Qualla: Ecbatana

Ecbatana: Introduction

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carole Raddato from Frankfurt, Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0. Seven walls, each painted a different color. White on the outside, then black, scarlet, blue, orange, and the innermost two coated in silver and gold. Herodotus described them in the 5th century BCE, each ring rising higher than the last on a gentle hill, the royal palace and treasury standing within the final golden circle. Whether his account is history or embellishment, Ecbatana was real. It was the first capital in Iranian history, and its remains lie beneath the streets of modern Hamadan, where 35 hectares of unexcavated earth hold secrets that archaeologists have been chasing for over a century.

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Image: Carole Raddato from Frankfurt, Germany | CC BY-SA 2.0

Ecbatana: The King Who Wanted Seven Castles

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ninara, CC BY-SA 2.0. According to Herodotus, Deioces founded Ecbatana around 678 BCE as the capital of the newly unified Medes. He designed it as a statement of power: seven nested fortifications, each in the color of a celestial body, with the outer circuit matching the size of Athens itself. The ro...

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Image: ninara | CC BY-SA 2.0

Ecbatana: Summer Capital of Empires

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daderot, CC0. When Cyrus the Great defeated the last Median king Astyages in 550 BCE, Ecbatana changed hands but not function. The Achaemenids kept it as a summer capital and treasury, positioned on the royal road connecting Persepolis to Sardis. The Nabonidus Chronicle records the moment of t...

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Image: Daderot | CC0

Ecbatana: Coins, Horses, and Wheat

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Luis Argerich, CC BY 2.0. Under the Parthians, Ecbatana became the empire's main mint, producing drachms, tetradrachms, and bronze denominations. The area had a reputation for horses and wheat. Graphite, gold, platinum, antimony, and iron were found in the surrounding mountains. The Battle of Ecbatana in ...

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Image: Luis Argerich | CC BY 2.0

Ecbatana: Digging Beneath a Living City

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nick Taylor, CC BY 2.0. The great challenge of Ecbatana's archaeology is that Hamadan, a city of over 500,000 people, sits directly on top of it. Charles Fossey conducted the first excavation in 1913, spending six weeks on the Mosalla hill and three months on the eastern section. He found fragments of c...

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Image: Nick Taylor | CC BY 2.0

Ecbatana: The Bible, the Poets, and the Tell

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0. Ecbatana appears in sources far beyond the Greek historians. The Bible mentions its citadel in the Book of Ezra, noting it as part of the national archives during the reign of Darius I. Ancient authors called it Caput Mediae, the capital of Media, and the Royal Seat. The poet Arc...

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Image: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada | CC BY-SA 2.0