Hamadan

Hamadan, Iran

Hamadan, also spelled Hamedan or Hamadān, ancient Ecbatana, city, capital of Hamadān province, west-central Iran. It is situated at the northeastern foot of Mount Alvand (11,716 feet [3,571 metres]). Itself at an elevation of 6,158 feet (1,877 metres), the city dominates the wide fertile plain of the upper Qareh Sū River. There is a sizable Azeri-speaking minority.

The city, although certainly an older foundation, has records only from the 1st millennium bce. Hamadan has had many names: it was possibly the Bit Daiukki of the Assyrians, Hangmatana, or Agbatana, to the Medes, and Ecbatana to the Greeks. One of the Median capitals, under Cyrus II (the Great; died 529 bce) and later Achaemenian rulers, it was the site of a royal summer palace. A little east of Hamadan is the Moṣṣalā (Musalla), a natural mound the debris of which includes the remains of ancient Ecbatana. The modern city is built partly on this mound.

Hamadan is mentioned in the Bible (Ezra 6:1–3), and there is a tradition of Jewish association with the town. The putative tomb of Esther located there is in reality that of Queen Shushandukht, or Suzan, wife of the Sasanian king Yazdegerd I (died 420 ce) and mother of Bahrām V, the great hunter. She helped establish a Jewish colony in the city and was herself of that faith. Her tomb and the reputed grave of Mordecai, uncle of Esther, are both places of pilgrimage.

The city was captured by the Arabs in 641 or 642 and for some centuries remained a provincial capital. During this period the city was the home of some of the great thinkers and artists of the Islamic period. The poet and anthologist Abū Tammām composed his Ḥamāsah there in the early 10th century. The noted writer al-Hamadhānī was born there a generation later, as was the great Persian-language poet Bābā Ṭāhir, whose mausoleum is located in the city. The physician and philosopher Avicenna died in Hamadan in 1037. The list of luminaries with connections to Hamadan continued in later generations. In the second half of the 12th century, the Seljuq Turkish sultans made it their capital, and so it remained for 50 years. To this period dates the building of Gonbad-e ʿAlaviyyān, a mausoleum with fine stucco work.

About 1220 Hamadan was destroyed by the Mongols. In 1386 it was sacked by Timur (Tamerlane), a Turkic conqueror, and the inhabitants massacred. It was partly restored in the 17th century and subsequently changed hands often between Iranian ruling houses and the Ottomans. In modern times its strategic position caused a revival. The city was damaged during the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88).

Modern development is modest. In summer the pleasant climate makes Hamadan a resort, but the winters are long and severe. The Ekbātān Dam (formerly Shahnāz Dam) provides water for the city. Grain and fruit are grown in abundance, and Hamadan is an important trade centre on the main Tehrān-Baghdad highway. In the Iranian rug trade, Hamadan rugs rank second to Kermān carpets. Pop. (2011) 525,794; (2016) 554,406.