Ecbatana in the context of "Median kingdom"

The Medes were an Iron Age Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, they occupied the mountainous region of northwestern Iran and the northeastern and eastern region of Mesopotamia in the vicinity of Ecbatana (present-day Hamadan). Their consolidation in Iran is believed to have occurred during the 8th century BC. In the 7th century BC, all of western Iran and some other territories were under Median rule, but their precise geographic extent remains unknown.

Although widely recognized as playing an important role in the history of the ancient Near East, the Medes left no written records to reconstruct their history. Knowledge of the Medes comes only from foreign sources such as the Assyrians, Babylonians, Armenians and Greeks, as well as a few Iranian archaeological sites, which are believed to have been occupied by Medes. The accounts related to the Medes reported by Herodotus convey the image of a powerful people, who would have formed an empire at the beginning of the 7th century BC that lasted until the 550s BC, played a pivotal role in the fall of the Assyrian Empire, and competed with the powerful kingdoms of Lydia and Babylonia.

Hamadan (/ˌhæməˈdæn/ HAM-ə-DAN; Persian: همدان, pronounced [hæmeˈdɒːn]) is a mountainous city in western Iran. It is located in the Central District of Hamadan County in Hamadan province, serving as the capital of the province, county, and district. As of the 2016 Iranian census, it had a population of 554,406 people in 174,731 households.

Hamadan is believed to be among the oldest Iranian cities. It was referred to in classical sources as Ecbatana (Old Persian Hamgmatāna). It is possible that it was occupied by the Assyrians in 1100 BCE; the Ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, states that it was the capital of the Medes, around 700 BCE.

The various states and civilizations in Iran (Persia) have had numerous capital cities and royal centers throughout history.

• Ahar; Pishkinid dynasty
• Anshan; pre-Achaemenid era
• Ardabil; early Safavid era, Sajid
• Asaak; Parthian era royal center
• Astara; Ispahbads of Gilan
• Alamut Castle; Nizari Ismaili state
• Amol; Ziyarid, Alavid, Marashis, Dabuyid, Bavandid, Chalavi, (Parthian Empire climate capital)
• Babylon; Achaemenid era
• Baghdad; caliphates, Jalayerid, Buyid
• Balkh; in legend, the governmental center of the Kayanian dynasty
• Bardsir; Banu Ilyas
• Basra; Jalayerid
• Bukhara; Samanid era
• Ctesiphon; Parthian, Sasanian era
• Damavand; Masmughans of Damavand
• Dinavar; Hasanwayhids
• Diyarbakır; Aq Qoyunlu
• Fuman; Dabuyid
• Farim (Perim); Bavandid
• Firozkoh; Ghurid
• Firuzkuh; Chalavi
• Shahr-e Qumis (Hecatompylos); Parthian era
• Ghazna; Ghurid, Khwarazmid, Ghaznavid
• Gor (Firuzabad); Sasanian era
• Gorgan (Astarabad); Ziyarid, Alavids
• Herat; Ghurid, Kartids, Timurid Empire
• Hulwan; Annazids
• Ij (Ig); Shabankara
• Isfahan; Ziyarid dynasty, Kakuyid Emirate, Injuid dynasty, Seljuk era, Safavid era
• Istakhr; Sasanian era
• Izeh (Idaj); Hazaraspids
• Ecbatana (later Hamadan); Median Empire, Achaemenid era, Eldiguzids, Seljuks (Greater and Iraq Seljuks)
• Kerman; Muzaffarid, Qutlugh-Khanids
• Khorramabad; Khorshidi dynasty
• Kunya Urgench; early Khwarezmid era
• Lafur; Qarinvand dynasty
• Lankaran; Talysh Khanate
• Lahijan; Karkiya dynasty
• Maragheh; Ilkhanid, Ahmadilis, Sajid
• Mashhad; Afsharid
• Merv; capital during al-Mamun's caliphate, and Taherid era, Seljuk Empire
• Mosul; winter capital during Qara Qoyunlu
• Nakhchivan; Eldiguzids
• Nishapur; Ilkhanid, Seljuq, Taherid eras
• Nisa, Turkmenistan; periodical capital of the Parthian era
• Pasargadae; Achaemenid
• Persepolis; Achaemenid ceremonial capital
• Rey (Rhagae); Median, Ziyarid, Buyid, Seljuk Empire
• Rudbar; Justanids
• Qazvin; early Safavid era
• Sabzevar; Sarbadars
• Samarkand; Samanid, Khwarazmid, Timurid era
• Shiraz; Buyid dynasty, Injuid dynasty, Muzaffarid dynasty, Salghurid dynasty, Zand dynasty
• Soltaniyeh; Ilkhanid
• Susa; Achaemenid, Parthian era
• Tabriz; Ilkhanid, Khwarezmid, Rawadid, Chupanid, Jalayerid, Eldiguzids, Kara Koyunlu, Aq Qoyunlu, early Safavid era
• Tarom; Sallarid
• Sari; Qajar, Dabuyid, Alavid, Bavandid, Marashis
• Yazd; Kakuyid, Atabegs of Yazd
• Zaranj; Saffarid Empire, Mihrabanid, Nasrid
• Tehran; Qajar era, Pahlavi era, Islamic Republic of Iran 1796–present

Media (Old Persian: 𐎶𐎠𐎭 Māda; Greek: Μηδία Mēdía; Akkadian: Mādāya) was a political entity centered in Ecbatana that existed from the 7th century BC until the mid-6th century BC and is believed to have dominated a significant portion of the Iranian plateau, preceding the powerful Achaemenid Empire. The frequent interference of the Assyrians in the Zagros region led to the process of unifying the Median tribes. By 612 BC, the Medes became strong enough to overthrow the declining Assyrian empire in alliance with the Babylonians. However, contemporary scholarship tends to be skeptical about the existence of a united Median kingdom or state, at least for most of the 7th century BCE.The Median dynasty was, according to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, a dynasty composed of four kings who ruled for 150 years under the Median Empire. If Herodotus' story is accurate, the Medes were unified by a man named Deioces, the first of the four kings who would rule the Median Empire; a mighty empire that included large parts of Iran and eastern Anatolia.According to classical historiography, Media emerged as one major power of the ancient Near East after the collapse of Assyria. Under Cyaxares (r. 625–585 BC), the kingdom's borders were expanded to the east and west through the subjugation of neighboring peoples, such as the Persians and Armenians. Media's territorial expansion led to the formation of the first Iranian empire, which at its height would have exercised authority over an area of 2.8million square kilometers, stretching from the eastern banks of the Halys River in Anatolia to Central Asia. In this period, the Median empire was one of the great powers in the ancient Near East alongside Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt. During his reign, Astyages (r. 585–550 BC) worked to strengthen and centralize the Median state, going against the will of tribal nobility, which may have contributed to the kingdom's downfall. In 550 BC, the Median capital, Ecbatana, was conquered by the Persian king Cyrus II, marking the beginning of the Achaemenid empire.While it is generally accepted that the Medes played a significant role in the ancient Near East after the fall of Assyria, historians debate the existence of a Median empire or even a kingdom. Some scholars accept the existence of a powerful and organized empire that would have influenced the political structures of the later Achaemenid empire. Others argue that the Medes formed a loose confederation of tribes rather than a centralized state.

Achaemenid architecture includes all architectural achievements of the Achaemenid Persians manifesting in construction of spectacular cities used for governance and inhabitation (Persepolis, Susa, Ecbatana), temples made for worship and social gatherings (such as Zoroastrian temples), and mausoleums erected in honor of fallen kings (such as the burial tomb of Cyrus the Great). Achaemenid architecture was influenced by Mesopotamian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Elamite, Lydian, Greek and Median architecture. The quintessential feature of Persian architecture was its eclectic nature with foreign elements, yet producing a unique Persian identity seen in the finished product. Achaemenid architecture is academically classified under Persian architecture in terms of its style and design.

Achaemenid architectural heritage, beginning with the expansion of the empire around 550 B.C., was a period of artistic growth that left an extraordinary architectural legacy ranging from Cyrus the Great's solemn tomb in Pasargadae to the splendid structures of the opulent city of Persepolis. With the advent of the Second Persian Empire, the Sasanian dynasty (224–624) revived Achaemenid tradition by constructing temples dedicated to fire, and monumental palaces.

Erigyius (in Greek Ἐριγυιoς; died 328 BC), a Mytilenaean, son of Larichus, was an officer in Alexander the Great's army. He had been driven into banishment by Philip II, king of Macedon, because of his faithful attachment to Alexander, and returned when the latter came to the throne in 336 BC. At the battle of Gaugamela, 331 BC, he commanded the cavalry of the allies, as he did also when Alexander set out in 330 BC from Ecbatana in pursuit of Darius III. In the same year Erigyius was entrusted with the command of one of the three divisions with which Alexander invaded Hyrcania. He was also among the generals sent against Satibarzanes, whom he slew in battle with his own hand. In 329 BC, together with Craterus and Hephaestion, and with the assistance of Aristander, a soothsayer, he endeavoured to dissuade Alexander from crossing the Jaxartes river against the Scythians. In 328 BC he fell in a battle against the Bactrian fugitives.