 To judge from the Assyrian sources, no Median kingdom such as Herodotus describes for the reign of Deioces existed in the early 7th century BCE; at best, he is reporting a Median legend of the founding of their kingdom.The Medes gained control over the lands in eastern Anatolia that had once been part of Urartu and eventually became embroiled in a war with the Lydians, the dominant political power in western Asia Minor.In 585 BCE, probably through the mediation of the Babylonians, peace was established between Media and Lydia, and the Halys (Kizil) River was fixed as the boundary between the two kingdoms.