The New Student's Reference Work/Ecbatana

Ecbatana (ek-bat′ a-nä), the capital and chief fortress of Media, situated one and a half miles from Mount Orontes and at the foot of a hill crowned with the royal citadel and a magnificent temple of the sun.  According to Herodotus, Ecbatana was founded about 700 B. C. and surrounded with seven walls, each higher than the one next outside it.  The inmost wall inclosed the citadel with the treasury.  The city was taken by Cyrus in 550 B. C., and became the chief seat of his government.  It was a favorite summer-residence of the Persian kings, and Alexander the Great stayed there for some months in 324 B. C.  After his death it became a mere provincial town, but under the Parthians it again became a summer-home of kings.  It again sank into insignificance till the Mohammedan period, when the modern city of Hamadan was built on the site of the ancient city.  There were six other Asiatic cities to which the name Ecbatana was given by Greek writers.