ECBATANE ('Εκβατάννα'). — Two cities of Media, one of which was the capital of northern Media (Media Atropatene), the other further south being the capital of greater Media. The first has been identified with the ruins of Taḫt-i Sulaymān; the second is thought to correspond to the modern city of Hamadan.
HERODOTUS describes the first as a city of seven walls and gives a long account of II. This description partly resembles that found in the apocryphal book of Judith, I, 1-4.
In the time of Sargon II of Assyria, the Mede Dioces gathered many scattered tribes of Elamites, Samaritans, and Ansanites, had himself proclaimed king, and chose Ecbatana as his capital. Phraortes (Pharates), c. 647-25 BC, succeeded him, subdued and won over other regions, and triumphed over Teispes, king of the Persians, who had taken advantage of the destruction of Susa (640 BC) to seize the rest of Elam and proclaim himself king of Anzan. Phraortes (Arphaxad in Judith, I, 1) occupied his capital Ecbatana for only a few years, since he died in a war against Assyria.
Northern Ecbatana is also mentioned in Tob. 3:7; 8. The Vulgate text, which instead of Ecbatana gives the name Rages, stands alone against all other versions and must therefore be corrected; this is also required by the context of chs. 7 and 8, where Raphael speaks of an unnamed city to go to Rages, where Gabelus lived.
Southern Ecbatana was the capital of the Parthian Empire. Earlier, under Darius I, it had been the summer residence of the kings of Persia. The Bible probably alludes to it in Ezra 6, where the copy of Cyrus’s edict permitting the Jews to return and rebuild the Temple and their capital was found.