1
Ecbatana (Hamadan)
DAVID STRONACH
An agreeable summer climate, plentiful water
supplies, and a strategic location on the east-
west highroad linking the Iranian Plateau with
Mesopotamia have combined to make Hama-
dan one of Iran’s most enduring cities. Begin-
ning no later than the last quarter of the seventh
century BCE, when the Medes were possibly
united for the first time under the rule of
CYAXARES (d. 585 BCE), the city of Hagmatana
(the “Place of Assembly”) appears to have
served as the capital of Media. It became
known to the Greeks as Ecbatana by the time
of HERODOTUS (fifth century BCE), who presents
a fanciful description of the Median capital
(Histories 1.98). The city’s status is evident
from the Nabonidus Chronicle, which refers,
in 550 BCE, to Cyrus II’s defeat of ASTYAGES, the
last king of Media, and to the capture of the
latter’s “royal city.” Thereafter, Hamadan con-
tinued to flourish, successively, as one of the
four main Achaemenid capitals; as a location
of no little interest to Alexander (see ALEXANDER
III, THE GREAT); and as the site of major building
operations in Seleucid and Parthian times. In
his BISITUN inscription, Darius I (r. 522–486)
refers to “the fortress” at Hamadan – a struc-
ture that most likely stood on the Masallah,
a tall rock outcrop overlooking the rest of the
city. Nothing of this early fortress, and virtually
nothing of even the last strong fortress to
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,
and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 2260–2261.
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah24064
stand in this position some two hundred
years ago, can be detected any longer. Else-
where, controlled excavations in the adjoining,
low-lying, river-edged mound, known today as
Tepe Hegmataneh, have failed to reveal any
Median or Achaemenid strata, evidently
because the Parthians dug down to virgin soil
in order to provide a level footing for their
own extensive constructions. As a result, the
signal importance of Achaemenid Hamadan is
nowadays most vividly reflected by trilingual
inscriptions in the names of Darius and Xerxes
(r. 486–464) that were cut into the rock face of
nearby Mount Alvand, as well as by an
Old Persian inscription of Artaxerxes II
(r. 404–359), who refers to his construction
of an apadana “of stone in its columns” at
Hamadan.
SEE ALSO: Achaemenids; Apadana; Medes, Media.
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Knapton, P., Sarraf, M., and Curtis, J. E. (2001)
“Inscribed column bases from Hamadan.” Iran
39: 99–117.
Luschey, H. (1968) “Der Löwe von Ekbatana.”
Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran, Neue Folge
1: 115–22.
Stronach, D. (2003) “Independent Media: archaeo-
logical notes from the homeland.” In
G. B. Lanfranchi, M. Roaf, and R. Rollinger, eds.,
Continuity of Empire (?): Assyria, Media, Persia:
233–48. Padua.