .