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Ancient city, capital of the Median Empire · Iran

Ecbatana

Ecbatana was an ancient city, the capital of the Median kingdom, and the first capital in Iranian history.

Ecbatana
Ecbatana · Wikimedia Commons
The place

Ecbatana was an ancient city, the capital of the Median kingdom, and the first capital in Iranian history. It later became the summer capital of the Achaemenid and Parthian empires. It was also an important city during the Seleucid and Sasanian empires. Ecbatana was located in the Zagros Mountains, the east of central Mesopotamia, on Hagmatana Hill. Its strategic location and resources probably made it a popular site even before the 1st millennium BC. It is identified with the current city of Hamadan.

Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What is there

Worth seeing in and around Ecbatana

8 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.

  1. 01
    Avicenna Mausoleum

    The Mausoleum of Avicenna, also known as the Tomb of Abu Ali Sina, is a mausoleum and history museum complex, located at Avicenna Square, in the city of Hamadan, in the province of Hamadan, Iran. Dedicated to the Persian polymath Avicenna, the complex includes a library, a small museum, and a spindle-shaped 28-metre-high tower inspired by the Ziyarid-era Kavus Tower.

    1.7 km · mausoleum tower in Hamadan, Iranian national heritage site · Wikipedia
  2. 02
    Baba Taher Mausoleum

    The Baba Tahir Mausoleum َ in its current form was designed by the architect Mohsen Foroughi during the Pahlavi era and is located in Baba Tahir Square in Hamadan.

    700 m · mausoleum tower in Hamadan, Iranian national heritage site · Wikipedia
  3. 03
    Hamadan Stone Lion

    The stone lion of Hamadan is a historical monument in Hamadan, Iran. The stone lion – one part of the 'Lions' Gate' – sits on a hill.

    2.4 km · statue in Hamadan, Iranian national heritage site · Wikipedia
  4. 04
    Alaviyan Dome

    The Alaviyan Dome is a mausoleum located in Hamadan, Iran. A green colored dome once decorated the top of the building, as the poet Khaqani refers to the building as "the green dome", but has been destroyed by the passing of time.

    600 m · mausoleum in Hamadan, Iranian national heritage site · Wikipedia
  5. 05
    Jameh Mosque of Hamadan

    The Jameh Mosque of Hamadan is a Shi'ite Friday mosque, located in the city of Hamadan, in the province of Hamadan, Iran. The mosque was completed during the Qajar era.

    700 m · mosque in Hamadan, Iranian national heritage site · Wikipedia
  6. 06
    Hamedan Museum of Natural History

    The Hamedan Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum located in the Bu-Ali Sina University in Hamedan, north-western Iran. The museum has several exhibition halls.

    3 km · museum in Hamadan, Iran · Wikipedia
  7. 07
    Hamadan University of Medical Sciences

    Hamadan University of Medical Sciences is a medical school in Hamadan, Iran. It was founded in March 1972 as a joint program between Iran and France under the name of the Bu-Ali Sina University.

    3.2 km · university in Hamadan, Iran · Wikipedia
  8. 08
    Skill National University

    The National University of Skills formerly known as the Technical and Vocational University, is a state comprehensive university, affiliated to Ministry of Science Research and Technology of Iran. NUS headquarters is based in Tehran, Iran, and it manages more than 180 branches across the country.

    4.5 km · university in Iran · Wikipedia

Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Go there

Getting to Ecbatana

Airports
Payam (PYK), 236 km · Imam Khomeini (IKA), 249 km · Mehrabad (THR), 272 km
Stations
shahid shadmani Hamadan internatonal Airport, 7.7 km
  • Tehran → Ecbatana
    282 km · quickest by road, 4h 42m · $26–36
  • Karaj → Ecbatana
    252 km · quickest by road, 4h 50m · $26–36
  • Isfahan → Ecbatana
    377 km · quickest by road, 7h 38m · $42–55
  • From anywhere
    The planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
    Plan a trip

Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.

Not yet researched

No local-transport research exists yet for Ecbatana

Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Ecbatana. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.

The nearest places where the work is done
  1. 01
    Yeghegnadzor and the Vayots Dzor valleyAM

    9 ways of moving, 32 sources

    619 km
  2. 02
    Sheki (Şəki)AZ

    10 ways of moving, 46 sources

    721 km
  3. 03
    GyumriAM

    12 ways of moving, 47 sources

    781 km
  4. 04
    Vardzia and the Javakheti plateauGE

    12 ways of moving, 57 sources

    862 km
  5. 05
    GoriGE

    10 ways of moving, 16 sources

    885 km

If you know how people move in Ecbatana – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.

Around it

Next door to Ecbatana