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ECBATANA

(Gk. Ekbatana; O. Pers. hagmatāna; Aram. ʾaḥmĕṯāʾ)

Graecized name of Hagmatana (modern Hamadan), the main city in Media. It occupies a strategic position in the main pass through the Alvand Alignment, the easternmost range of the Zagros Mountains before the Iranian plateau. Ecbatana lies along the main east-west trade route between Mesopotamia and the East. The intense urbanization in Assyria from the 9th century b.c.e. onwards and the corresponding need for foreign supplies probably gave the city its importance during the 7th century. According to Herodotus, Ecbatana was founded by King Deioces ca. 700, but the historicity of Herodotus’ report of the rise of the Median state has been called into question.

Systematic archaeological investigation of Ecbatana is rendered extremely difficult, since the site is still populated. Archaeological digs at other Median sites indicate economic and cultural prosperity during the 7th century. After Cyrus the Great conquered it ca. 550, Ecbatana became the summer residence for the Achaemenid kings. In its archives, Darius I found a copy of the edict of Cyrus (Ezra 6:2).

The book of Judith, judged by scholars to be historically suspect, mentions that Ecbatana was founded by an otherwise unknown Arphaxad (Jdt. 1:1), and Nebuchadnezzar is said to have plundered the city in a campaign against Arphaxad (vv. 13-14). Ecbatana is home to Raguel and Edna and their daughter Sara, whom Tobias marries (Tob. 3:7; 5:6; 7:1); Tobias later flees Nineveh to settle in Ecbatana (14:14).

Gerald M. Bilkes

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ECBATANA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)