Amytis of Media

Amytis of Media (c. 630-565 BCE; Median: ; Ancient Greek: ; ) was a queen of Babylon, wife of Nebuchadnezzar II and daughter of the Median king Cyaxares.

Name The female name is the Latinised form of the Greek name , which perhaps may reflect (with vowel metathesis) an original Median name , meaning "having good thought," and which is an equivalent of the Avestan term or humata . Amytis had a niece, also named Amytis, from her brother Astyages.

Amytis married Nebuchadnezzar to formalize the alliance between the Babylonian and Median dynasties.

Tradition relates that Amytis's yearning for the forested mountains of Media led to the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, as Nebuchadnezzar attempted to please her by planting the trees and plants of her homeland. Historical evidence, however, does not lend support to this tradition.