Ezr 6:2, supposed to mean Ecbatana, a city of Media, inferior to none in the East but Babylon and Nineveh. It was surrounded by seven walls, of different heights and colors, and was a summer residence of the Persian kings after Cyrus. Travelers identify it with the modern Hamadan, in which many Jews still reside, and where they profess to point out the tomb of Mordecai and Esther.

(Ezr 6:2), called Ecbatana by classical writers, the capital of northern Media. Here was the palace which was the residence of the old Median monarchs, and of Cyrus and Cambyses. In the time of Ezra, the Persian kings resided usually at Susa of Babylon. But Cyrus held his court at Achmetha; and Ezra, writing a century after, correctly mentions the place where the decree of Cyrus was found.

Ezr 6:2 Achmetha or Ecbatana. A title applied to cities with a fortress for protecting the royal treasures (Rawlinson, in Kitto's Cyclop.). (See ECBATANA.)

The Ecbatana of the Greeks and Romans, modern Hamadan. It was the capital of Media (in Old Persian Haghmat

Ach'metha

This reads in the margin, "Ecbatana, or, in a coffer.' Ezr 6:2. The LXX do not treat it as a proper name: the passage there reads "And there was found in the city (?????), in the palace, a volume." The Vulgate has "Et inventum est in Ecbatanis." Apparently history alludes to two cities named Ecbatana: one associated with the ruins at Takht-i-Suleiman, 36 28' N, 47 18' E; the other identified with the modern Hamadan, 34 48' N, 48 26' E, anciently the summer residence of Persian kings, and where the records of the kingdom were apparently kept. This is most probably the Achmetha of scripture. Travellers state that the Jews exhibit a tomb in their charge in the midst of the city, which is the reputed tomb of Mordecai and Esther.

Ach'metha.

[ECBATANA]

See Ecbatana

ACHMETHA See ECBATANA