Travel Guide Hamadan

Situated 335 km south-west of Tehran and 190 km east of Kermanshah, Hamdan is set on a high plateau, at 1 800 m above sea level, itself dominated by Mount Alvand, which reaches 3 580 m above sea level. Capital of the eponymous province, the city has 400 000 inhabitants and remains one of the privileged resorts of the Iranians. The softness of its climate and the beauty of the landscapes play in its favour. Historically, its ideal location between the ancient Ottoman and Persian territories has long been a decisive advantage. The ancient Mede capital, then called Ecbatane, was one of the major steps on the royal road in Baghdad. Still today, Hamdan remains an important shopping centre. If it is predominantly Persian, the population includes an important Azerbaijani minority. Other notable features include the tombs of the Jewish Queen Esther and the savant and doctor July (980-1037) and the famous inscriptions of Ganjnameh.HistoryThe Medes, tribes of Indo-European origin, settled on the plateau towards the 673 th century BC. In before our age, Phraorte, head of one of his tribes, gathered the Medes and founded his capital Ecbatane, meaning literally "meeting place". In 550 BC, the Persian King Cyrus defeated Astyages, the last mede sovereign. Ecbatane then turned into summer capital of the Achaemenid Empire (559-330 BC), allowing the court to escape the hot heat of Suse. Darius III (336-330 BC), last of the achéménides kings, defeated by Alexander the Grand at Granique, in Issos then in Gaugamèles, hide in Ecbatane where, for several months, he hesitates between surrender and resistance. In summer 330 B.C., he died finally under the blows of the Satrap Bessos. Following the Arab conquest in 642, Ecbatane lost its splendour. Under Bursa (th and th centuries), it nevertheless became a regional capital. The city will be devastated by the Mongols in 1220 and again by Tamerlane armies in 1386. Nevertheless, it regained relative prosperity until the th century, beginning its decline, like the rest of the Persian Empire. In the middle of the th century, Hamdan gradually regained its lustre and prerogatives.