now ACHMETHA, a city in Media. The derivation of the name is doubtful; but Major Rawlinson (Geogr. Journal, x. 134) has left little question that the title was applied exclusively to cities having a fortress for the protection of the royal treasures. In Ezra we learn that in the reign of Darius Hystaspes the Jews petitioned that search might be made in the king's treasure-house at Babylon for the decree which Cyrus had made in favour of the Jews (Ezra, v. 17). Search was accordingly made in the record-office ("house of the rolls"), where the treasures were kept at Babylon (vi. 1); but it appears not to have been found there, as it was eventually discovered "at Achmetha, in the palace of the province of Medes" (vi. 2). It is here worthy of remark, that the LXX. regarded "Achmetha," in which they could hardly avoid recognising the familiar title of Ecbatana, as the generic name for a city, and accordingly rendered it by πόλις; and that Josephus, as well as all the Christian Greeks, while retaining the proper name of Ecbatana, yet agree, with the Greek Scriptures, in employing the word βασίλεια to express the Hebrew Bitha ("the palace"), which is used as the distinctive epithet of the city.

In Judith i. 2-4, there is a brief account of Ecbatana, in which we are told that it was built by Arphtaxad, king of the Medes, who made it his capital. It was built of hewn stones, and surrounded by a high and thick wall, furnished with wide gates and strong and lofty towers. Herodotus ascribes its foundation to Deioces, in obedience to whose commands the Medes erected "that great and strong city, now known under the name of Aghatana, where the walls are built circle within circle, and are so constructed that each inner circle overtops its outer neighbour by the height of the battlements alone." This was effected partly by the nature of the ground (a conical hill), and partly by the building itself. The number of the circles was seven, and within the innermost was the palace of the treasury. The battlements of the first circle were white, of the second black, of the third scarlet, of the fourth blue, of the fifth orange; all these were brilliantly coloured with different pigments; but the battlements of the sixth circle were overlaid with silver, and of the seventh with gold. Such were the palace and the surrounding fortification that Deioces constructed for himself; but he ordered the mass of the Median nation to construct their houses in a circle around the outer wall." (Herodot. i. 98). It is contended by Major Rawlinson (Geogr. Journal, x. 127) that this story of the seven walls is a fable of Sabean origin, the seven colours mentioned being precisely those employed by the Orientals to denote the seven great heavenly bodies, or the seven climates in which they revolve. He adds (p. 128), "I cannot believe that at Aghatana the walls were really painted of these colours; indeed, battlements with gold and silver are manifestly fabulous; nor do I think that there ever could have been even seven concentric circles; but in that early age, where it is doubtful whether mithraicism or fire-worship had originated in this part of Asia, it is not at all improbable that, according to the Sabean superstitions, the city should have been dedicated to the seven heavenly bodies, and perhaps a particular part assigned to the protection of each, with some coloured device emblematic of the tutelary divinity."

This Ecbatana has been usually identified with the present Hamadan. Major Rawlinson, however, while admitting that Hamadan occupies the site of the Median Ecbatana, has a learned and most elaborate paper in the Geographical Journal (x. 65-158; On the Site of the Atropatenian Ecbatana), in which he endeavours to show that the present Takht-i-Suleiman was the site of another, the Atropatenian Ecbatana; and that to it, rather than to the proper Median Ecbatana, the statement in Herodotus and most of the other ancient accounts are to be understood to refer. The major, indeed, seems inclined to consider the Ecbatana of the apocryphal books as his Atropatenian Ecbatana; but is rather more doubtful in claiming it as the Achmetha of Ezra. But without undertaking to determine what amount of ancient history should be referred to the one or to the other, we feel bound to conclude that Hamadan was the site of the Achmetha of Ezra, and the Ecbatana of the Apocrypha:

1. Because it is admitted that the Median Ecbatana was a more ancient and more anciently great city than the Atropatenian metropolis; 2. Because the name "Achmutha" may easily, through the Syrian Ahmethun, and the Armenian Ahmetan, be traced in the Persian Hamadan; 3. And because all the traditions of the Jews refer to Hamadan as the site of the Achmutha and Ecbatana of their Scriptures.

Hamadan is still an important town, and the seat of one of the governments into which the Persian kingdom is divided. It is situated in N. Lat. 34° 53', E. Long. 40°, at the extremity of a rich and fertile plain, on a gradual ascent, at the base of the Elwund Mountains, whose higher summits are covered with perpetual snow. Some remnants of ruined walls of great thickness, and also of towers of sun-dried bricks, present the only positive evidence of a more ancient city than the present on the same spot. Heaps of comparatively recent ruins, and a wall fallen to decay, attest that Hamadan has declined from even its modern importance. The population is said by Southgate to be about 30,000, which probably exceeds the truth very considerably. It is little distinguished, inside, from other Persian towns of the same rank, save by its excellent and well-supplied bazaars, and the unusually large number of khans of rather a superior description. This is the result of the extensive transit trade of which it is the seat, it being the great centre where the routes of traffic between Persia, Mesopotamia, and Persia, converge and meet. Its own manufactures are chiefly in leather. Many Jews reside here, claiming to be descended from those of the Captivity who Eccentric remained in Media. Benjamin of Tudela says that in his time the number was 50,000. Modern travellers assign them 500 houses; but the Rabbi David de Beth Hillel (Travels, pp. 85-87, Madras, 1832), who was not likely to understated the fact, and had the best means of information, gives them but 200 families. He says they are mostly in good circumstances, have fine houses and gardens, and are chiefly traders and goldsmiths. They speak the broken Turkish of the country, and have two synagogues. They derive the name of the town from "Hamam" and "Mede," and say that it was given to that foe of Mordecai by King Absyruos. In the midst of the city is a tomb which is in their charge, and which is said to be that of Mordecai and Esther. It is a plain structure of brick, consisting of a small cylindrical tower and a dome (the whole about 20 feet high), with small projections or wings on three sides. Within are two apartments—a small porch formed by one of the wings, and beyond it the tomb-chamber, which is a plain room paved with glazed tiles. In the midst, over the spots where the dead are supposed to lie, are two large wooden frames or chests, shaped like sarcophagi, with inscriptions in Hebrew and flowers carved upon them. There is another inscription on the wall, in bas-relief, which, as translated by Sir Gore Ouseley, describes the present tomb as having been built over the graves of Mordecai and Esther by two devout Jews of Kashan, in A.D. 4474. The original structure is said to have been destroyed when Hamadan was sacked by Timour. As Echatana was then the summer residence of the Persian court, it is probable enough that Mordecai and Esther died and were buried there; and traditional testimony, taken in connection with this fact, and with such a monument in a place where Jews have been permanently resident, is better evidence than is usually obtained for the allocation of ancient sepulchres. The tomb is in charge of the Jews, and is one of their places of pilgrimage. Kinneir, Ker Porter, Morier, Frazer, and Southgate, furnish the best accounts of modern Hamadan.

History mentions another Echatana, in Palestine, at the foot of Mount Carmel; towards Ptolemais, where Cambyses died (Herod. iii. 64; Plin. v. 19). It is not mentioned by this or any similar name in the Hebrew writings; and we are at a loss to discover the grounds which Major Rawlinson says exist for concluding that there was a treasury in this position (Geogr. Journ. x. 184).