What has Alexander seen in Ecbatana?

[Cyrus]

Ecbatana (modern Hamadan) is one of the oldest continuous living cities in the world, as the capital of Median and Persian empires, it was also one of the most important cities.I read somewhere that Alexander visited the city twice (in the spring of 330 BC and the autumn of 324 BC), I don't know how this city has been described by Macednoians and what places they have visited there but there are some things in Ecbatana which have probably been seen by Alexander and his soldiers such as Nooshijan Citadel which has been built in the second half of 8th by Median Emperors or Ganj Nameh (Treasure Book), inscriptions of Darius the Great and Xerxes, and as I said previously, by finding some coins of Alexander, it has been proved that Shir Sangi (the stone lion) in Ecbatana has been erected by Alexander himself as a memorial to one of his Generals (probably Hephaestion).But the most beautiful part of Hamedan is the ancient city of Ecbatana itself, in excavations that had done from 1983 by a group of archaeologists a big city was explored inside the Hegmataneh hill in south of Hamedan. Researches show that in distance of 35 meters between passageways; located 2 construction sites, each includes a central courtyard with circluar rooms and warehouses. It's area is 17.5 meters. The said mentioned passages with width of 3.5 meter and brick foundation were in northeast direction toward south west. A blockhouse with dimension of 9 meters and height of 8 meters found all around the city. It had strong towers to protect the city. In general, Iranian and foreign Archeologists had done various excavations in this hill during last century. Its outstanding architecture plan and items are very valuable. Researches show that most of the excavated items are belonged to Achaemenidae and their ancestors.http://www.hamedan-ir.com/miras/images/ ... medan6.jpg

[marcus]

Hi Cyrus,Many thanks for these. I didn't realise that any of the ancient city had been excavated, so this was of particular interest.I'm hoping to get to travel to Iran in the next year or so (international diplomacy permitting) and Hamadan is certainly on the tour I propose to take. Do you know if these excavations are open to the public?All the bestMarcus

[Cyrus]

As someone who lives in Iran, I never recommend you to travel here, with the current situation in Iran and its neighbouring countries (Iraq and Afghanistan), travelling here is not safe.About Hegamtaneh hill, as far as I know everyone can visit it and I myself have visited it, but unfortunately without any background knowledge of it, as you know our knowledge about ancient Iran is mostly based on Greek sources, I'm interested to know how this city has been described by Greeks especially during Alexander's invasion.

[jona]

In the first place, I visited Iran earlier this Spring (during the elections and the Ashura festival) and I did not encounter any serious troubles. I really liked the country and its people, and -with one exception- was always able to see what I wanted to see. The exception was the holy shrine of Qom, which was closed because of a funeral; on the other hand, I will never forget the kind conversation we had with one of the clergymen.Now, back to Ecbatana. The excavations are pretty impressive, but I was told in the nearby museum that it was probably Parthian age, not Achaemenid. The argument is that it shows a grid-iron map, which is thought to be a Greek invention, by Hippodamus of Miletus. Personally, I was not convinced by this particular argument (parts of Babylon have a gridiron map too and no one will call that a post-Greek city); yet, I saw no traces of architectural remains comparable to Achaemenid sites I visited. So I am still a bit sceptical.The Achaemenid inscriptions near Hamadan, on the other hand, are really beautiful, and Alexander must have seen them.Jona

[yiannis]

Actually last weekend I was reading the travel pages of a local newspaper and there was a several pages piece on Iran.
The writer is a woman and she traveled around the country without any difficulties (actually she mentioned that when she identified herself as "Yunan" (Greek)she was welcomed very warmly).Basically the idea was that it was a very hospitable country with warm and friendly people.

[Cyrus]

Interesting, there is a historical Greek Orthodox church near my home in east of Tehran, it is really beautiful, its structure is similar to the Parthenon in Athens. I will take a photograph of it and post it in AE.

[Cyrus]

Interesting, there is a historical Greek Orthodox church near my home in east of Tehran, it is really beautiful, its structure is similar to the Parthenon in Athens. I will take a photograph of it and post it in AE.