Ecbatana
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How it came to be
Ecbatana, in today's Hamadan in north-western Iran, was the capital of the Median kingdom. According to Herodotus, the first Median ruler, Deioces, chose it as his capital in 678 BC and built a palace within seven walls. Its name is thought to come from Hangmata, a gathering place.
In 550 BC Cyrus the Great defeated Astyages, took Ecbatana and founded the Achaemenid empire. On the royal road between Persepolis and Sardis, it became a summer capital and treasury. In 330 BC Alexander the Great seized the treasury.
It went on serving as a summer capital for the Seleucids, Parthians and Sasanians, and people have lived there almost without a break for about 3,000 years. It was inscribed in 2024 as rare evidence of the Median civilisation of the 7th and 6th centuries BC.
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