Ecbatana

Ecbatana (also Achmetha) was the ancient capital of the Median empire and one of the great cities of the ancient Near East, situated on the slopes of Mount Alvand in modern northwestern Iran (the site of present-day Hamadan). It appears in Scripture in Ezra 6:2, where the decree of Cyrus authorizing the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple was found stored in "the palace that is in Achmetha, in the province of the Medes." The record had been deposited there rather than in Babylon, explaining why initial searches at Babylon found nothing (Ezra 5:17).

Ecbatana served as the summer capital of the Persian kings, who moved their court there during the hot season. Ancient sources describe it as a city of concentric walls of different colors, with a great palace complex. The city plays a larger role in the deuterocanonical books: Tobit is set largely in Ecbatana, and it appears in Judith 1 as the great city Nebuchadnezzar sent his general against. For the canonical narrative, its primary significance is as the archive location that confirmed the legal basis for the temple's reconstruction.